Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 21, 1963 Early on a subzero Monday morning, the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad – popularly known as the North Shore Line (NSL) – made its final run after nearly 47 years of service between northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. United Press International (UPI) reported, “The last train of the North Shore railroad –... Continue Reading →
January 20, 1908 In the north-central region of the State of Washington, the first highway bridge in the United States crossing the Columbia River was officially opened. The Columbia River Bridge, which was built by the Washington Bridge Company over the course of two years, has provided an important link between the city of Wenatchee in... Continue Reading →
January 19, 1881 School bus pioneer Franklin A. “Patch” Patchett was born in San Miguel in San Luis Obispo County, California. In 1911, he went into business with his two of his brothers and a brother-in-law to run a Ford Motor Company distributorship for the western half of California’s Stanislaus County. A milestone for their... Continue Reading →
January 15, 1970 William Thomas Piper, Sr., an aircraft manufacturer and businessman who left an indelible imprint on the aviation industry, died in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, at the age of 89. During the course of his long career, Piper had become widely known as the “Henry Ford of aviation.” Piper was born in the New... Continue Reading →
January 14, 1938 The Bushkill Street Bridge, crossing the Delaware River and connecting the city of Easton, Pennsylvania, with the town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, was opened to traffic. This bridge was not only the first to be built by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission but also the reason why that bi-state agency came... Continue Reading →
January 13, 1879 Ada Anderson – a 35-year-old Englishwoman widely known as “Madame Anderson” – finished a 28-day-long pedestrian endurance event at Mozart Garden in Brooklyn, New York, that earned her international headlines. The next day’s edition of the Cincinnati Daily Star reported, “Madame Anderson has completed one of the most difficult tasks ever attempted by... Continue Reading →
January 12, 1913 Castle Point Lighthouse, located near the village of Castlepoint on the southeastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island, was first officially lit. The 75-foot (23-meter)-tall lighthouse was constructed to help guide and protect vessels sailing in the vicinity of the North Island’s southeastern shoreline, an area that can be dangerous due to local reefs and shallows... Continue Reading →
January 11, 1986 The Gateway Bridge, spanning the Brisbane River in the state of Queensland in northeastern Australia (specifically along the eastern suburbs of the city of Brisbane), was opened to the public. These inaugural festivities, which one newspaper characterized as “a resounding success,” included approximately 200,000 individuals walking across the new bridge. At that time,... Continue Reading →
January 8, 1954 The Southern Pacific Railroad’s Sunset Limited became the first train to use the newly opened New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal (NOUPT). This train, which had begun its journey on the west coast, arrived at NOUPT at 4:35 p.m. At 5:00 p.m., the Illinois Central Railroad’s Panama Limited became the first train to... Continue Reading →
January 7, 1785 The first-ever flight over the English Channel took place when French inventor and aviation pioneer Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American physician and scientist Dr. John Jeffries (at the time a British resident) traveled over that body of water in a gas balloon. The travel equipment on board the balloon included silk-covered oars for the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 