Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 27, 2005 A pivotal moment took place for construction on a railway tunnel in the northeastern part of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, when both halves of this structure were joined together. This breakthrough occurred about six-and-a-half years after the start of that construction project. That tunnel specifically courses through the Hakkōda mountain... Continue Reading →
February 26, 1934 An airport on the northwestern coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania was opened. This regional airport is adjacent to the town of Wynyard and about 11 miles (17 kilometers) west of the port city of Burnie. Approximately 3,000 people showed up for the Monday afternoon debut of this airport, which was... Continue Reading →
February 23, 2019 A fleet of six-car trains built for the Marunouchi Line of the Tokyo Metro, a major rapid transit system operating in Japan’s Greater Tokyo Area, first went into service on a regular basis. The first of these 53 trains, which are collectively called the Tokyo Metro 2000 series, had been formally unveiled... Continue Reading →
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1849. She subsequently risked her life to help others from that state likewise escape to freedom. As an Underground Railroad conductor in those years prior to the American Civil War, Tubman led about 70 enslaved people to the North. In addition, it has been estimated that Tubman... Continue Reading →
February 21, 2007 In central Greece’s administrative region of Attica (an area that includes the capital city of Athens), a railway station in the town and municipality of Vrilissia was opened to the public. This station is located on Vrilissia’s main thoroughfare of Pentelis Avenue. Pentelis railway station was officially inaugurated by Michalis Liapis, who... Continue Reading →
February 20, 1927 Just a little over two months after first being placed into service on a trial basis, the Leça Lighthouse on northwestern Portugal’s Atlantic coast was officially inaugurated. This lighthouse was built in the then-civil parish of Leça da Palmeira (now part of the civil parish of Matosinhos e Leça da Palmeira) in... Continue Reading →
February 19, 1914 In the city of Oakland within the San Francisco Bay Area, a major addition to the Southern Pacific Railroad’s Sixteenth Street Station was officially opened. This station, in the years following the calamitous San Francisco earthquake in 1906, had gained ever-increasing importance for its role in helping to facilitate the renewed travel,... Continue Reading →
February 16, 1893 A Thursday morning launch of a pilot boat named the J. Henry Edmunds was held in the city of Brooklyn (now one of the five boroughs of New York City). This type of vessel operates in the vicinity of a port and is used to transport maritime pilots to ships in the... Continue Reading →
In 2010, La’Shanda R. Holmes Hawkins became the first African American female helicopter pilot in the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). As an officer in that uniformed service, she has amassed more than 2,000 flight hours while helping to carry out search-and-rescue missions; law enforcement operations; and various other duties. Hawkins, who was born in... Continue Reading →
February 14, 1941 A formal acknowledgement -- albeit one that had to be clarified -- was accorded the person who drove the one-millionth motor vehicle through New York City’s Queens-Midtown Tunnel about three months after the debut of that structure. The office of William H. Friedman, commissioner of the New York City Tunnel Authority (now part... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 