Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 17, 1964 In the Washington, D.C., area, the final segment of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) made its official debut in a big ceremony near the New Hampshire Avenue exchanges on the Maryland side of the recently completed route. Thousands of people were on hand for this event. “There is a danger of using... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1951 At a minute past midnight, the Delaware Memorial Bridge linking Delaware with New Jersey was officially opened to traffic. Motorists had been lined up for up to 20 hours beforehand to travel over the newly built 2,150-foot-long bridge across the Delaware River, and the first person to make that drive (approaching the structure... Continue Reading →
August 13, 1948 The first trolley buses to run in the city of Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia were formally introduced to the public. These pioneering trolley buses were operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER), which had been in charge of various electric transit systems in that region of the... Continue Reading →
August 12, 1882 Vincent Hugo Bendix, an inventor who became a pioneer in both the automotive and aviation industries, was born in Moline, Illinois. His first major effort in the transportation world involved establishing the short-lived Bendix Company of Chicago in 1907 and creating an automobile called the Bendix Buggy. In 1910, he invented the Bendix... Continue Reading →
August 11, 1950 The Fairchild XC-120 Packplane, one of the more unconventional types of aircraft created in the United States in the post-World War II era, first took to the skies. The XC-120 was built for the U.S. Air Force by the aircraft and aerospace manufacturer Fairchild, and that transport plane made its maiden flight... Continue Reading →
August 10, 1909 Pioneering bicycle manufacturer and good roads advocate Albert Augustus Pope, who also became involved in producing early automobiles, died at his summer home (known as Lindermere-by-the-Sea) in the town of Cohasset, Massachusetts, at the age of 66. Pope was born in Boston in 1843, and served in the Union Army during the Civil... Continue Reading →
August 9, 1790 The Columbia Rediviva became the first ship to carry the flag of the United States around the world. This privately owned ship, widely known as just Columbia, left Boston on September 30, 1787, under the command of John Kendrick. Lady Washington, another vessel leaving Boston at the same time, was commanded by Robert Gray. ... Continue Reading →
August 6, 2016 In Thailand, a rapid transit line serving both the northwestern part of the capital city of Bangkok and the neighboring central province of Nonthaburi was formally opened. This 13-mile (23-kilometer) line is the second one within the Metropolitan Rapid Transit (a mass rapid transit system serving the Bangkok metropolitan area) to be... Continue Reading →
August 5, 1917 Four months after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, a motorboat known as Riette was commissioned into the U.S. Navy at the New York Navy Yard in the northwest section of Brooklyn. (That shipyard is now officially called the Brooklyn Navy Yard.) Chief Boatswain’s... Continue Reading →
August 4, 1919 A convoy of flag-decorated motor vehicles, which consisted of both trucks and automobiles, left Chicago’s Grant Park for a 3,000-mile (4,826-kilometer)-journey through the rural regions of six Midwestern states. “The object of the enterprise, which is the first of its kind, is to demonstrate to the farmers of Illinois, Iowa, North and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 