Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 7, 1942 Exactly seven months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Gulfport Army Airfield in southern Mississippi was opened as a small but still pivotal part of the United States’ overall involvement in World War II on the side of the Allies. This airport in the city of Gulfport was built by the U.S. Army... Continue Reading →
July 3, 1905 In the northern part of London, an international electric tramway and railway exhibition was opened in the Royal Agricultural Hall in the inner-city area of Islington. This event, which would continue until July 14, was the third of its kind to be held at that location. The first of these exhibitions took... Continue Reading →
July 2, 1971 In west-central Scotland, the Erskine Bridge was formally opened. This cable-stayed box girder bridge, which crosses the River Clyde, serves as a link between the local government council areas of West Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire. (The bridge is located in the vicinity of the Renfrewshire town of Erskine.) The Erskine Bridge was designed... Continue Reading →
July 1, 1872 Transportation pioneer Louis Blériot was born in the city of Cambrai in northern France. He studied engineering at École Centrale (now part of CentraleSupélec) in Paris. Automobiles became the first means of transportation in which Blériot became actively involved. He developed the world’s first practical headlamps for these vehicles by using a... Continue Reading →
June 30, 1979 The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), which had been established in 1971 as a bus network only, opened the first part of its rapid rail system. This new transit service -- built on a section known at the time as the East Line -- made Atlanta the first city in the... Continue Reading →
June 27, 1998 In the northernmost region of western Norway, the Stordal Tunnel in Møre og Romsdal county first went into service. This road tunnel was officially opened by Kjell Magne Bondevik (born in 1947), who served as prime minister of Norway between 1997 and 2000 and again from 2001 to 2005. Measuring 11,580 feet... Continue Reading →
June 26, 2016 A major transit center at 201 East Washington Street in Indianapolis first went into regular service. This facility was named after Julia M. Carson, who served as a member of the U.S. Representatives from 1997 until her death in 2007 at the age of 69. She was both the first woman and... Continue Reading →
June 25, 1916 Paul H. Kreibohm, who had been captain of the Red Star ocean liner SS Kroonland, received the American Cross of Honor for the heroism that he and that vessel’s crew and officers demonstrated at sea more than two-and-half years earlier. The now-defunct medal was awarded by the American Cross of Honor Society,... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1850 A major milestone for a lighthouse in Maine took place when a contract was officially entered into for rebuilding that navigational aid’s tower. This lighthouse is on Monhegan Island, which is located about 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) off the state’s mainland coast. The call for proposals to replace Monhegan Island... Continue Reading →
June 23, 2005 HMAS Cessnock (FCPB 210), a Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Fremantle-class patrol boat, was decommissioned following more than two decades of service. This vessel was named after the city of Cessnock in the Hunter Region of the Australian state of New South Wales. She was the second RAN vessel to bear the name... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 