Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 25, 2008 A pontoon bridge in the Okanagan Valley of the Canadian province of British Columbia was opened to traffic. (A pontoon bridge has floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck.) This bridge crosses Okanagan Lake and serves as a link between the cities of Kelowna and West Kelowna. This structure replaced... Continue Reading →
As a longtime businessman and civic leader in the city of Portland in Oregon, Bill Naito became a strong champion of public transportation initiatives in that part of the world. He was born in Portland on September 16, 1925, to Hide and Fukiye Naito, who had immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1912.... Continue Reading →
May 23, 1848 Aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal was born in the town of Anklam in what was then the Kingdom of Prussia (now part of the Federal Republic of Germany). Lilienthal would be called everything from the “Glider King” to “The Father of Flight” for his efforts to make human aviation much more of a reality... Continue Reading →
May 22, 1899 A new and important word found its way into the transportation lexicon of the United States when Charles B. Shanks, a reporter with the Cleveland-based Plain Dealer newspaper, became the first known person in the country to use the French word “automobile.” This word made its official American debut in the first of... Continue Reading →
May 19, 1897 In southeastern New Hampshire, construction on the Exeter Street Railway -- an electric streetcar line that would link together the towns of Exeter and Hampton as well as the highly popular Hampton Beach resort -- officially began with a late-morning ceremony. At around 10:30 a.m., Judge Charles M. Lamprey spoke to those... Continue Reading →
May 18, 1947 The streamlined passenger train Silver Comet was inaugurated with a great deal of fanfare by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) at Penn Station in New York City. Prior to its first-time run between New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, this newly built train was christened by film and stage actress Jean... Continue Reading →
Mara Huling Langevin made history as the first Asian American female -- as well as the first female of any minority -- to become a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) aviator. “I never thought about being the first of anything,” she said in a 2021 interview with the USCG’s news service MyCG. “All I wanted to... Continue Reading →
May 16, 1961 Automotive manufacturer Richard J. Corbitt died in Henderson, North Carolina, at the age of 88. Corbitt had first established residence in that community in 1894, and he entered the transportation business five years later with the launch of the Corbitt Buggy Company. For several years, this company built horse-drawn buggies for hauling agricultural... Continue Reading →
May 15, 2004 Amadora Este station on the Blue Line of the Lisbon Metro, the rapid transit station operating in the metropolitan area centered on Portugal’s capital city, first went into service. This underground station is located beneath a major bus terminal in the municipality and city of Amadora, which is 6.2 miles (10 kilometers)... Continue Reading →
May 12, 1917 Nearly a month-and-a-half after the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, a private motorboat named Althea was commissioned into the U.S. Navy under the command of Ensign E.L. Anderson of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. This vessel had been acquired from James H. Moore. Althea... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 