Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 8, 1890 Chicago’s Grand Central Station was opened. This passenger railroad terminal, which had been designed by architect Solon Spencer Beman (1853-1914) and completed by the Chicago and Northern Pacific Railroad, was specifically located downtown at 201 Harrison Street (bounded by Harrison, Wells, and Polk Streets as well as the Chicago River). On the day... 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 →
September 26, 1895 A complex of two railroad truss bridges in what was then the Kingdom of Romania was formally opened. (The Kingdom of Romania remained in existence until 1947, when it was replaced by the Romanian People’s Republic; that communist state – eventually renamed the Socialist Republic of Romania – stayed intact until 1989... Continue Reading →
July 29, 1900 An inaugural ceremony was held for the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR), a narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway in what was then the U.S. territory of Alaska with the community of White Horse (later officially changed to Whitehorse and incorporated as a city) in the Canadian territory of Yukon. ... Continue Reading →
July 28, 1835 A major milestone for the Boston and Providence Railroad (BPRR) took place with the completion of Canton Viaduct on that line. This viaduct in the town of Canton, which is approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. Canton Viaduct was designed by William Gibbs McNeill (1800-1853), a captain in the... Continue Reading →
Laurel van der Wal was a mechanical and aeronautical engineer who made key contributions to the research of both human space flight and more earthbound transportation challenges. She was born to Lillian and Richard van der Wal in San Francisco on September 22, 1924. Laurel van der Wal was only 15 when she graduated from... Continue Reading →
February 27, 1850 In central Ohio, a key transportation milestone took place in Columbus when regular railroad service was introduced to that city. The Columbus & Xenia Railroad (C&X), which measured 54.7 miles (88 kilometers) in length and connected Columbus with the town of Xenia in the southwestern part of the state, became the first... Continue Reading →
In 1976, Edwina Justus became the first black woman to work as a locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad (UP). Her life's journey began on July 11, 1943, when she was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Lee and Caldonia Isaiah Chaney. In one of her earliest trailblazing roles, she was the first black student... Continue Reading →
Henry Brown was born into slavery in 1815 on a plantation in Virginia’s Louisa County. At the age of 15, he was sent to the state’s capital city of Richmond to work in a tobacco factory there. He resided in Richmond with his wife Nancy and their three children, all of whom were likewise enslaved.... Continue Reading →
January 22, 1884 Samuel Eckels, who would carve out a longtime and consequential career in the development of highways in the United States, was born in the borough of West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh area. In 1905, he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in that region of the Keystone State with a bachelor of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 