Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 25, 1928 Florida’s Tamiami Trail, which encompasses the southernmost 275 miles (443 kilometers) of U.S. Route 41, was officially opened. This highway starts at State Road 60 in Tampa on the west coast of the state, courses along what has become the Big Cypress National Preserve, intersects with Naples, cuts through the tropical and swampy... Continue Reading →
On April 8, 1996, a dedication ceremony was held for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) Employee Memorial near the city of Paxico in the northeastern region of the Sunflower State. This memorial, which is specifically located at the Paxico Safety Rest Area on Interstate 70, commemorates state highway employees who have lost their lives... Continue Reading →
April 13, 2012 In northwestern Illinois, an intercity train station serving Amtrak (the national passenger railroad company in the United States) in the city of Kewanee was officially opened. This depot replaced a small brick shelter that had been built there in 1986. The current version of Kewanee station, which was designed by the Peoria-based... Continue Reading →
April 12, 1890 Nearly three decades after becoming the first streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., the Washington and Georgetown Railroad achieved a new milestone by switching from horse-drawn streetcars to cable cars. “CABLE CARS RUNNING,” proclaimed a headline in that day’s edition of the Washington Critic. This change took placed due to a... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1969 Harley J. Earl, a pioneer of modern automobile design, died in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 75. He started out life in Hollywood, California. His father’s own transportation career involved building horse-drawn vehicles in the late 19th century and then focusing on custom bodies and accessories for automobiles. Harley eventually worked... Continue Reading →
April 3, 1996 The British sports car Jaguar E-Type, which achieved worldwide renown when it was manufactured by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1961 and 1974, made another cultural breakthrough by becoming only the third automobile placed on permanent exhibit at the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Christopher Mount, assistant curator for the... Continue Reading →
April 3, 1920 A heavily attended truck show in Los Angeles came to a close. This eight-day event took place at Praeger Park in the central part of the city. The Los Angeles Motor Truck Show reflected the nationwide popularity of trucks that had steadily grown throughout most of the previous decade and fully blossomed in the... Continue Reading →
March 30, 1968 The last regularly scheduled passenger train service at a railroad station in northern Alabama’s city of Huntsville took place at a time in which that longtime facility was marked for permanent closure. The train making this final run at the Huntsville Depot was the Tennessean, which had been operated by Southern Railway... Continue Reading →
March 29, 2012 A cable-stayed bridge in Dallas, Texas, was formally opened to vehicular traffic, with a group of motorcyclists being among the first to travel across the new structure. This bridge was named after Margaret Hunt Hill (1915-2007), a longtime Dallas resident and renowned philanthropist. The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge spans the Trinity River... Continue Reading →
March 28, 1922 The U.S. Congress formally authorized funds for both the establishment and improvement of navigational aids in Alaska, a longtime territory that would achieve statehood 37 years later. One of the end results of this congressional appropriation was the construction of a replacement lighthouse at Point Retreat, a cape on the northern tip... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 