Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 15, 1962 A newly built lighthouse on Sullivan’s Island, located at the northern entrance to Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, was first lit. “It’s unique among the hundreds of lighthouses in the nation in that its tower is triangular; the better to withstand hurricane winds that periodically pound the coast,” asserted an Associated Press... Continue Reading →
June 14, 1917 A little over two months after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, the steam yacht Legonia II was commissioned in Baltimore for service in the U.S. Navy. This vessel had been purchased only eight days earlier from William B. Hurst, a prominent Baltimore resident.... Continue Reading →
June 13, 1931 The St. Johns Bridge was dedicated in Portland, Oregon. This steel suspension bridge, which carries the U.S. Route 30 Bypass over the Willamette River, links Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood with the industrial area near the community of Linnton. Renowned engineer David B. Steinman (1886-1960), whose many structural accomplishments include Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge,... Continue Reading →
June 12, 1979 The original version of the Gossamer Albatross became the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel. This aircraft had been designed and built by a team led by aeronautical engineer Paul B. MacCready at the American technology company AeroVironment. Amateur cyclist Bryan Allen was the one who piloted the Albatross across the... Continue Reading →
June 9, 2003 In the eastern region of the Republic of Ireland, a bridge in the Boyne Valley was formally opened to motor vehicle traffic. This bridge, spanning the River Boyne, is located about two miles (3.2 kilometers) west of Drogheda (a town straddling the boundary between Counties Meath and Louth of the province of... Continue Reading →
June 8, 1809 The steamboat Phoenix departed from New York City for Philadelphia. This voyage would earn the Phoenix a place in transportation history as the first steamboat to sail the open ocean. The Phoenix was built about two years earlier in Hoboken, New Jersey, by engineer and lawyer John Stevens (1749-1838) and his son... Continue Reading →
June 7, 1986 In northern Virginia, the opening of a 9.1-mile (14.7-kilometer) extension of the Washington Metro rapid transit system’s Orange Line was celebrated with great fanfare. The public debut of this extension marked the official completion of the Orange Line a little over seven-and-a-half years after the inauguration of its first segment. This line’s... Continue Reading →
June 6, 1933 The first open air drive-in movie theater opened on Crescent Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey. Richard M. Hollingshead (1899-1975), finding a new way to use the “horseless carriage,” worked out the details for that theater by experimenting with the setup in his own driveway. One major challenge involved the automobiles that would... Continue Reading →
June 5, 1935 The New York, New Haven & Hartford (NH) Railroad officially introduced its double-ended diesel electric passenger train Comet for service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. This streamliner -- a high-speed railway vehicle designed to provide reduced air resistance and also the precursor to a later era’s “bullet train” -- had... Continue Reading →
June 2, 2007 A late-morning dedication ceremony -- complete with a ribbon-cutting -- was held for a trail in the Aspetuck River Valley area of southwestern Connecticut. Those taking part in the festivities for this new trail included Gina McCarthy, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (now part of the Connecticut Department of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 