Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 6, 1854 William Nelson Page, a civil engineer and industrialist who proved to be instrumental in the development of key railway routes within both Virginia and West Virginia, was born in Campbell County, Virginia. Page received his education in engineering at the University of Virginia and leveraged both that expertise and his considerable energies into... Continue Reading →
In Toronto, a dedication ceremony was held for a set of highway bridges crossing the Don River Valley’s West Branch in the city’s neighborhood of Hoggs Hollow. These bridges, now collectively known as Hogg’s Hollow Bridge, were formally opened to traffic at three o’clock that Saturday afternoon. More than 1,000 people attended this event and... Continue Reading →
January 2, 1923 “The old year is dead, prosperous live the new year,” asserted the Washington Post on New Year’s Day in 1923. “Now that the world is changing its calendar, writing another numeral at the end of its date lines, it is profitable to strike balances and to determine what is due in the... Continue Reading →
December 30, 1904 The East Boston Tunnel in the capital of Massachusetts was formally opened to the public. This tunnel became a key link in a streetcar route that originated at Court Street in the downtown area of the city, then coursed under Boston Harbor, and ultimately ended at Maverick Square in East Boston. (A... Continue Reading →
December 29, 1959 The MV Coho, a ferry operated by the Black Ball Line between Victoria in the Canadian province of British Columbia and Port Angeles in Washington State, first went into regular service. This 341.5-foot (104.1-meter)-long ferry was designed by the Seattle-based firm Philip F. Spaulding & Associates and built by Puget Sound Bridge... Continue Reading →
December 23, 1944 A little over three years after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, the U.S. Navy rescue and salvage ship USS Bolster (ARS-38) was launched at a shipyard of the Basalt Rock Company. This company, which was located just south of the San Francisco Bay Area’s... Continue Reading →
December 16, 1953 At the Delaware Water Gap – a section where the Delaware River slices through a major ridge of the Appalachian Mountains – a toll bridge connecting New Jersey with Pennsylvania was formally opened to traffic. New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll (1947-1954) was among the public officials on hand for the Wednesday... Continue Reading →
December 15, 1950 New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal -- owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- made its formal debut. The new facility, which the New York Times proclaimed to be “as revolutionary as it is large,” was constructed to consolidate all of the private bus... Continue Reading →
December 11, 1976 On a Saturday morning, a ferry terminal in the city of Larkspur (located north of San Francisco) was opened with considerable fanfare. Larkspur Landing, which is also called Larkspur Ferry Terminal, provides commuter ferry services to downtown San Francisco via the North Bay. This terminal is operated by the Golden Gate Bridge,... Continue Reading →
December 10, 1950 On a Sunday morning, regular operations began for a trolley bus system in the city of Hamilton in Canada’s province of Ontario. These vehicles became the latest form of public transportation launched by the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR), a company that had been serving the city for 77 years by that time.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 