Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
More than a year after the start of the American Revolutionary War, the Declaration of the Independence – officially called The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America – was adopted by the Second Continental Congress at Pennsylvania State House (later renamed Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. On that same... Continue Reading →
July 1, 1977 The Blue Line of the Washington Metro first went into service. This line’s inaugural stretch between National Airport station in Arlington County, Virginia, and Stadium-Armory station in southeast Washington, D.C., joined the Red Line (introduced the previous year) in forming what was then the world’s newest major rapid transit system. The Orange... Continue Reading →
June 30, 2023 On Hawaii’s island of Oʻahu, Kualakaʻi station in the community of East Kapolei first went into service. This station was one of nine that were officially opened on the same date. These stations constituted the inaugural segment of Skyline, a light metro rapid transit system that is managed by the Honolulu Department... Continue Reading →
June 29, 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) ushered in the Era of the Interstate System by signing into law the landmark Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. At the time, he was at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, recuperating from major intestinal surgery that had been performed 20 days earlier. To say that June... Continue Reading →
June 26, 2004 Just northwest of downtown Minneapolis, operations began for a light rail station built in the city’s Warehouse District – a longtime neighborhood – on 5th Street North (between 1st Avenue North and Hennepin Avenue). The Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue station was constructed as part of the first segment of the Blue Line of... Continue Reading →
June 22, 1950 The Highway Research Board (the present-day Transportation Research Board) formally announced the imminent launch of a major highway research project in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This project would specifically take place in the vicinity of La Plata, a Maryland town about 32 miles (51.5 kilometers) southeast of the nation’s capital. The... Continue Reading →
June 16, 1941 About six months before the United States officially entered World War II on the side of the Allies, the schooner Bowdoin was commissioned into the U.S. Navy. USS Bowdoin (IX-50) became one of this military branch’s few sail-powered vessels at the time. Bowdoin was placed under the command of USNR (U.S. Navy... Continue Reading →
June 11, 1764 Operations began for a lighthouse built about 500 feet (150 meters) from the tip of Sandy Hook, a barrier spit located within what was then the British royal colony of New Jersey and at the southern entrance of Lower New York Bay. This lighthouse had been constructed to help guide mariners traveling... Continue Reading →
June 9, 1928 A five-span truss bridge crossing a section of the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois was inaugurated with considerable fanfare. This vehicular bridge was named after James Beauchamp “Champ” Clark (1850-1921), a U.S. congressman who represented Missouri’s 9th district from 1893 until his death. In addition, Clark served as the 36th speaker... Continue Reading →
June 8, 1945 With World War II still underway in the Pacific Theater, the ship Francis J. O’Gara was launched at the shipyard of J.A. Jones Construction Company in Panama City, Florida. This vessel was one of more than 2,700 Liberty ships built in the United States during the war. These standardized cargo vessels were... Continue Reading →
