Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 31, 1998 Rastila metro station on line M1 of the Helsinki Metro, the world’s northernmost metro system, began operations. This ground-level station serves the residential areas of Rastila and Meri-Rastila in the district of Vuosaari in the eastern part of Finland’s capital city. This station was designed by architects Irmeli Grundström and Juhani Vainio.... Continue Reading →
August 30, 1890 The U.S. Congress appropriated $75,000 for the construction of a vessel for the U.S. Lighthouse Board. This vessel was Amaranth, and she would serve for more than a half-century throughout much of the Great Lakes region as a lighthouse tender. Lighthouse tenders provide various kinds of support to the individuals serving at... Continue Reading →
August 29, 1939 A little over eight years after building the road had begun, construction of the 105-mile (169-kilometer) Skyline Drive in Virginia came to an end with the completion of the section between Sweet Run Gap and Rockfish Gap. This road runs the entire length of the National Park Service’s Shenandoah National Park in the... Continue Reading →
August 26, 1844 A newly completed bridge spanning the River Irwell in northwestern England was opened to the public. This bridge serves as a link between the cities of Salford and Manchester. It was named after Prince Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom and the husband of Queen Victoria. Albert Bridge took the place... Continue Reading →
August 25, 1864 Milton Reeves, who became a major trailblazer for the automobile industry, was born on a farm in east-central Indiana. When he was only a teenager working at a saw mill in Columbus, Indiana, Reeves demonstrated the formidable creativity and mechanical expertise that would define his entire life. After seeing how other workers... Continue Reading →
August 24, 2005 In the Greater Tokyo Area of Honshu (the largest and most populous of Japan’s islands), a railway station was officially opened in the city of Kashiwa. (The Greater Tokyo Area is the world’s most populous metropolitan region.) This station is specifically located in the section of Kashiwa that had once been the... Continue Reading →
August 23, 1917 A private motorboat named Natoma was commissioned into the U.S. Navy about four-and-a-half months after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers. Natoma had been designed and built in 1913 as a vessel for Charles H. Foster, president of the Cadillac Motor Car Company of... Continue Reading →
August 22, 2015 A bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists was opened in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen. This structure, which was formally named the Circle Bridge, spans the southern mouth of the Christianshavn Canal in Denmark’s capital city. The 130-foot (40-meter)-long Circle Bridge encompasses a total of five round platforms. Each of these platforms has... Continue Reading →
August 19, 1929 In skies above the Detroit area, a one-of-a-kind airship manufactured for the U.S. Navy made its first flight. The ZMC-2 was created by the Detroit-based Aircraft Development Corporation and is the only successfully operated all-metal airship ever built. (ZMC stood for “Zeppelin Metal Clad.”) While nicknamed the “Tin Bubble,” the teardrop-shaped ZMC-2 --... Continue Reading →
August 18, 1904 A newly completed lighthouse in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was first lit. This lighthouse, which is located in the community of Gilbert’s Cove on the western coast of Nova Scotia, was built primarily to help guide schooners sailing up and down St. Mary’s Bay in that region of Canada. Many... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 