Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
The trailblazing NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao was born in Milwaukee in 1960. The son of immigrant Taiwanese parents of Han Chinese ancestry, Chiao grew up in Danville, California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1983 with a B.S. in chemical engineering. Chiao went on to earn an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical... Continue Reading →
May 1, 1862 In Australia, the Point Stephens Light went into service in the colony (now state) of New South Wales (NSW). This lighthouse was built on Point Stephens, a point on a headland along the shore of Fingal Bay. The lighthouse is located 2.64 miles (4.25 kilometers) south of the entrance to Port Stephens,... Continue Reading →
April 30, 2009 The Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge was opened in the city of Cupertino in California’s Santa Clara County, which encompasses much of the region popularly known as Silicon Valley. The 503-foot (153.3-meter)-long bridge, which crosses over Interstate 280 and connects the north and south sections of the Stevens Creek Trail, has the distinction... Continue Reading →
April 29, 1851 The first successful demonstration of a full-sized electric locomotive took place in the Washington, D.C., area. The railroad car, equipped with an electric storage battery, had been built by Dr. Charles Grafton Page. Page was born in 1812 in Salem, Massachusetts. His father was a sea captain. Early on in life, he... Continue Reading →
April 18, 1898 The U.S. Navy acquired a tugboat that was constructed in San Francisco a decade earlier by the shipbuilding company Union Iron Works. This tugboat, along with one that was built in Philadelphia, became part of the Navy’s fleet at a time when the United States was readying for war against Spain. “TUGBOATS... Continue Reading →
April 15, 1936 The government of the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Ireland) formally established Aer Lingus Teoranta as the national airline. Seán Ó hUadhaigh served as the company’s first chairman. “Aer Lingus” is derived from the Irish term “aerloingeas,” which means “air fleet,” while “Teoranta” is the Irish phrase for “limited company.”... Continue Reading →
April 12, 1792 The Second U.S. Congress authorized the creation of a pioneering lighthouse in New York. The actual construction of this lighthouse, which is located at the easternmost point of Long Island in the hamlet of Montauk, finally took place four years later. Montauk Point Lighthouse was the first lighthouse built within the state... Continue Reading →
April 11, 1936 The first trackless trolley line in the Boston metropolitan area made its debut when the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) introduced trolleybuses on what had been a streetcar route between Harvard Square and Lechmere Square in the city of Cambridge. The first of these orange vehicles left Bennett Street yard (near Harvard Square)... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1848 The Illinois and Michigan (I&M) Canal was first opened to navigation when the freight boat General Fry traveled northwest along the recently completed route from the town of Lockport to the then-small city of Chicago. While the formal dedication of the I&M Canal would not take place until six days later, the... Continue Reading →
April 9, 1907 Civil engineer Harry Pond Townsend was granted U.S. Patent No. 850,077 for a coaster brake that he had created for bicycles. Townsend assigned the patent application to his employer, the New Departure Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Connecticut. (The company built its reputation on producing various types of bells, including bicycle bells, and those widely... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 