Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
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 →
Transportation History 