Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 24, 1920 A steamship constructed by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation was launched at the company’s shipyard in the industrial area of Sparrows Point in the Baltimore region. Initially called Bertice, this ship was renamed Buckeye State – the nickname of the state of Ohio – by the time of her launch. SS Buckeye State... Continue Reading →
July 22, 1926 In what was widely believed to be a new record for America’s National Pastime and a notable “first” in aviation, sports legend Babe Ruth (1894-1948) caught a baseball from a plane flying well above Mitchel Field airport in Garden City, Long Island. “Babe Ruth Catches Ball from Skies,” announced a headline in that... Continue Reading →
June 19, 2024 Three years after Juneteenth became a federal holiday, a group of 27 black military veterans and their chaperones flew from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. Their trip was hosted by the Honor Flight Network, a non-profit organization that has transported thousands of veterans – many of them elderly and infirm -- to the... Continue Reading →
April 23, 1854 A construction crew assigned to build a lighthouse sailed via the Chesapeake Bay from Baltimore to the site of the project along Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Most of the foundation, superstructure, and ironwork for this lighthouse had been assembled in Philadelphia and were transported with the crew. The specific location for the newest... Continue Reading →
March 13, 1886 Albert William Stevens, who achieved renown as a balloonist and aerial photographer during his service in the U.S. Army, was born in the city of Belfast, Maine. He was the third child of Nathan and Alice Whitten. After his mother died only five months after his birth, he was adopted by Andrew... Continue Reading →
January 21, 1945 In the final year of World War II, a U.S. Navy transport ship was launched in a Sunday ceremony at a Kaiser Shipbuilding yard in Richmond, California. This ship was named after Andre Walker Brewster (1862-1942), a U.S. Army major general and Medal of Honor recipient. Walker’s noteworthy assignments during his long... Continue Reading →
November 20, 1942 Nearly a year after the United States’ entry into World War II on the side of the Allies, a vessel constructed by Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation (now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. [HII]) for military use was launched. This Friday ceremony was held at the company’s shipyard in the city of Pascagoula,... Continue Reading →
1942: A Pivotal Milestone for Dodge Trucks Used Extensively as Ambulances During World War II October 23, 1942 Nearly eleven months after the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Army adopted a standardized design for the trucks that served as the main field ambulances for the Allies for the remainder of that global... Continue Reading →
August 19, 1913 An unprecedented round trip of U.S. Army personnel and other individuals in a large White Motor Company truck came to an end when they returned to the city of Valdez on the southern coast of the then-Territory of Alaska 22 days after the journey began there. (Alaska, which had been purchased from... Continue Reading →
August 8, 1929 An airport built about two miles (1.6 kilometers) southeast of the downtown area of Salem, Oregon, was officially dedicated. As the 1920s was fast approaching its end, the development of facilities to support airborne transportation had become a top priority for numerous municipalities throughout the United States -- including the capital of the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 