Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Juan Ortega was born in Spain in 1840. He eventually immigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania. Ortega, who became better known as John rather than Juan, would serve with distinction while fighting for his adopted country during the American Civil War. Ortega joined the Union Navy -- the name for the U.S.... Continue Reading →
September 13, 2005 National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) began construction on USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), a U.S. Navy underway replenishment (UNREP) vessel. (This type of vessel is used to transport fuel, munitions, and various other supplies to ships out at sea.) The building of the Alan Shepard took place at NASSCO’s shipyard in San... Continue Reading →
September 12, 1911 More than three decades after achieving worldwide fame as a winner of the America’s Cup, the schooner-yacht Madeleine underwent her final journey when she was towed to the mouth of the Hillsborough River on Florida’s west-central coast to be dismantled and sunk there. During the previous year, the Madeleine had been used... Continue Reading →
September 11, 1935 Ground was broken on the first section of the Appalachian Scenic Highway, which is now known as the Blue Ridge Parkway. These initial building efforts took place along a 12.5-mile (20.1-kilometer) stretch near the western North Carolina-Virginia border, specifically in the vicinity of North Carolina’s Cumberland Knob mountain peak. The ultimate result of... Continue Reading →
September 10, 1932 In northwestern Massachusetts, a newly built bridge crossing the Connecticut River was opened. The French King Bridge serves as a link between the towns of Erving and Gill. This bridge was named after French King Rock, a nearby geographical feature. Approximately 15,000 people showed up on that Saturday for the inaugural festivities... Continue Reading →
September 9, 1963 More than a century after it had first gone into service, Linley Hall station on the Severn Valley Railway line in England’s West Midlands region was permanently closed. This railway station was opened on February 1, 1862. It had been built at the behest of Thomas C. Whitmore (1807-1865), a prominent local... Continue Reading →
September 6, 2014 In southwestern India’s state of Kerala, a bus station in the city of Kollam made its public debut. This station is specifically located in the city’s neighborhood of Tangasseri (also known as Thangassery), a densely populated area along the shores of the Arabian Sea. Tangasseri Bus Terminal was built in large part... Continue Reading →
September 5, 1986 A new light rail public transit system in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon was officially opened. The launch of the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) Light Rail, which is owned and operated by the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), signified the return of a type of transportation network that had been... Continue Reading →
September 4, 2017 In the West Region of Singapore, an Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) in the planning area and residential town of Bukit Panjang made its debut. An ITH is a facility that functions as a central point whereby individuals can more easily transfer between different modes of public transportation. The one in Bukit Panjang... Continue Reading →
September 3, 1978 In the Canadian province of Quebec, a station in Montreal’s borough of Verdun first went into service as a link in the underground rapid transit system known as the Montreal Metro. Verdun station was built as part of the westward extension of the Montreal Metro’s Green Line. This station was designed by... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 