Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 16, 1953 At the Delaware Water Gap – a section where the Delaware River slices through a major ridge of the Appalachian Mountains – a toll bridge connecting New Jersey with Pennsylvania was formally opened to traffic. New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll (1947-1954) was among the public officials on hand for the Wednesday... Continue Reading →
Edward Olney was born on July 26, 1799, in the town of Union in Maine’s mid-coast region. He was a member of the Penobscot Tribe, which is now formally called the Penobscot Nation. Olney first enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1843. Olney eventually left this military branch but rejoined it in 1863 in the... Continue Reading →
The Boston Bridge in southwestern Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County was officially inaugurated. This cantilever bridge, which crosses the Youghiogheny River, serves as a link between Elizabeth Township and the borough of Versailles. The structure was named after Elizabeth Township’s Boston neighborhood. (That neighborhood, in turn, had been named after the capital city of Massachusetts.) About 5,000... Continue Reading →
October 10, 1992 The first segment of the Montour Trail in the Pittsburgh region was formally opened in Cecil Township. The dedication ceremony for this 4.4-mile (7.1-kilometer) section of the multi-use recreational trail was specifically held at Cecil Park. Those taking part in this ceremony included Robert A. Hall, supervisory community planner for the Federal... Continue Reading →
April 13, 1846 The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) received its charter. The first president of this railroad was Samuel Vaughan Merrick, who had been born in Maine in 1801. He moved to Pennsylvania as a teenager, settling in Philadelphia. Merrick subsequently acquired a strong knowledge of engineering, and in 1824 he helped establish what was then... Continue Reading →
December 13, 1937 The Reading Railroad’s express passenger train Crusader made its first regular run along a 90.3-mile (145.3-kilometer) route between the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The train received its name thanks to a contest that offered $250 to the winning entry, which was selected by... Continue Reading →
November 6, 1818 In northwestern Pennsylvania, a lighthouse in the borough (now city) of Erie began operations when keeper John Bone lit the oil wick in the new structure. The lighthouse had been built on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie and was specifically located across the water from Presque Isle, a seven-mile (11.3-kilometer)-long peninsula that... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 