Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 5, 1914 What are widely regarded as the world’s first electric traffic lights made their debut at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. Alfred A. Benesch (1879-1973), the city’s director of public safety, placed the lights in operation at 5:00 p.m. Those also on hand for that launch included other... Continue Reading →
July 31, 1989 Savage station, which is based in central Maryland, first went into regular service early on a Monday morning. This station is part of the Camden Line of the MARC commuter rail system and it is specifically located between the communities of Savage in Howard County and Annapolis Junction in both Howard and... Continue Reading →
July 22, 1893 Here’s proof that transportation not only gets you from point A to point B but can also be inspirational. . . It was on this date that 33-year-old Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, found herself taking in a majestic view from atop the Colorado-based mountain Pikes... Continue Reading →
July 16, 1973 A rapid transit station at 1215 Isabella Street in the Chicago suburb of Evanston was closed permanently. Isabella station served the Evanston Line (the present-day Purple Line) of the Chicago “L” (short for “elevated”), which is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). This station had been opened on April 1,... Continue Reading →
July 15, 1952 Two large Sikorsky H-19 helicopters took off from Westover Air Force Base (AFB) in Massachusetts to begin what would be the first transoceanic crossing of that mode of airborne transportation. One of these helicopters was named “Hop-A-Long,” and it was piloted by Captain Vincent H. McGovern with Captain Harry C. Jeffers as... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1860 At about three o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, a pilot boat named Fannie was launched at the junction of Bushwick Creek and the East River in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a... Continue Reading →
July 11, 2005 On the north end of the island of Montserrat – a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea – an airport in the village of Gerald’s first went into service. The formal opening of this airport took place nearly five months after it had been dedicated by Anne, Princess Royal, daughter of... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1923 The Logan Valley Bus Company (LVBC) began operations in the vicinity of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the south-central region of the Keystone State. (A portion of this area has long been known as Logan Valley.) The LVBC was formed the previous week as a subsidiary of the Altoona & Logan Valley (A&LV) Electric... Continue Reading →
July 8, 2007 The Badger State Trail in south-central Wisconsin was officially opened. This 40-mile (64-kilometer) trail courses from the state boundary with Illinois to Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison. In between those two points, the Badger State Trail passes through – from south to north – the city of Monroe; the villages of Monticello... Continue Reading →
July 5, 1917 The U.S. Navy acquired a wooden-hulled screw steam yacht named the Admiral from Gordon Dexter (186-1937), president of the Connecticut-based Submarine Signal Company. This acquisition took place three months after the United States’ entry in World War I on the side of the Allied Powers and at a time when the Navy... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 