Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 3, 1900 The first major automobile show in the United States opened on a Saturday evening at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The next day’s edition of the New York Times reported, “From the hour the doors of the big building swung inward until midnight a throng of spectators variously estimated at from... Continue Reading →
Between 1920 and 1923, the Illinois Division of Highways (IDH) --now part of the Illinois Department of Transportation -- oversaw a series of tests to help determine the best type of pavement to use on that state’s roads. IDH launched these tests at a time when it was preparing for major construction projects to accommodate... Continue Reading →
October 27, 1948 In southwestern Michigan’s city of St. Joseph, the Blossomland Bridge was dedicated in a series of evening ceremonies. This drawbridge was built to carry U.S. Route 31 (US 31) across the St. Joseph River (That segment of US 31 is now part of Michigan Highway 63.) There had been a longtime need... Continue Reading →
October 23, 1914 In a late-afternoon ceremony near the city of Eureka in northwestern California, the last 200 feet (61 meters) of track of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) was officially dedicated. This celebration specifically occurred at Chain Rock Bridge. The completion of the PWP occurred just about seven years after that line was created by the... Continue Reading →
On November 15, 1958, a dedication ceremony was held for a 1.8-mile (2.9-kilometer) portion of Interstate 65 (I-65) in the south-central region of Tennessee. This segment of I-65 was the first part of the Interstate Highway System in Tennessee to be completed. The Tennessee State Department of Highways and Public Works (the predecessor of the... Continue Reading →
October 19, 1874 The first airborne wedding that is verifiable took place above the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio, in what one newspaper account characterized as “a matrimonial sensation.” Mary Elizabeth Walsh and Charles Samuel Colton exchanged vows in a hot-air balloon named “P.T. Barnum.” (Both the bride and groom worked for the legendary showman’s traveling circus.) ... Continue Reading →
October 14, 1890 President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who served as the 34th U.S. president between 1953 and 1961, was born in Denison, Texas. One of the defining moments of his presidency was when he signed into law the landmark Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that made the Interstate System a reality. The provisions in Title... Continue Reading →
October 13, 1860 A milestone in aviation occurred in the skies above Boston, Massachusetts, when James Wallace Black took photographs of the city while traveling above it in a hot-air balloon. Black, a one-time artist who set aside his palettes and paint brushes to pursue instead the still-nascent endeavor of photography, flew over Boston in a... Continue Reading →
October 8, 1897 A large parade of bicyclists took place in Louisville, Kentucky. The event, which was part of a carnival celebration, reflected the strong enthusiasm for bicycling throughout that era. On the day before the parade, the city’s Courier-Journal newspaper even ventured that the event could be “as pretty a bicycle display as has ever... Continue Reading →
October 5, 1997 The Lincoln Alexander Parkway, which is also known as The Linc, was formally opened in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. Measuring 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in length, this municipal expressway connects King’s Highway 403 with the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton. Plans for the Lincoln Alexander... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 