Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 26, 1901 Gentullio “Tullio” Campagnolo, who achieved widespread fame as both a racing cyclist and bicycle manufacturer, was born in the city of Vicenza in northeastern Italy. By the early 1920s, Campagnolo was regularly competing in such prestigious and difficult cycling races as the Giro di Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy) in northwestern Italy; and La... Continue Reading →
August 25, 1930 Approximately 25,000 people were on hand for the grand opening of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in southeastern New York. This bridge, which measures about 3,000 feet (910 meters) in length, carries traffic over the Hudson River between the city of Poughkeepsie and the hamlet of Highland. This structure was the world’s sixth longest suspension... Continue Reading →
August 24, 1912 President William Howard Taft signed into law the Post Office Appropriations Act for 1913. This measure put into place an experimental federal-aid post road program for the United States. The law specifically provided a total of $500,000 to improve roads intended to be used for mail delivery. In one respect, the Post... Continue Reading →
August 23, 1985 The Constituyentes Station on Line 7 of the Mexico City Metro was formally opened. (The Mexico City Metro is a rapid transit system serving the metropolitan area of Mexico’s capital; it ranks second only to the New York City Subway as the largest metro system in all of North America.) The Constituyentes... Continue Reading →
August 20, 1873 A lighthouse built at Yaquina Head on the Oregon coast first went into service. (Yaquina Head is a headland extending into the Pacific Ocean, and it is situated just north of the city of Newport.) Fayette Crosby was this lighthouse’s first head keeper. His previous assignments included serving at the Umpqua River... Continue Reading →
August 19, 1904 Automotive and aeronautical engineer Maurice Wilks was born on Hayling Island, which is off the southern coast of England. Wilks worked for the British automobile manufacturer Hillman Motor Car Company from 1922 to 1926 and then spent two years in the United States at General Motors. He returned to Hillman in 1928 as... Continue Reading →
August 18, 1899 Just off the North Carolina coast, Erasmus “Rasmus” S. Midgett of the U.S. Life-Saving Service (USLSS) single-handedly rescued 10 men from a sinking ship. Midgett, who was born on North Carolina’s Hatteras Island in 1851, had become a surfman for the USLSS during the 1880s. (The USLSS was established in 1878 and remained... Continue Reading →
August 17, 1964 In the Washington, D.C., area, the final segment of the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) made its official debut in a big ceremony near the New Hampshire Avenue exchanges on the Maryland side of the recently completed route. Thousands of people were on hand for this event. “There is a danger of using... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1951 At a minute past midnight, the Delaware Memorial Bridge linking Delaware with New Jersey was officially opened to traffic. Motorists had been lined up for up to 20 hours beforehand to travel over the newly built 2,150-foot-long bridge across the Delaware River, and the first person to make that drive (approaching the structure... Continue Reading →
August 13, 1948 The first trolley buses to run in the city of Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia were formally introduced to the public. These pioneering trolley buses were operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER), which had been in charge of various electric transit systems in that region of the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 