Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 18, 1838 In Connecticut, a contract was awarded for the construction of a new lighthouse on the west side of the mouth of Connecticut River at what is now the town of Old Saybrook. The recipients of this contract were Connecticut residents Jonathan Scranton, a farmer experienced in constructing breakwaters and wharves along the shoreline;... Continue Reading →
August 14, 1929 Despite rainy weather, the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge spanning the Delaware River made its debut amid great fanfare. This steel arch, double-leaf bascule structure links the borough of Palmyra, New Jersey, with the Tacony neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia. The bridge, which replaced a ferry service that had been operating in the vicinity since 1922, was designed by... Continue Reading →
Morris Luther Shadburn, who became a leading highway official both within his native state of Georgia and on the national level, was born on February 4, 1897, in the Atlanta-area city of Buford. In 1917, he graduated from the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology) with a B.S. in civil engineering.... Continue Reading →
August 6, 1891 In north-central Pennsylvania, trial runs were completed for the inaugural electric streetcars adopted for use in the city of Williamsport. These runs had been launched late the previous night. The first of those vehicles began its trial run at around 11:00 p.m. on August 5, leaving the streetcar depot at Edwin and Campbell... Continue Reading →
August 3, 1916 In Washington State, the snag steamer Swinomish became the first ship to pass through a complex of locks for the section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal at the west end of Salmon Bay and between the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and Magnolia. (A snag steamer is a vessel built to clear... Continue Reading →
July 31, 1907 In Massachusetts, a new bridge spanning across the Charles River and connecting Boston’s Beacon Hill area with the Kendall Square community of Cambridge was officially dedicated. The North Adams Transcript reported, “The structure is unusually well lighted and one of its features which contribute to its reputation as one of the most beautiful... Continue Reading →
July 30, 1952 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the state’s Western Shore, was opened to traffic. At the time of its debut, this bridge -- with the original span measuring 4.3 miles (6.9 kilometers) in length from shore to shore -- was the world’s longest continuous steel structure... Continue Reading →
July 29, 1913 Paul D. Sargent became the first chief engineer of the newly formed Maine State Highway Commission (MSHC) when his appointment was officially confirmed by Governor William T. Haines and the Executive Council. (The Executive Council was a government body that had been established when Maine became a state in 1820; this council... Continue Reading →
July 28, 1911 In Canada, a new streetcar system was launched in Regina, Saskatchewan. A brief dedication ceremony took place at ten o’clock on that Friday morning, and then the first four electric streetcars of the system made their way through the capital city of Saskatchewan. Hundreds of people lined up along the streets to watch... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1962 Aviation executive and pioneer James H. “Dutch” Kindelberger died at his home in Los Angeles at age 67. Kindelberger, who was described in an Associated Press story that day as “one of the giants of America’s aerospace industry,” had been born in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1895. He acquired the nickname “Dutch”... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 