Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 17, 1861 Just over four months after the start of the American Civil War, the Union Navy (the name for the U.S. Navy during that military conflict) acquired the steam tugboat Oliver M. Pettit in New York City as part of its fleet. This vessel was purchased on behalf of the Navy by commission... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1974 In the Republic of South Africa, Lanseria International Airport in the province of Gauteng was officially opened. This airport is located to the northwest of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. Those taking part in the inauguration of Lanseria International Airport included Hannes Rall, the county’s minister of transport at that... Continue Reading →
August 15, 2019 A road tunnel in northwestern Colombia’s department (subdivision) of Antioquia was officially opened to motor vehicle traffic. The Túnel de Oriente serves as a key link between Medellín, which is the capital of Antioquia and Colombia’s second largest city, and José María Córdova International Airport in the city of Rionegro. The public... Continue Reading →
August 14, 1919 The U.S. Post Office Department, pushing the bounds of airmail and its applications further than ever before, conducted its first official delivery of mail via plane to a ship after it had already left port to sail across the ocean. This pioneering experiment took place when pilot Cyrus J. Zimmerman flew a... Continue Reading →
August 11, 2015 A grand opening was held for a newly built rapid transit station in the University Circle neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland. This station, which is part of the Red Line of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority -- best known as RTA -- is specifically located at the intersection of... Continue Reading →
August 10, 1905 In a significant leg of her maiden voyage, the twin-screw steamship (TSS) Arahura circled the rocky headland long known as the Cape of Good Hope on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula. (At the time, this section of the present-day Republic of South Africa was the part of the British Empire... Continue Reading →
August 9, 1831 The first regular steam engine train run in the United States took place in New York. The small four-wheeled steam engine DeWitt Clinton, which had been constructed in the Empire State earlier that year and was among the first steam engines to debut in the United States, successfully completed the trip of approximately... Continue Reading →
August 8, 2021 Line 2 of Mexico City’s cable car service was inaugurated. This occurred only four weeks after the opening of the system’s first line. Cablebús (the Sistema de Transporte Público Cablebús) is operated by Servicio de Transportes Eléctricos (Electric Transport Service), the public transportation agency that also runs the trolleybus and light rail... Continue Reading →
August 7, 1927The Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York, and the town of Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada, was officially opened. This international bridge, which has since become one of North America’s most vital commercial ports, was built at the east end of Lake Erie and approximately 12 miles (19;3 kilometers) upriver of Niagara Falls.... Continue Reading →
August 4, 1902 The Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which crosses beneath the River Thames in East London, England, made its debut. This tunnel, connecting the district of Greenwich in the south with the Isle of Dogs to the north, was designed by civil engineer Sir Alexander Binnie (1839-1917). The Greenwich Foot Tunnel replaced a costly and too... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 