Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 22, 1893 Here’s proof that transportation not only gets you from point A to point B but can also be inspirational. . . It was on this date that 33-year-old Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, found herself taking in a majestic view from atop the Colorado-based mountain Pikes... Continue Reading →
July 19, 1869 Masonry construction was completed on a new lighthouse in the Celtic Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. This took place nearly five years after William Douglass, the engineer supervising the project, laid the first stone of the structure. This lighthouse is located on a rock that is 18 nautical miles... Continue Reading →
July 18, 1924 After more than three decades of service, the Belleville funicular tramway in Paris ceased operations. This railway consisted of cable cars connecting the Place de la la République (Republic Square) in the north-central region of France’s capital city with Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Belleville, a major church on a hill in northeastern Paris’s Belleville... Continue Reading →
July 17, 2012 A terminal station that had been built to serve Humberto Delgado Airport (Aeroporto Humberto Delgado) and is located on the Red Line of the Lisbon Metro – the rapid transit station operating in the metropolitan area centered on Portugal’s capital city – was officially opened. Humberto Delgado Airport, which is informally known... Continue Reading →
July 16, 1973 A rapid transit station at 1215 Isabella Street in the Chicago suburb of Evanston was closed permanently. Isabella station served the Evanston Line (the present-day Purple Line) of the Chicago “L” (short for “elevated”), which is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). This station had been opened on April 1,... Continue Reading →
July 15, 1952 Two large Sikorsky H-19 helicopters took off from Westover Air Force Base (AFB) in Massachusetts to begin what would be the first transoceanic crossing of that mode of airborne transportation. One of these helicopters was named “Hop-A-Long,” and it was piloted by Captain Vincent H. McGovern with Captain Harry C. Jeffers as... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1860 At about three o’clock on a Thursday afternoon, a pilot boat named Fannie was launched at the junction of Bushwick Creek and the East River in the Greenpoint neighborhood of the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a... Continue Reading →
July 11, 2005 On the north end of the island of Montserrat – a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea – an airport in the village of Gerald’s first went into service. The formal opening of this airport took place nearly five months after it had been dedicated by Anne, Princess Royal, daughter of... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1908 The Thamshavn Line, Norway’s first electric railway, made its debut. The initial segment of this trailblazing line was formally opened by Norway’s King Haakon VII (1872-1957). This railway was built to carry ore from the mines at the village of Løkken Verk in central Norway to the ports of Orkanger and Thamshavn... Continue Reading →
July 9, 1923 The Logan Valley Bus Company (LVBC) began operations in the vicinity of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the south-central region of the Keystone State. (A portion of this area has long been known as Logan Valley.) The LVBC was formed the previous week as a subsidiary of the Altoona & Logan Valley (A&LV) Electric... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 