Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
December 8, 1890 Chicago’s Grand Central Station was opened. This passenger railroad terminal, which had been designed by architect Solon Spencer Beman (1853-1914) and completed by the Chicago and Northern Pacific Railroad, was specifically located downtown at 201 Harrison Street (bounded by Harrison, Wells, and Polk Streets as well as the Chicago River). On the day... Continue Reading →
December 5, 1931 The luxury ocean liner SS Manhattan, which had been built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, was launched in Camden, New Jersey. Former First Lady Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948), widow of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), christened the ship with a bottle containing water taken from various streams throughout the country. This United States Lines... Continue Reading →
December 2, 1843 The Alexandria Canal was officially opened to trade and navigation on the Potomac River. (Alexandria was part of the District of Columbia at the time but would be returned to Virginia about two years later.) This canal, which ultimately ran southwards for seven miles (11.3 kilometers) through Alexandria and Virginia’s present-day Arlington... Continue Reading →
November 26, 1924 The Bear Mountain Bridge in southeastern New York was officially dedicated. This suspension bridge crosses the section of the Hudson River between Bear Mountain Park in Orange County and the town of Cortlandt in Westchester County. At the time of its debut, this structure was the world’s longest suspension bridge -- a... Continue Reading →
November 21, 1983 Regular operations began for the Baltimore Metro SubwayLink, a rapid transit line serving Maryland’s largest city and its northwestern suburbs, early that Monday morning. Rick Hirsch, reporting for the Miami Herald, highlighted both the significance of this line and the overall route it encompassed. Hirsch stated, “The Baltimore Metro -- America’s first... Continue Reading →
November 20, 1942 Nearly a year after the United States’ entry into World War II on the side of the Allies, a vessel constructed by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation (now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. [HII]) for military use was launched. This Friday ceremony was held at the company’s shipyard in the city of Pascagoula,... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 