Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 3, 1923 The first non-stop transcontinental flight across the United States was completed when U.S. Army Air Service Lieutenants Oakley G. Kelly and John A. Macready landed their single-engine, high-wing Army Fokker T-2 plane at Rockwell Field near San Diego, California. This landing took place 26 hours, 50 minutes, and 48 seconds after they... Continue Reading →
May 1, 1862 In Australia, the Point Stephens Light went into service in the colony (now state) of New South Wales (NSW). This lighthouse was built on Point Stephens, a point on a headland along the shore of Fingal Bay. The lighthouse is located 2.64 miles (4.25 kilometers) south of the entrance to Port Stephens,... Continue Reading →
April 30, 2009 The Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge was opened in the city of Cupertino in California’s Santa Clara County, which encompasses much of the region popularly known as Silicon Valley. The 503-foot (153.3-meter)-long bridge, which crosses over Interstate 280 and connects the north and south sections of the Stevens Creek Trail, has the distinction... Continue Reading →
April 29, 1851 The first successful demonstration of a full-sized electric locomotive took place in the Washington, D.C., area. The railroad car, equipped with an electric storage battery, had been built by Dr. Charles Grafton Page. Page was born in 1812 in Salem, Massachusetts. His father was a sea captain. Early on in life, he... Continue Reading →
April 26, 2008 The Utah-based FrontRunner commuter rail service made its inaugural run. This line was opened by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to serve the metropolitan region known as the Wasatch Front, with red, white and blue FrontRunner trains operating in the north-central part of the state from the vicinity of Ogden to Provo... Continue Reading →
Photo Credit: Library of Congress April 25, 1859 The first streetcars in Chicago made their debut. These horse-drawn vehicles began their service on a single rail track on State Street between Randolph and 12th Streets. Chicago’s inaugural streetcars – also known as horsecars – measured 12 feet (3.7 meters) in length and traveled three miles... Continue Reading →
April 24, 1834 The Long-Island Rail-Road (LIRR) Company was chartered by the New York State legislature. The genesis of that transportation enterprise can be traced to two years earlier when the Brooklyn & Jamaica (B&J) Rail Road was incorporated to build a 10-mile (16.1-kilometer)-long route from the East River in Brooklyn to the neighborhood of Jamaica. Civil... Continue Reading →
Photo Credit: Steve Morgan (licensed under Creative Commons) April 23, 1933 The first electric trolleybus system in Ohio began regular operations in Dayton. These trackless trolleybuses -- powered by overhead electric wires rather than gasoline – started their initial runs early that Sunday morning. The day’s edition of the Dayton Daily News outlined one of... Continue Reading →
April 22, 1904 The Visalia Electric Railroad (VERR) Company was incorporated under the laws of California to provide transit service within the central region of the Golden State. Paul Shoup was president of the fledgling enterprise, while H.A. Culloden was named its secretary. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad, VERR was a... Continue Reading →
April 19, 1884 The first funicular railway serving Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon made its official debut. This railway, which is best known as the Elevador do Lavra, was built to carry people up and down a steep incline called Calçada do Lavra. This section of Lisbon currently straddles the border of Santo António and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 