Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 5, 1931 The luxury ocean liner SS Manhattan, which had been built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, was launched in Camden, New Jersey. Former First Lady Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948), widow of President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), christened the ship with a bottle containing water taken from various streams throughout the country. This United States Lines... Continue Reading →
September 8, 1895 Adam Opel, the founder of a company that has enjoyed considerable success manufacturing two modes of transportation, died at age of 58 in the city of Rüsselsheim am Main in what was then the German Empire (now part of the Federal Republic of Germany). In 1862, Opel went into business for himself... Continue Reading →
August 27, 2018 Regular operations began for a light rail station in the German city of Köln (Cologne). This station was built as a link within the Cologne Stadtbahn, an extensive transit system serving Cologne and several surrounding cities. The station is located in Görlinger-Zentrum (Center), part of Cologne’s district of Bocklemünd. Görlinger-Zentrum contains a... Continue Reading →
December 30, 1824 A now-famous pedestrian bridge was opened in the city of Nuremberg in the present-day Federal Republic of Germany. (At the time of the bridge’s debut, Nuremberg was part of the district of Rezatkreis in the Kingdom of Bavaria.) This bridge, crossing the river Pegnitz, took only four months to build. The classification... Continue Reading →
June 20, 1895 The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, which has been known as the Kiel Canal since 1948, was officially opened in what was then the German Empire (now part of the Federal Republic of Germany). This 61-mile (98-kilometer)-long canal, located at the base of Northern Europe’s Jutland Peninsula in the present-day German state of Schleswig-Holstein, connects the... Continue Reading →
One day in August 1888, Bertha Benz (1849-1944) made transportation history when she undertook the first long-distance automobile drive on record. Bertha, who lived in the city of Mannheim in the German Empire state known as the Grand Duchy of Baden (part of the present-day Federal Republic of Germany), used one of the automobiles built... Continue Reading →
July 10, 1901 One of the world’s first passenger-carrying trolleybus systems was launched in the southeastern region of the present-day Federal Republic of Germany. (At the time, this area was part of the German Empire.) The Biela Valley Trolleybus system was built and operated by Dresden native Max Schiemann, who is credited with using a... Continue Reading →
July 3, 1886 The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first functioning automobile, made its debut when inventor Karl Benz officially unveiled the motorized vehicle in the city of Mannheim in the present-day Federal Republic of Germany. (At the time, Mannheim was part of the German Empire state known as the Grand Duchy... Continue Reading →
June 29, 1900 A pioneering passenger ship built for the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG, or the Hamburg-America Line) was launched at the city of Hamburg in what was then the German Empire (now part of the Federal Republic of Germany). The ship was christened by the Countess von Waldersee (formerly Mary Esther Lee), the U.S.-born wife... Continue Reading →
In southeast France, Emil Jellinek took delivery of a pioneering type of automobile at a railway station in the city of Nice. The German-born Jellinek was a longtime Vienna native who first lived in Nice as an Austrian diplomat. After his diplomatic career came to an end, Jellinek continued to spend a great deal of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 