Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 6, 1886 Russell Randolph Waesche, whose influential tenure as commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) included his strong advocacy of maritime safety, was born in Thurmont, Maryland. Waesche graduated from the U.S. Revenue Cutter School of Instruction in 1906, and was commissioned a Third Lieutenant (Ensign). He subsequently served on cutters in the North... Continue Reading →
January 5, 1903 Air navigator and aviation pioneer Harold Gatty was born in Campbell Town in the Australian state of Tasmania. Gatty’s navigational career began in earnest when he withdrew from the Royal Australian Naval College in 1920 to serve as an apprenticed ship’s officer with the Sydney-based Patrick Steamship Company. While employed by this... Continue Reading →
January 4, 1884 The national railway of Chile was established. Domingo Santa María, who served as president of Chile from 1881 to 1886, signed the decree authorizing this new means of transportation. The railway, which is officially called Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE), was created in large part to maintain a key transportation... Continue Reading →
December 31, 1909 New York City’s Manhattan Bridge, which crosses over the East River and links Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension, was officially opened to traffic. This structure joined the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges as the suspension bridges carrying traffic over the lower East River. At the time of... Continue Reading →
December 30, 1884 Stanley Terrill Kellogg was born in Fairfield, Connecticut. Kellogg grew up to be a major figure in the nascent U.S. motorcycle industry as both a rider and businessman. His high-profile involvement with that mode of transportation was first established at the nation’s racetracks starting in 1902. Over the next several years, Kellogg set numerous... Continue Reading →
December 29, 1959 The first metro system in Portugal was inaugurated in the country’s capital city of Lisbon. Américo Tomás, who served as Portugal’s president from 1958 to 1974, officiated at the dedication ceremony for the initial 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) segment of this pioneering rapid transit service. At six o’clock the next morning, the Lisbon Metro... Continue Reading →
December 28, 1917 An experimental U.S. Army convoy of three-ton (2.7-metric ton) Packard motor trucks completed its long-distance trip between the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, arriving in downtown Baltimore two weeks after departing from Detroit. All but one of the 30 trucks that had left Detroit on December 14 completed this challenging journey. Other vehicles in... Continue Reading →
December 23, 1940 United Air Lines (later retitled United Airlines) launched what is generally regarded as the first all-cargo air service in the United States. The maiden flight for this service began when one of the company’s planes left New York City at 11:50 p.m. This aircraft, which carried approximately 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms) of... Continue Reading →
December 22, 1907 In central Washington State, the first test runs of the Yakima Valley Transportation (YVT) Company interurban electric railroad were conducted. The company was established the previous July to secure the rights to a streetcar franchise that Yakima’s city government had originally granted to a failing railroad company. Andrew Jackson “Jack” Splawn became the new... Continue Reading →
December 21, 1804 The Rochdale Canal in northern England was officially opened. The plans for this canal had been prepared by civil engineer John Rennie, with the Rochdale Canal Company established in 1794 to coordinate the construction of the new waterway. While Rennie developed the designs for the Rochdale Canal, it has been widely acknowledged... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 