Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 15, 1919 The U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train, just over a week after leaving Washington, D.C., to embark on its pioneering transcontinental journey, was traveling through Ohio and struggling with the aftereffects of heavy rain that threatened to significantly slow down the convoy. The California-bound procession of vehicles had crossed over into Ohio... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1939 Motorcycle designer and entrepreneur Arlen Ness was born in Moorhead, Minnesota. When he was in the sixth grade, Ness moved with his family to California. Prior to his motorcycle career, Ness worked in such positions as a pin setter at a bowling alley, a post office employee, and a furniture mover. Over... Continue Reading →
July 8, 1919 [This post is the first in a series of history pieces celebrating 100 years of The U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train.] The U.S. Army’s Cross-Country Motor Transport Train, making its way from Maryland and into Pennsylvania, completed the first full day of its ambitious and unprecedented journey across the United States.... Continue Reading →
June 28, 2013 A new bicycle sharing system was launched in Chicago. This system was named “Divvy” to highlight a key defining characteristic of bicycle sharing, namely how participating riders divide and share the use of bicycles in this type of service. The efforts to establish such a system in the Windy City began in... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1918 Canada joined a small but ever-growing number of nations in a new method of postal delivery when that nation’s first official airmail service took place. At 10:12 a.m., Captain Brian Peck of the Royal Flying Corps departed for Toronto from the Bois Franc Polo Grounds near Montreal in a JN-Curtiss two-seater biplane... Continue Reading →
June 21, 1889 Transportation entrepreneur Harry Alphonse FitzJohn, who played an innovative role in the production of bus and truck bodies, was born in Toledo, Ohio. In 1905, FitzJohn began working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a messenger for its Weather Bureau. He stayed in that job until 1907, when he moved to... Continue Reading →
June 19, 1971 Garfield “Gar” Arthur Wood, a champion motorboat racer who also achieved fame for various transportation-oriented innovations, died at the age of 90 in Miami, Florida. Wood was born in Mapleton, Iowa, in 1880. He and his family subsequently moved to Minnesota and young Gar Wood developed a lifelong love for boats along... Continue Reading →
June 18, 1945 On South Carolina’s Atlantic coast, a new swing bridge linking Mount Pleasant (the largest town in the Palmetto State) with Sullivan’s Island (both an island and a town) was opened to traffic. The Ben Sawyer Bridge was officially dedicated a couple of days later. While construction plans for this bridge took shape... Continue Reading →
June 17, 1999 (Photo caption: Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Popelars, commanding officer of Cutter Frank Drew, pilots the buoy tender on the James River in Newport News, Virginia, Feb. 22, 2018. Courtesy of the Defense Information Visual Distribution Service - https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4176717/coast-guard-cutter-frank-drew-crew-services-buoys-elizabeth-james-rivers-va) U.S Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Frank Drew was officially transferred from... Continue Reading →
June 14, 1906 Let’s just say that it wasn’t your typical workday in Washington, D.C. . . . Daredevil aviation pioneer Lincoln Beachey left a lasting impression on many as he steered his airship above and even alongside various landmark buildings in the nation’s capital. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post called this trip through the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 