Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 21, 1932 The Hudson Motor Car Company introduced a unique automobile amid great fanfare at the company’s plant in Detroit, Michigan. The automobile was the Terraplane. While lacking the airborne qualities of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, this new automobile was given its unusual name to attract public interest and capitalize on the strong popularity of aviation... Continue Reading →
July 20, 1894 Errett Lobban Cord, industrialist and trend-setting automobile manufacturer, was born in the city of Warrensburg, Missouri. Cord, knowing a profitable thing when he saw it, immersed himself in the ever-burgeoning world of automobile development and did much to help that mode of transportation come of age. The Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles... Continue Reading →
July 19, 1961 Trans World Airlines (TWA) introduced regularly scheduled in-flight movies during a transcontinental trip of a Boeing 707 between New York City and Los Angeles. The first movie to be shown as part of that new service was By Love Possessed, a drama starring Lana Turner and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. The screening of the movie... Continue Reading →
July 16, 1965 The Mont Blanc Tunnel was officially dedicated. This road tunnel, which is located beneath Mont Blanc in the Alps, links the town of Chamonix in southeastern France with the resort village of Courmayeur in northwestern Italy. (Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in not only the Alps but also all of Europe.)... Continue Reading →
July 14, 1897 In West Africa, a road bridge in what is now the Republic of Senegal was officially opened. (At the time of the bridge’s debut, Senegal was a colonial territory of France.) This bridge, which was built across the Senegal River to connect the island and town of Saint-Louis with the mainland, replaced... Continue Reading →
July 13, 1879 Civil engineer and prestressed concrete pioneer Eugène Freyssinet was born in the commune of Objat in central France. By the time that World War I broke out in 1914, Freyssinet had designed several major bridges in France. A leading example of Freyssinet’s work in those pre-war years was the Pont le Veurdre near... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower made transportation history when he became the first U.S. president to fly in a helicopter. This aviation “first” occurred after he went on board a Bell H-13J helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House. This helicopter had been purchased by the U.S. Air Force, and it was piloted... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1910 Just a couple of days before his 21st birthday, Walter Brookins broke the world’s altitude record for fixed-wing aircraft when he attained a height of 6,175 feet (1,882 meters) while piloting a Wright biplane in the skies above Atlantic City, New Jersey. This early-evening flight also marked the first time that a... Continue Reading →
July 8, 1856 A railway station was opened in the hamlet of Broomielaw in northeastern England as part of the Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway’s line serving that region. Unlike the other stations along the line that were also opened at the time, Broomielaw railway station was originally not intended for public use. The facility... Continue Reading →
July 7, 1914 An electric railway (interurban) line in southern Maine began regular operations. This line would serve as a key transit link between the Pine Tree State’s two largest cities: Portland in Cumberland County; and Lewiston in Androscoggin County. Construction on the line began in 1910. The first trial run for the new route... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 