Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 21, 1913 A major technological breakthrough in transportation took place when wireless messages -- sent in Morse code without any direct electrical connections involved -- from two railroad stations to a train crew on the move were successfully transmitted. This pioneering test in wireless telegraphy specifically occurred in the northeastern United States between a... Continue Reading →
November 17, 1919 A new train terminal made its debut with hardly any fanfare in Jacksonville, Florida, at a time when that city was increasingly evolving into a vital railroad hub. At a minute past midnight, regular operations at the Jacksonville Terminal formally began when its superintendent J.C. Blanton said to his crew, “Open the... Continue Reading →
November 15, 1932 A major milestone for a pioneering highway in northern Virginia with took place with the inaugural ceremony for the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, which had been built by the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to commemorate the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth. The new route, stretching from... Continue Reading →
November 11, 1986 A high-profile event taking place on Veterans Day in Maine was the dedication of a bridge named in honor of state residents who served in the U.S. military. The Veterans’ Remembrance Bridge was built as part of Interstate 395 (I-395), a five-mile (eight-kilometer) auxiliary Interstate highway in Penobscot County in east-central Maine.... Continue Reading →
November 8, 1873 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began construction on a lighthouse on Hereford Inlet in the borough of Anglesea (now the city of North Wildwood) in southern New Jersey. The Hereford Inlet Light was built to replace a life-saving station that had been installed at that location only a couple of... Continue Reading →
November 3, 1911 The Chevrolet Motor Car Company was jointly established in Detroit by racecar driver Louis Chevrolet and recently ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant. Their investment partners included William C. Little and Durant’s son-in-law Dr. Edwin R. Campbell. With a total of 2,999 Chevrolet automobiles manufactured in the following year, this motor vehicle... Continue Reading →
November 2, 1863 Civil engineer Theodore Judah, whose vision and technical expertise helped bring about one of the most significant railroad accomplishments in American history, died of yellow fever at the age of 37 in New York City. He most likely contracted the viral disease in Panama while he and his wife Anne were en... Continue Reading →
October 31, 1929 The Louisville Municipal Bridge, spanning a section of the Ohio River between the cities of Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, was formally opened. Those attending the dedication ceremony for the four-lane cantilevered truss bridge included public officials from both of those states and also what one newspaper account characterized as “hundreds of onlookers.” ... Continue Reading →
October 28, 1874 Henry Garnett Shirley, who became the first president of AASHO (officially renamed AASHTO in 1973), was born in Jefferson County, West Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in civil engineering in 1896, and went on to serve as commandant and professor of military science at Horner Military... Continue Reading →
October 27, 1907 A major transportation hub in Washington, D.C., made its debut when the Pittsburgh Express passenger train of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad pulled into the new facility at 6:56 a.m. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post reported that “4,000 or more prospective passengers and spectators who crowded up... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 