Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 2, 1927 The Ferguson Highway was formally dedicated in the province of Ontario, Canada. The public official presiding over this inauguration of the highway on a Saturday afternoon was William Finlayson (1876-1943), Ontario’s minister of lands and forests. The 260-mile (420-kilometer)-long gravel road, which stretched from the town of Cochrane to the city of North... Continue Reading →
July 1, 2002 On Japan’s island of Shikoku, a passenger railway station was opened in the town of Kagami in Kōchi Prefecture. (In 2006, Kagami became part of the newly formed city of Kōnan; however, the name of the station has remained the same.) Kagami Station is located on the 26.5-mile (42.7-kilometer)-long Asa Line of... Continue Reading →
On November 6, 2021, a U.S. Navy ship named after trailblazing public official and gay rights activist Harvey Milk was launched in San Diego Bay. USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-208) is part of the fleet of the John Lewis-class of underway replenishment oilers, which are operated by the Military Sealift Command to provide logistical support such... Continue Reading →
June 27, 1923 The first-ever transfer of fuel from one aircraft to another during flight took place between two Airco DH-4B planes of the U.S. Army Air Service in the skies above the San Diego area. The plane piloted by Captain Lowell H. Smith (with Lieutenant John P. Richter on board) received that mid-air refueling via... Continue Reading →
June 26, 1919 A caravan of motor trucks carrying a total of 50 specially selected boy scouts headed out of Akron, Ohio, for a journey of about 2,000 miles (3,218.7 kilometers) through nine states altogether. This Wednesday departure from northeastern Ohio’s Summit County marked the start of what Vehicle Monthly magazine characterized as “one of the... Continue Reading →
June 25, 1982 In Switzerland, the Furka Base Tunnel connecting the village of Oberwald with the municipality of Realp was opened. At the time, this structure was the world’s longest narrow-gauge tunnel. This 9.6-mile (15.4-kilometer)-long rail tunnel, which took nine years to build in the face of formidable engineering challenges, has made it possible for the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1981 The Humber Bridge in northeastern England was opened to traffic. This 7,280-foot (2,220-meter)-long single-span suspension bridge carries the A15 road over the Humber -- a large tidal estuary jointly formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse -- between the town and civil parish of Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank; and the town, civil... Continue Reading →
June 21, 1954 NBC Radio presented the final broadcast of The Railroad Hour. This program, which had been on the air for 16 years, was sponsored by the American Association of Railroads (AAR). The program had a music-and-drama format, and Jeannette MacDonald (1903-1965) and Adolphe Menjou (1893-1963) were among the performers who graced those broadcasts.... Continue Reading →
June 20, 1860 In New York City, a 78-foot (23.8-meter)-long pilot boat was launched from the foot of 12th Street and into the East River. This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a port and is used to transport maritime pilots to ships in the area. While on board a ship, the maritime... Continue Reading →
On June 19, 1865 -- nearly two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation -- enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, at long last received official notification that they were free from bondage. That historic day is now called Juneteenth, a portmanteau of “June” and “nineteenth.” The Emancipation Proclamation applied only to those states... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 