Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 9, 1984 Du Collège station of the Montreal Metro, the underground rapid transit system serving the metropolitan area of Canada’s second most populous city, was officially opened. Du Collège station is located in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent. This station is named for the rue Du Collège, one of the streets where it is... Continue Reading →
January 6, 1922 Construction began on a suspension bridge that would cross the Delaware River and serve as a link between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. As part of the festivities marking the start of work on this structure (originally known as the Delaware River Bridge), a salute of 17 guns was fired from... Continue Reading →
January 5, 2013 Philosopher’s Way, a 2.7-mile (4.3-kilometer) loop trail around the perimeter of John McLaren Park in San Francisco, was opened to the public. This trail is the first and only one in the United States to be built primarily for philosophers. The key features of Philosopher’s Way include a total of 14 stone... Continue Reading →
January 4, 2017 Robert Marchand, a 105-year-old French cyclist, established a world record in one-hour track cycling for people in his age group. At the Paris-area indoor track known as the Velodrome National, he completed 92 laps and in the process covered a total of 14 miles (22.6 kilometers). Marchand achieved this record while wearing... Continue Reading →
January 3, 1942 Just a little less than a month after the United States entered World War II on the side of the Allies, a yacht was acquired by the U.S. Navy from William F. Ladd for use in that global conflict. (Ladd had been adjutant general of Connecticut between 1930 and 1939 and would... Continue Reading →
December 30, 2019 The Ryfylke Tunnel in western Norway’s Rogaland county was officially opened to traffic. This tunnel -- encompassing one tube for each direction and two vehicular lanes in each of those tubes -- carries Norwegian National Road 13 under a body of water called Horgefjord (part of the vast fjord known as Boknafjord).... Continue Reading →
December 29, 1933 With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, it was definitely a case of “out with the old, in with the new” on the southwest tip of the Hawaiian island of Oahu due to the replacement of one lighthouse with another there. (At the time, Hawaii was a U.S. territory; it became the 50th... Continue Reading →
December 28, 1894 In the town of Cromer on England’s eastern coast, an 18-year-old local resident named Henry Blogg first saw action at sea as a member of the crew of RNLB (Royal National Lifeboat) Benjamin Bond Cabbell II. Blogg had actually joined that crew nearly a year earlier, but it was that holiday-season mission... Continue Reading →
December 27, 1893 A pivotal test ride took place for a newly completed truss railroad bridge in eastern-central Missouri. This four-span truss bridge, crossing the Missouri River at Bellefontaine Bluffs and serving as a link between Charles County and St. Louis County in the Show-Me State, had been built for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy... Continue Reading →
December 23, 2018 A dedication ceremony was held for the first section of a light rail transit (LRT) system in Taiwan. This system was built to provide greater access to Danhai New Town, a large residential development of Tamsui District in New Taipei City. Danhai light rail, which is operated by New Taipei Metro Corporation... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 