Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 2, 1927 The Ferguson Highway was formally dedicated in the province of Ontario, Canada. The public official presiding over this inauguration of the highway on a Saturday afternoon was William Finlayson (1876-1943), Ontario’s minister of lands and forests. The 260-mile (420-kilometer)-long gravel road, which stretched from the town of Cochrane to the city of North... Continue Reading →
June 26, 1919 A caravan of motor trucks carrying a total of 50 specially selected boy scouts headed out of Akron, Ohio, for a journey of about 2,000 miles (3,218.7 kilometers) through nine states altogether. This Wednesday departure from northeastern Ohio’s Summit County marked the start of what Vehicle Monthly magazine characterized as “one of the... Continue Reading →
June 21, 1954 NBC Radio presented the final broadcast of The Railroad Hour. This program, which had been on the air for 16 years, was sponsored by the American Association of Railroads (AAR). The program had a music-and-drama format, and Jeannette MacDonald (1903-1965) and Adolphe Menjou (1893-1963) were among the performers who graced those broadcasts.... Continue Reading →
June 20, 1860 In New York City, a 78-foot (23.8-meter)-long pilot boat was launched from the foot of 12th Street and into the East River. This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a port and is used to transport maritime pilots to ships in the area. While on board a ship, the maritime... Continue Reading →
June 18, 1888 The ninth annual meet of the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) kicked off in Baltimore, Maryland, with 1,500 members from almost every bicycle club in the United States in attendance for the three-day event. “Baltimore to-day is to a certain extent in the hands of bicyclists,” reported that day’s edition of the New... Continue Reading →
June 14, 1930 The twin-screw diesel yacht Lotosland was formally delivered by her manufacturer Pusey & Jones, a Delaware-based shipbuilder, to renowned industrialist and electrical engineer Edward A. Deeds. On that date, this newly completed vessel was registered with U.S. Official Number 229875 and signal MHWN. The handover of Lotosland to Deeds took place nearly... Continue Reading →
June 4, 1933 In the northeastern New Jersey township of Nutley, a cycle-racing track was opened in what the Chatham Press newspaper called “a most auspicious manner” and with a standing-room-only crowd of 12,000 people in attendance. The Nutley Velodrome consisted of a saucer-shaped track made of wood and covered with galvanized sheets. The competitors taking... Continue Reading →
June 3, 1921 One of the most famous symbols of an American transportation company made its debut. This symbol was the bulldog representing what is now Mack Trucks, Inc. and it first appeared when the business was known as the International Motor Truck Corporation. More than two decades earlier, the brothers Jack and Gus -- seeking... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1818 A pioneering sidewheel steamboat known as Walk-in-the-Water was launched at Black Rock, New York. (An independent community at that time, Black Rock is now part of Buffalo.) Walk-in-the-Water became the first steam-powered vessel to sail on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. An engineer named Noah Brown designed Walk-in-the-Water. Robert McQueen was the... Continue Reading →
May 24, 1915 Civil engineer Arthur Hale applied for a patent for his design of a road interchange focused on facilitating the flow of automobile traffic. Hale, who resided in the village of Rowlandsville in Maryland, characterized this design as one that contained “certain new and useful improvements in street crossings.” Hale’s proposed interchange consisted... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 