Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 2, 1963 A group of motorhome owners met up with each other at McCurdy Park in the city of Corunna, Michigan. This Sunday gathering is widely regarded as the first organized meeting of motorhome owners in the United States. Motorhomes had grown increasingly popular nationwide. At the time, quite a few families eagerly converted large... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1870 Operations began for a funicular -- a railway designed to travel both up and down steep slopes -- on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh’s South Side area. This section of the Steel City is located along the Monongahela River and across from the city’s downtown area. The origins of this funicular, which... Continue Reading →
May 27, 1903 SS Lord Baltimore, a coastal passenger steamship, was launched at the shipyard of Harlan & Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware. SS Lord Baltimore was built by Harlan & Hollingsworth for the Ericsson Line of the Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat Company. This vessel was named after Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore (1605-1675), who served... Continue Reading →
May 21, 1961 The first National Highway Week in the United States was officially launched. The idea for this commemorative week had taken place about three months earlier in Washington, D.C., during a Public Understanding Workshop co-sponsored by the Better Highways Information Foundation (BHIF) – a group founded by several highway industry organizations – and... Continue Reading →
May 20, 1972 In Canada’s province of Ontario, a vehicular tunnel in the city of Welland was formally opened. This tunnel, which is part of East Main Street in the city, carries both Niagara Road 27 and the unsigned designation of Highway 7146 beneath the longstanding Welland Canal. The Main Street Tunnel also serves as... Continue Reading →
May 14, 1917 Just a little over a month after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, the U.S. Navy acquired the private yacht Sybilla III for use as a section patrol craft in the fight against the Central Powers. On the same day that she was acquired... Continue Reading →
May 13, 1885 Operations officially began for a rapid transit system in what was then the independent city of Brooklyn, New York. This new means of public transportation in Brooklyn was the first elevated railway – a transit system with its tracks above street level and on a viaduct or some other raised structure –... Continue Reading →
May 11, 1991 The first segment of the Green Line of the Washington Metro rapid transit system was formally opened. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post highlighted the fanfare surrounding this public transportation milestone in the nation’s capital. “The politicians were there,” reported Washington Post staff writer. Stephen C. Fehr. “So were clergy... Continue Reading →
May 7, 1910 The steamship SS Ste. Claire was launched at the yards of the Toledo Shipbuilding Company along Lake Erie. The vessel was built by that company for the Detroit, Belle Isle, & Windsor Ferry Company (DBI&W), which had been established in 1881. DBI&W used its fleet of vessels to transport tourists and commuters... Continue Reading →
April 30, 2011 In the central region of Iowa, a paved recreational trail between the cities of Ankeny and Woodward was formally opened with considerable fanfare. The final portion of this trail to be completed was a bridge crossing the Des Moines River and located near the city of Madrid. The High Trestle Trail, which... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 