Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Geraldyn “Jerrie” M. Cobb, a well-established female trailblazer of the skies, was born in Norman, Oklahoma. Her father was a pilot and, with his encouragement, she developed a strong interest in aviation at an early age. By the time she was 12, Cobb was learning how to fly in her father’s 1936 Waco Aircraft Company... Continue Reading →
Photo of Ellen Paneok courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program. Aviation pioneer Ellen Evak Paneok died in Anchorage, Alaska, at the age of 48. She had been born in 1959. (Accounts vary on whether her birthplace was in Alaska or Virginia.) Her parents were Bernice Evak Burgandine, who was of Inupiat... Continue Reading →
A new lighthouse went into service at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa and the start of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Cape Agulhas Lighthouse was the third lighthouse to be built in present-day South Africa. At the time of the lighthouse’s debut, Cape Agulhas was a part of... Continue Reading →
Alvin Drew, an African-American NASA astronaut, became the 200th person to walk in space. He conducted this spacewalk as a member of the six-person crew on STS-133, the 39th and final mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. Drew’s milestone excursion outside a spacecraft in orbit took place just a little over 16 years after fellow astronaut... Continue Reading →
A large-scale celebration was held for the opening of the new Sellwood Bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The deck arch bridge, connecting Portland's Sellwood and Westmoreland neighborhoods on the east side of the river with Oregon Route 43/Macadam Avenue on the west side, replaced a bridge with the same name that had been... Continue Reading →
Robert Smalls, whose courage and sailing expertise gained freedom for himself and other slaves during the Civil War, died at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, at the age of 75. Smalls had been born into slavery in that city in 1839. When he was 12, his master sent him to Charleston to work there as... Continue Reading →
Sir William Arrol, one of the most renowned civil engineers of the Victoria Era, died at his home in the Scottish town of Ayr at the age of 74. “A GREAT BRIDGE BUILDER,” proclaimed the headline in the next day’s edition of the London Standard for the article announcing his death. The article stated, “Sheer... Continue Reading →
A new lighthouse began operations in the part of central California that is about halfway between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Piedras Blancas Light Station, specifically located a little over five miles (8.1 kilometers) west by northwest of the town of San Simeon, has since served as a key navigational aid for... Continue Reading →
Frederick Douglass, who became a leading statesman and abolitionist of unsurpassed eloquence, was born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. (As was the case with many other slaves, Douglass grew up not knowing the exact date of his birth; ultimately, however, he chose February 14 as the date for celebrating his birthday each year.) By... Continue Reading →
Construction began on a tunnel for the Northern Pacific Railway in the Cascade Mountains of the Territory of Washington. (A little less than four years later, Washington became the 42nd state.) The site selected for the tunnel was just south of Stampede Pass. Work on the Stampede Tunnel commenced with the operation of hand drills... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 