Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 1, 1906 Work was completed on a lighthouse in the southeastern region of the then-Territory of Alaska. This octagonal structure is specifically located on Eldred Rock, an island that is in the Pacific Ocean and adjacent to the inlet known as Lynn Canal. The Eldred Rock Light was the last of 10 lighthouses built... Continue Reading →
May 18, 1908 Stanley Johnson Marx, who would serve as the head of a leading and influential school bus manufacturer on the west coast of the United States, was born in Oakland, California. In 1927, Marx began working for the California-based Gillig Brothers Company as a mechanic. This company traced its origins to a carriage and wagon shop established in... Continue Reading →
May 10, 1876 The Centennial International Exhibition -- held in Philadelphia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in that city -- was opened. Officially called the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, it was the first actual World’s Fair held in the United... Continue Reading →
May 6, 2006 After making its final flight, the Lockheed C-141C Starlifter strategic airlift plane best known as “Hanoi Taxi” touched down at 9:30 a.m. at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Ohio for a formal retirement ceremony there at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (USAF). This plane, which was delivered... Continue Reading →
May 4, 1870 George Preston Coleman, who would become chairman of the Virginia State Highway Commission (the Old Dominion State’s original highway agency) and the second president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO), was born in Williamsburg, Virginia. Coleman came from a family of high-profile lawyers, professors, and public officials.... Continue Reading →
April 29, 1915 In San Francisco, the schooner SS Wapama began a long and varied career when she was officially entered into service as a ship of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company. The “ownership oath” for this acquisition of the Wapama was completed on that date by Sidney Hauptman, the company’s secretary. Two days later,... Continue Reading →
April 28, 1903 The second day of the National Good Roads Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, took place. This convention was held at the Odeon Theater on North Grand Avenue. The significance of the convention in promoting the need for good roads nationwide was a theme highlighted both by those who addressed the delegates that day... Continue Reading →
April 21, 1973 A new section of a shared use path in Northern Virginia was officially opened. This segment, covering 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers) between the independent city of Alexandria and George Washington’s historic home of Mount Vernon, was built as part of a trail operated and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The... Continue Reading →
April 19, 1919 The longest non-stop flight up to that time was made by Captain Earl French White of the U.S. Army Air Service (USAAS) when he piloted a plane between Chicago and Long Island. The aircraft used for the flight was a Dayton-Wright DH-4 biplane. White was accompanied on this record-setting journey by a... Continue Reading →
April 18, 1917 Less than two weeks after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, a private motorboat designated as Patrol No. 4 was commissioned for service in the U.S. Navy. This vessel was owned by a Virginia resident named Guy Norman and, three days after her commissioning,... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 