Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 9, 1954 A dock landing ship built for the U.S. Navy was launched along the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi. (A dock landing ship is an amphibious vessel that serves as both a means of transport and a launchpad for helicopters as well as seagoing watercraft such as boats and barges.) This new military vessel... Continue Reading →
January 31, 2011 In northeastern New Jersey’s Hudson County, a light rail station at 40 West 8th Street in the city of Bayonne was officially opened. 8th Street station is specifically based in Bayonne’s Bergen Point neighborhood. This station is the southern terminus of the 17-mile (27.-kilometer) Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) system in that region... Continue Reading →
January 30, 1999 The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutter USCGC Anthony Petit (WLM-558) was officially launched into the Menominee River at the city of Marinette, Wisconsin. This 175-foot (53-meter)-long vessel was built by Marinette Marine Corporation, and the launch ceremony for her took place along one of that company’s docks. USCGC Anthony Petit which is... Continue Reading →
January 29, 1896 The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (TMER&L) was incorporated. The establishment of this transit enterprise took place nearly four decades after streetcars had been introduced in Milwaukee in the form of horse-drawn vehicles. TMER&L specifically came into existence when the properties and operations of the Milwaukee Street Railway Company were sold to... Continue Reading →
January 25, 1890 The original Deer Island Light at the north entrance of Boston Harbor first went into service. The principal keeper for this lighthouse at the time of its debut was John Farley, with Michael J. Curran serving as the assistant keeper. This structure -- known as a sparkplug lighthouse due to its shape... Continue Reading →
January 23, 2006 A newly built ground-level train station in the Illinois village of Elburn, which is more than 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) west of Chicago, was formally opened to the public. Elburn station is the western endpoint of the Union Pacific West Line (UP-W) of the Chicago-area commuter rail system known as Metra. This... Continue Reading →
January 22, 1960 A steel girder bridge in Pennsylvania’s capital city of Harrisburg was officially opened. The multi-lane John Harris Bridge carries Interstate 83 and that region’s Capital Beltway across the Susquehanna River. This bridge was specifically named after John Harris Sr. (1673-1748), a prominent trader and ferry operator in that area. Harrisburg was likewise... Continue Reading →
January 16, 1932 The Arlington Memorial Bridge, crossing the Potomac River and linking Virginia with Washington, D.C., was opened. A caravan of 12 automobiles became the first vehicles to travel over this stone, steel, and neoclassical masonry arch bridge. The first of these automobiles transported President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944). While... Continue Reading →
January 11, 1938 The first aircraft landing at eastern Canada's recently completed Newfoundland Airport (present-day Gander International Airport) took place when pilot Douglas C. Fraser (1903-1990) flew a single-engine Fox Moth VO-ADE biplane owned by Imperial Airways down onto a runway there. “I can remember it quite well,” Fraser later recalled about that clear winter day. He... Continue Reading →
January 8, 1908 New York City’s University Heights Bridge was officially opened to traffic. This bridge, which crosses the Harlem River, links West 207th Street in Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood with West Fordham Road in the University Heights section of the Bronx. Construction on this steel-truss revolving swing bridge began in 1903. The fixed and swing spans of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 