Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr., who made notable contributions as both a U.S. Navy aviator and NASA astronaut, died at his home in the city of San Marcos, California. He was 88. Gordon had been born in Seattle on October 5, 1929. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1951 with a B.S. in... Continue Reading →
August 20, 1908 A first-of-a-kind automobile journey in Australia came to a successful end when a trio traveling in a Talbot car arrived in the city of Darwin in the Northern Territory. The three men completing this long-distance trip, which that had begun in the city of Adelaide in South Australia, were Henry Hampden Dutton... Continue Reading →
March 12, 1882 Edwin George “Cannon Ball” Baker, who would achieve widespread fame for his motorcycle and automobile records, was born in the community of Weisburg, Indiana. He first became known to the public as a vaudeville performer but started focusing instead on transportation-oriented pursuits after winning a dirt-track motorcycle race in the Hoosier State... Continue Reading →
July 12, 1916 William Warwick, accompanied by his wife and their young daughter, departed from Seattle in a commercial truck for what would become the first transcontinental journey for that type of motor vehicle in the United States. This pioneering expedition between Seattle and New York City took place under the auspices of the Seattle... 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 →
On October 8, 1922, Lillian Gatlin became the first woman to travel across the continental United States in a plane when she arrived at the U.S. air mail service station at Long Island’s Curtiss Field at 5:45 p.m. and three days after departing from San Francisco. Wearing a “special delivery” tag on her flying suit,... Continue Reading →
Blanche Stuart Scott, who made notable contributions involving two modes of transportation, was born in Rochester, New York, in1885. She developed a strong interest in automobiles early on in life. In 1910, Scott became only the second woman -- after Alice Huyler Ramsey -- to drive one of those vehicles from one coast to another within... Continue Reading →
February 23, 1970 The Indian Pacific passenger train began its inaugural coast-to-coast trip in Australia. After what the Canberra Times called “a glittering lace-gowned ceremony,” the westbound train left Central Railway Station in Sydney on Australia’s southeastern coast along the Pacific Ocean at 10:50 p.m. “Train Sets Out to Span the Continent,” proclaimed a headline in... Continue Reading →
October 22, 1934 The Union Pacific Railroad’s M-10001 diesel-electric streamliner train departed Los Angeles at 10:00 p.m. to set a still-unbroken record for transcontinental rail travel in the United States. The M-10001, which had been delivered to Union Pacific only 10 days earlier and was the company’s first diesel-powered train (and the first Pullman-sleeper-equipped passenger... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 