Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 31, 1829 In southeastern Brazil, a lighthouse on the island of Rasa (“Ilha Rasa” in Portuguese) was inaugurated. This island serves as the entrance to the Port of Rio de Janeiro, which is located in a cove on the western shore of Guanabara Bay. (At the time of Ilha Rasa Lighthouse’s debut, most of... Continue Reading →
July 28, 2006 In the Republic of Ecuador, the inaugural flight at a terminal for an international airport took place. This airport is located three miles (five kilometers) north of the central part of Guayaquil, which is second only to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito as the country’s largest city. (Guayaquil also has the distinction... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1950 The luxury liner SS Ocean Monarch was launched at the Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. shipyard at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northeastern England. This yacht-like, single-funnel ship was built by Vickers-Armstrongs for the steamship line Furness, Withy & Company (also called Furness Withy). Those on hand for the launch of Ocean Monarch included California-born Mary Duffil Lewis. As... Continue Reading →
July 26, 2022 The Pelješac Bridge in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, the southernmost county of the Republic of Croatia, was officially opened to motor vehicle traffic. This cable-stayed bridge, which carries a two-lane expressway across Bay of Mali Ston (a bay of the Adriatic Sea), serves as a key connection between Croatia’s peninsula of Pelješac and... Continue Reading →
July 26, 1863 Work began on a lighthouse on the island of Texel, part of the Netherlands’ province of North Holland. Texel is the largest island of the West Frisian Islands, which are within the Wadden Sea (an intertidal zone in the southeastern section of the North Sea). The lighthouse on Texel is specifically located... Continue Reading →
July 24, 1884Wilson McCarthy, who achieved widespread prominence as a railroad executive, was born in the city of American Fork in what was then the Territory of Utah. McCarthy worked in various settings as a cowboy (boots and western wear became his lifelong standard attire), attorney, judge, and banker before his deep immersion in the... Continue Reading →
July 21, 2015 Tren del Valle, a commuter rail service in the west-central region of Argentina, was opened. This transit line, which runs trains on tracks belonging to the General Roca Railway, connects the cities of Plottier, Neuquén, and Cipoletti. The public officials taking part in the official launch of Tren del Valle included Cristina... Continue Reading →
July 20, 1917 A major railway station was officially opened in Bogotá, the capital of the Republic of Colombia and one of South America’s largest cities. This neoclassical building, which replaced a station in existence since the 1880s, has been widely called the Bogotá La Sabana railway station and is also known in Spanish as... Continue Reading →
July 19, 2004 An inaugural ceremony was held for the first section of the current tram (streetcar) system serving Greece’s capital city of Athens and several nearby municipalities. The original version of this region’s tram system had been launched in 1882 with horse-driven vehicles. This system, which was electrified in 1908, remained in operation... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1931 The Matson Navigation Company ocean liner SS Mariposa was launched at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. (That facility served as part of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation’s shipbuilding division.) Mariposa was built for service on a Pacific Ocean route between San Francisco, California, and Sydney, Australia. This ship was the largest passenger... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 