Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 16, 1961 Automotive manufacturer Richard J. Corbitt died in Henderson, North Carolina, at the age of 88. Corbitt had first established residence in that community in 1894, and he entered the transportation business five years later with the launch of the Corbitt Buggy Company. For several years, this company built horse-drawn buggies for hauling agricultural... Continue Reading →
April 12, 1890 Nearly three decades after becoming the first streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., the Washington and Georgetown Railroad achieved a new milestone by switching from horse-drawn streetcars to cable cars. “CABLE CARS RUNNING,” proclaimed a headline in that day’s edition of the Washington Critic. This change took placed due to a... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1969 Harley J. Earl, a pioneer of modern automobile design, died in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 75. He started out life in Hollywood, California. His father’s own transportation career involved building horse-drawn vehicles in the late 19th century and then focusing on custom bodies and accessories for automobiles. Harley eventually worked... Continue Reading →
February 3, 1862 The first railway line in New Zealand was opened with considerable fanfare. (At the time, New Zealand was a British colony; it gained semi-independent status as a dominion of the British Empire in 1907 and achieved full autonomy in 1947.) Horse-drawn train cars were used for this 13.4-mile (21.5-kilometer)-long privately owned and... Continue Reading →
August 11, 1955 Franklin Augustus “Frank” Seiberling, an entrepreneur and inventor who left a lasting imprint on the production of tires for motor vehicles, died in his longtime hometown of Akron, Ohio. “Frank Augustus Seiberling was a man of large gestures, lordly gambles, strong friendships, occasional humor, and invariable fighting courage,” noted the next day’s... Continue Reading →
August 3, 1900 The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company was incorporated in Akron, Ohio. Harvey S, Firestone (1868-1938), with only a dozen employees to help him, formally launched a state-of-the-art business for making more durable and efficient tires for horse-drawn wagons and buggies. Within just a few years, the company would shift its focus to... Continue Reading →
July 27, 1888 In Argentina’s province of Buenos Aires, a 32.9-mile (53-kilometer) extension of the horse-drawn Buenos Aires Central Railway between the cities of Pilar and Zárate was completed. This took place less than four months after the opening of the railway line’s first segment. That initial segment of 29.2 miles (47 kilometers) was built... Continue Reading →
July 22, 1908 The automobile coachbuilder Fisher Body Company was established in Detroit. This company’s ancestry can be traced to Lawrence Fisher, who -- along with his brother Andrew and brother-in-law Joseph Weisenberger -- set up Fisher Brothers Carriage Company in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1880 to produce horse-drawn vehicles. All seven of Lawrence Fisher’s sons spent... Continue Reading →
April 5, 1899 A bridge near the community of Clifden in the southernmost part of New Zealand’s South Island made its debut. (At the time, New Zealand was a British colony; it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907 and achieved full autonomy in 1947.) The Clifden Suspension Bridge, which is 365.8 feet... Continue Reading →
Charles Richard “Rich” Patterson started out life as an enslaved person but ultimately gained his freedom. He went on to achieve prominence as both a carriage manufacturer and civil rights champion. Patterson was born into slavery on a plantation in Virginia in 1833. While there are conflicting accounts of how exactly Patterson became free, census... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 