Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 30, 1884 Stanley Terrill Kellogg was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. Kellogg grew up to be a major figure in the nascent U.S. motorcycle industry as both a rider and businessman. His high-profile involvement with that mode of transportation was first established at the nation’s racetracks starting in 1902. Over the next several years, Kellogg set numerous... Continue Reading →
December 28, 1917 An experimental U.S. Army convoy of three-ton (2.7-metric ton) Packard motor trucks completed its long-distance trip between the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, arriving in downtown Baltimore two weeks after departing from Detroit. All but one of the 30 trucks that had left Detroit on December 14 completed this challenging journey. Other vehicles in... Continue Reading →
December 23, 1940 United Air Lines (later retitled United Airlines) launched what is generally regarded as the first all-cargo air service in the United States. The maiden flight for this service began when one of the company’s planes left New York City at 11:50 p.m. This aircraft, which carried approximately 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms) of... Continue Reading →
December 22, 1907 In central Washington State, the first test runs of the Yakima Valley Transportation (YVT) Company interurban electric railroad were conducted. The company was established the previous July to secure the rights to a streetcar franchise that Yakima’s city government had originally granted to a failing railroad company. Andrew Jackson “Jack” Splawn became the new... Continue Reading →
On April 23, 1960, a new portion of Interstate 20 (I-20) in the northern region of Louisiana was officially opened to traffic. The portion of that east-west route being inaugurated on that Saturday was a 9.7-mile (15.6-kilometer) segment between the city of Ruston and village of Choudrant. This segment was the longest stretch of Louisiana’s... Continue Reading →
December 15, 1912 Aviation pioneer Antony Habersack “Tony” Jannus arrived in New Orleans at the end of an extensive and record-setting flight that had begun in the Great Plains the previous month. Jannus had flown out of Omaha in a Benoist Land Tractor Type XII biplane on November 6. Jannus wanted to make this trip... Continue Reading →
December 14, 1903 The luxurious Merchants Limited, which became the premier passenger train of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH), first went into service. This train’s maiden journey was a late-in-the-day run between South Station in Boston and Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The next day’s edition of the Boston... Continue Reading →
On October 16, 1958, a dedication ceremony was held for the first part of Interstate 94 (I-94) in central North Dakota. This segment, covering 39 miles (62.8 kilometers) between the cities of Valley City and Jamestown in the eastern region of North Dakota, was also the first portion of the Interstate Highway System to be... Continue Reading →
December 7, 1891 A rail tunnel that had been built underneath the St. Clair River as a new transportation route between Canada and the United States was opened to passengers. This tunnel was specifically constructed to connect the town (now city) of Sarnia in the Canadian province of Ontario with the city of Port Huron... Continue Reading →
December 4, 1991 On the same day that Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) officially came to an end and halted its longtime operations, that airline’s final flight took place. Captain Mark Pyle piloted the airplane Clipper Goodwill, a Pan Am Boeing 727-221ADV, for Flight 436 between the cities of Bridgetown, Barbados, and Miami, Florida. ... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 