Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 21, 1900 A newly constructed lighthouse began operations on Somes Island (now officially known as Matiu/Somes Island) in the northern half of Wellington Harbour on the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island. At the time of this lighthouse’s debut, New Zealand was a British colony; it gained semi-independent status as a dominion of... Continue Reading →
February 18, 2015 A newly built train station was officially dedicated in the city of Tukwila in Washington’s King County. (Tukwila is located just south of Seattle.) Tukwila station was constructed by Sound Transit (ST), a public agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area, as a replacement for a temporary station that had been at that... Continue Reading →
February 17, 2005 In Japan’s Chubu (Central) region, an international airport was officially opened on an artificial island in Ise Bay within the city of Tokoname. Chubu Centrair International Airport – widely called Centrair -- was built to replace Nagoya Airport (now a domestic secondary airport known as Nagoya Airfield) as that area’s primary access... Continue Reading →
February 16, 1882 The iron-hulled Great Lakes freighter SS Onoko was launched from the shipyard of Globe Iron Works in Cleveland. The steam-powered Onoko, which measured 302.6 feet (92.2 meters) in length and 24.8 feet (7.6 meters) in height, was the first large commercial ship on the Great Lakes to be made of iron. Globe... Continue Reading →
Charles Richard “Rich” Patterson started out life as an enslaved person but ultimately gained his freedom. He went on to achieve prominence as both a carriage manufacturer and civil rights champion. Patterson was born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia in 1833. While there are conflicting accounts of how exactly Patterson became free, census... Continue Reading →
February 14, 2003 A cable-stayed pedestrian bridge was officially opened in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District in northern Taiwan. Since the dedication ceremony took place on Valentine’s Day, the new structure was given the name Tamsui Lover’s Bridge. The bridge, which measures approximately 644 feet (196.3 meters) in length, is a part of Fisherman’s Wharf... Continue Reading →
February 11, 1987 Construction started on a tunnels system in the Shing Mun area within the section of Hong Kong known as the New Territories. This project was completed about three years later. The Shing Mun Tunnels were formally opened on April 19, 1990, by David Wilson, who served as the representative of the British... Continue Reading →
February 10, 1941 A unique type of transportation for delivering mail via highways in the United States made its inaugural run. This means of mobility was the Highway Post Office, a large motor vehicle that had been specially outfitted to help process and move the mail as quickly as possible over long distances. The origins... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1933 Scottish aviator James A. Mollison, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth high-wing monoplane that he named “The Heart’s Content,” completed the first solo east-west airborne crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean. This unprecedented flight ended with Mollison landing at the city of Natal in northeastern Brazil at 1:20 p.m. He arrived there... Continue Reading →
In December 2006, Joan Higginbotham became the third African American woman to fly into outer space. The first African American woman to do so was Mae Jemison, who made her pioneering flight in 1992. About five months before Higginbotham’s spaceflight, Stephanie Diana Wilson became the second African American woman to journey into space when she... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 