Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 13, 1825 Construction on the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal officially began. The groundbreaking for the canal took place near Kingston, New York, located about 90 miles (144.8 kilometers) north of New York City. The new waterway was built as a key transportation link between the coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania and the ports of New... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1950 Richard Fontaine Maury, an engineer whose legacy includes several key railways in South America, died in the city of Córdoba in northwestern Argentina’s Salta Province at the age of 67. He had started out life in the United States, but ultimately became a naturalized Argentine citizen. Maury was born in Philadelphia in... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1942 U.S. Navy Secretary Frank Knox approved the establishment of a training center for pilots at a 1,400-acre (566.6-hectare) tract of land a few miles (kilometers) north of the city of Ottumwa, Iowa. About eight months after that authorization, the Ottumwa Naval Air Station (officially known as NAS Ottumwa) welcomed its first group... Continue Reading →
July 8, 2016 In South Dakota, a ceremony took place in the town of Aurora to celebrate the completion of a major railroad project for trains traveling through the state’s eastern region. This $5.65-million project involved the construction of a total of 17,520 feet (5,340.1 meters) of main-line sidings in both Aurora and the city... Continue Reading →
July 7, 1902 Two months after being christened, the sailing vessel Preußen – named in honor of the German kingdom and state of Prussia – was completed at the Joh. C. Tecklenborg shipyard in the German Empire’s seaport of Geestemünde (now part of the city of Bremerhaven in the Republic of Germany). Preußen, which is... Continue Reading →
July 6, 1903 George Adams Wyman arrived in New York City on his motor bicycle 50 days after departing San Francisco on that vehicle. In completing this coast-to-coast trip, the 26-year-old Wyman became the first person to make a transcontinental crossing of the United States by motor vehicle. Twenty days after Wyman finished his journey of... Continue Reading →
July 2, 2005 Construction began on an airport to serve the city of Bengaluru (also called Bangalore), which is the capital of the state of Kamataka in southern India. The building of this facility was overseen by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public-private consortium that continues to be the airport’s owner and operator. The... Continue Reading →
July 1, 1962 A highway that had been built around a large part of Baltimore to help reduce traffic volumes in and near Maryland’s largest city was opened. This route has become most popularly known throughout the decades as the Baltimore Beltway. The planning and construction of the original version of this highway was coordinated... Continue Reading →
June 30, 2004 In the Republic of Ireland, the initial stage of the Luas light rail system in and around the capital city of Dublin went into service at 3:00 p.m. (“Luas” is the Irish word for “speed.”) The first segment of Luas to open was its Green Line, which ran at the time between the suburb... Continue Reading →
June 29, 1934 Joseph Adamowicz (1893-1970) and his younger brother Benjamin Adamowicz (1898-1979) began an ambitious airborne journey from North America to Europe. They are believed to be among the first (if not the first) amateur pilots to undertake any kind of transatlantic flight. The brothers, flying a monoplane known as City of Warsaw, made... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 