Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 8, 1873 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began construction on a lighthouse on Hereford Inlet in the borough of Anglesea (now the city of North Wildwood) in southern New Jersey. The Hereford Inlet Light was built to replace a life-saving station that had been installed at that location only a couple of... Continue Reading →
November 7, 2009 A new state-of-the-art terminal for Larnaca (also spelled as Larnaka) International Airport in the Republic of Cyprus made its formal debut. This airport, which opened in 1974, is located 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) southwest of the city of Larnaca on the island country’s southeastern coast. The inaugural ceremony for the new terminal... Continue Reading →
November 4, 1862 In eastern India, a newly completed bridge located at the town of Koilwar and spanning the Son River in the present-day state of Bihar was opened to railway traffic. (This bridge made its debut at a time when that region of India was part of the Bengal Presidency, a subdivision of the... Continue Reading →
November 3, 1911 The Chevrolet Motor Car Company was jointly established in Detroit by racecar driver Louis Chevrolet and recently ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant. Their investment partners included William C. Little and Durant’s son-in-law Dr. Edwin R. Campbell. With a total of 2,999 Chevrolet automobiles manufactured in the following year, this motor vehicle... Continue Reading →
November 2, 1863 Civil engineer Theodore Judah, whose vision and technical expertise helped bring about one of the most significant railroad accomplishments in American history, died of yellow fever at the age of 37 in New York City. He most likely contracted the viral disease in Panama while he and his wife Anne were en... Continue Reading →
Arlando Teller, a member of the Navajo Nation and a lifelong Arizona resident, became deputy director for tribal affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on February 1, 2021. “I am really grateful for this opportunity, but know that I’m not doing this alone,” Teller said at that time in an interview with Indian... Continue Reading →
October 31, 1929 The Louisville Municipal Bridge, spanning a section of the Ohio River between the cities of Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, was formally opened. Those attending the dedication ceremony for the four-lane cantilevered truss bridge included public officials from both of those states and also what one newspaper account characterized as “hundreds of onlookers.” ... Continue Reading →
October 28, 1874 Henry Garnett Shirley, who became the first president of AASHO (officially renamed AASHTO in 1973), was born in Jefferson County, West Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in civil engineering in 1896, and went on to serve as commandant and professor of military science at Horner Military... Continue Reading →
October 27, 1907 A major transportation hub in Washington, D.C., made its debut when the Pittsburgh Express passenger train of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad pulled into the new facility at 6:56 a.m. The next day’s edition of the Washington Post reported that “4,000 or more prospective passengers and spectators who crowded up... Continue Reading →
October 26, 1972 Uffa Fox, a renowned boat designer and sailing expert, died in London at the age of 74. He had been born on January 15, 1898, on England’s Isle of Wight. Fox is widely credited with popularizing modern-day dinghy sailing and making several major contributions to that small-boat activity. One of these contributions was Fox’s... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 