Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 11, 1936 The first trackless trolley line in the Boston metropolitan area made its debut when the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) introduced trolleybuses on what had been a streetcar route between Harvard Square and Lechmere Square in the city of Cambridge. The first of these orange vehicles left Bennett Street yard (near Harvard Square)... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1848 The Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal was first opened to navigation when the freight boat General Fry traveled northwest along the recently completed route from the town of Lockport to the then-small city of Chicago. While the formal dedication of the I&M Canal would not take place until six days later, the... Continue Reading →
April 9, 1907 Civil engineer Harry Pond Townsend was granted U.S. Patent No. 850,077 for a coaster brake that he had created for bicycles. Townsend assigned the patent application to his employer, the New Departure Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Connecticut. (The company built its reputation on producing various types of bells, including bicycle bells, and those widely... Continue Reading →
April 8, 1978 The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) and icebreaking tug Katmai Bay was launched at the Tacoma Boatbuilding Company shipyard in the city of Tacoma on Washington State’s Puget Sound. The featured speaker at the launch was DeWitt J. Griffin, former president of the Navy League of the United States (a non-profit association... Continue Reading →
April 5, 1941 Nigel Gresley, a railway engineer who made major contributions to the development of high-powered steam locomotives, died at his home in Hertford, England, at the age of 64. He was born in 1876 in Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh and raised in the English village and civil parish of Netherseal. After attending... Continue Reading →
April 4, 2016 In Indonesia, Merah-Putih Bridge was dedicated in the province of Maluku less than five years after construction on it had begun. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo formally opened the red-and-white bridge, which spans Ambon Bay in Maluku’s capital city of Ambon. Other public officials attending this ceremony included Basuki Hadimuljono, Indonesia’s minister... Continue Reading →
April 2, 1910 Thomas Buckland Jeffery, a pioneering manufacturer of bicycles and automobiles, died at the age of 65 while vacationing in Pompeii, Italy. Jeffery was born in Stoke, England, in 1845. He immigrated to the United States when he was 18 and settled in Chicago. Jeffery went into the bicycle business several years later.... Continue Reading →
April 1, 1909 Automobile coachbuilder Fleetwood Metal Body was formally launched in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, with Harry C. Urich serving as the new company’s president and general manager. Fleetwood Metal Body soon established itself as a leading high-quality producer of aluminum and wood automotive chassis. By 1920, the company was regularly exhibiting its creations at prestigious automobile... Continue Reading →
March 28, 1918 A milestone in the short but eventful U.S. Navy service of the vessel USS Aphrodite took place when she was assigned to convoy escort duty with a higher-than-average risk along the French coast during World War I. Aphrodite had made her debut a couple of decades earlier in decidedly more luxurious circumstances.... Continue Reading →
March 26, 1863 Truck industrialist George Albert Brockway was born in the village of Homer, New York. He was the son of William Northrup Brockway, who manufactured horse-drawn carriages and wagons. After William was stricken with a debilitating illness in 1888 that brought about his death the following year, George stepped in as the company’s business manager.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 