Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Automobile designer Gordon M. Buehrig died in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, at the age of 85. Buehrig had been born in Mason City, Illinois, in 1904. Early on in life, he developed a robust enthusiasm for automobiles and drawing pictures of them – an enthusiasm that wasn’t always readily shared or even encouraged by others. ... Continue Reading →
Briggs Cunningham, an entrepreneur and sportsman who made notable contributions involving both yachts and automobiles, was born in Cincinnati. Early on in life, Cunningham spent summers with his family in the northeastern United States. When he was a teenager, his family moved to Southport, Connecticut. Cunningham was 17 when he joined the Star Class racing... Continue Reading →
A train station was opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to provide direct service to General Mitchell International Airport in that metropolitan area. The groundbreaking for the Milwaukee Airport Railroad Station had taken place during the summer of 2004. Those cutting the ceremonial ribbon for the formal debut of the facility on January 18, 2005, were Wisconsin... Continue Reading →
In southwestern Florida, a new mile (1.6-kilometer)-long bridge across the Peace River in Charlotte County made its formal debut. More than six decades earlier, the first bridge spanning that section of the river had been opened. This original structure, located just east of the current bridge, connected Live Oak Point on the river’s north bank... Continue Reading →
Nearly a year-and-a-half after the U.S. Congress appropriated $25,000 to build a lighthouse on the section of Fenwick Island in Delaware, the federal government paid someone named Mary C. Hall a mere $50 for a 10-acre (4.1-hectare) tract of land for the new structure. This location for the planned Fenwick Island Lighthouse was widely believed... Continue Reading →
Construction began on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) – formally classified as Highway 10 – in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper broke ground on the new project, which was undertaken to provide a long-awaited all-season road connecting the town of Inuvik on the East Channel of the Mackenzie River delta with the community... Continue Reading →
The Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors (GM) formally unveiled a pioneering type of automobile at the 30th annual National Auto Show at Grand Central Palace in New York City. “The first sixteen-cylinder engine to appear on an American motor car is introduced by Cadillac in its V-16 ‘super’ automobile exhibited for the first... Continue Reading →
The Connecticut Turnpike was formally opened. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the new expressway were held in the morning at its western terminus in the town of Greenwich and then during the afternoon at the eastern end in the town of Killingly on the Rhode Island border. Abraham A. Ribicoff, Connecticut’s incumbent governor, took part in both... Continue Reading →
More than a half-century after establishing a record for walking around the world, Dumitru Dan died in the city of Buzău in his native Romania at the age of 88. His path to international fame began in 1908 while he was a student in Paris. The Touring club de France initiated a contest for circumnavigating... Continue Reading →
A French crew of 14 sailors on board the vessel Banque Populaire V began an ambitious round-the-world voyage. The voyage was undertaken to win the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by a yacht. Starting in 1993, the Jules Verne Trophy – named for the acclaimed French writer whose works included... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 