Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 22, 1861 Edward Payson Weston began a 478-mile (769.3-kilometer) trip from the Massachusetts State House in Boston to Washington, D.C., to attend Abraham Lincoln’s first presidential inauguration – and he did so using only his two feet for transportation. The 21-year-old Weston undertook this ambitious trip in the first place because of a bet he... Continue Reading →
February 18, 1907 The U.S. Congress approved a measure allowing the Maryland-based Washington, Spa Spring and Gretta Electric Railroad (WSSGRR) to extend its streetcar operations into Washington, D.C. This act cleared the way for the last new streetcar company of the era to provide transit services in Washington, D.C., and the plan was to build the... Continue Reading →
February 16, 1843 Henry Martyn Leland, who would leave an indelible mark on the American automobile industry, was born in northeastern Vermont. As a young man, he worked as for the renowned tools manufacturer Brown & Sharp in Providence, Rhode Island. That job and others helped Leland refine a wide range of mass-production and mechanical... Continue Reading →
February 11, 1878 The Boston Bicycle Club was formally established. This club was the first official bicycle organization in the United States, and it took shape a year after the nation’s first periodical focused on that transportation mode – The American Bicycling Journal – had been likewise launched in the capital of Massachusetts. The Boston Bicycle... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1875 The Hoosac Tunnel, which passes through a part of both the Berkshires and the Green Mountains known as the Hoosac Range, was opened in western Massachusetts. (“Hoosac” is an Algonquian phrase for “place of stones.”) Construction on that 4.75-mile (7.7-kilometer)-long tunnel had begun during the early 1850s, and the first train to... Continue Reading →
February 2, 1957 A dedication ceremony was held for a still-incomplete bridge crossing the Hudson River in southeastern New York. This bridge, which is about 96 miles (154.5 kilometers) north of New York City, serves as a link between the city of Kingston in Ulster County and the hamlet of Rhinecliff (part of the town... Continue Reading →
January 29, 1943 Just over a year after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, one of the many ships built for service in that global conflict was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. This new vessel was an LST (formally classified as a Landing Ship, Tank). The ship had... Continue Reading →
January 28, 1962 The conclusion of the first era of streetcars in Washington, D.C. and the grand finale for a memorable part of the city’s transportation history, took place. “A century of streetcar service ends in Washington,” reported the Associated Press, “and nostalgia lies thick along the Potomac.” This first era of regularly scheduled streetcar... Continue Reading →
January 27, 1830 The first railroad in Kentucky was chartered by the state’s legislature. This charter for the Lexington & Ohio Railroad (L&O) named Lexington citizens Elisha Winter and General Leslie Combs as the lead organizers for the new railroad. The overall aim of Winter, Combs, and other L&O proponents was to find an effective means... Continue Reading →
January 26, 1895 The First National Exhibit of Cycles, Cycle Accessories, and Sundries – better known as the National Show – came to a rousing end at 11:00 p.m. in New York City. “The most successful cycle show ever held in this country, and probably in the world, was brought to a close at Madison Square... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 