Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 10, 2009 A cable-stayed swing bridge in Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, was formally opened to pedestrians. Emer Costello (born in 1962), the lord mayor of Dublin, officiated at these inaugural festivities. The bridge was first opened to motor vehicle traffic the next morning. This 403.5-foot (123-meter)-long structure crosses the... Continue Reading →
December 9, 1941 Officials at the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway accepted the first of t0 large 2-6-6-6 Allegheny steam locomotives from the longtime Ohio-based manufacturer Lima Locomotive Works. This locomotive type’s numbers are due to the fact that it had two leading wheels, two sets of six driving wheels, and six training wheels. The “Allegheny” in... Continue Reading →
December 6, 1875 Albert Bond Lambert was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He led an eventful life in several decidedly different capacities, which included being a golfer in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics; the president and later chairman of a pharmaceutical company founded by his father (who also helped create the mouthwash Listerine); and police... Continue Reading →
December 5, 1951 An innovation in facilities for automobiles took place in northwest Washington, D.C., with the debut of the first push button-controlled parking garage. The pioneering Park-O-Mat garage, which was built on K Street between 14th and 15th Streets in the nation’s capital, did not have any ramps, aisles, or lanes. The garage instead relied... Continue Reading →
December 4, 1992 The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) retired the last of the 6000-series cars that had served the rapid transit system for that city and some of the surrounding suburbs for 42 years. “Best remembered for their green bodies and white tops, these were the first truly modern cars of the post-World War II... Continue Reading →
December 3, 2011 A walking trail that courses through both of New Zealand’s main islands was officially opened. This trail -- better known in New Zealand as a tramping route --is named Te Araroa, a Māori phrase that means “The Long Pathway.” Te Araroa covers approximately 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) altogether between Cape Reinga /... Continue Reading →
December 2, 1594 Gerardus Mercator, whose influential work in cartography included a seminal 1569 map that depicted sailing courses worldwide, died at the age of 82 in the city of Duisburg in present-day Germany. He had been born on March 5, 1512, in the town of Rupelmonde in what is now Belgium. Mercator established a niche... Continue Reading →
Charles Robinson, who had a longtime career with life-saving stations in his home state of Michigan, was born on May 5, 1874, in the city of Grand Haven on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and in the west-central section of the Wolverine State’s Lower Peninsula. Robinson was partly of Odawa ancestry. The Odawa --... Continue Reading →
November 26, 1931 Thanksgiving Day in 1931 proved to be memorable in New York City. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade started at 1:30 that afternoon in Manhattan at 110th and Broadway. The large helium balloons being carried in that year’s parade included a turkey, a dragon, a two-headed Martian, the popular cartoon star Felix the... Continue Reading →
November 25, 1949 The one-millionth Cadillac rolled off the production line a little more than 47 years after the first model of this automobile was built. The one-millionth Cadillac was a Coupe de Ville. This automotive milestone was officially announced by John F. Gordon (1900-1978), general manager of General Motors’ Cadillac motor car division. In making... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 