Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 9, 1943 With the United States deeply embroiled in World War II at the time, the U.S. Navy purchased the steamship Zizania for military use on the home front. This acquisition marked only the latest of several major milestones for this longtime and multi-faceted vessel. The origins of Zizania, which owed her name to... Continue Reading →
August 2, 1886 A railway station was inaugurated in the village of Yenice in what is now southern Turkey's Mersin province. Yenice was designated as a town in 1953; since 2013, it has been a neighborhood of the municipality and district of Tarsus. At the time of Yenice station’s opening, this region was part of... Continue Reading →
June 14, 1930 The twin-screw diesel yacht Lotosland was formally delivered by her manufacturer Pusey & Jones, a Delaware-based shipbuilder, to renowned industrialist and electrical engineer Edward A. Deeds. On that date, this newly completed vessel was registered with U.S. Official Number 229875 and signal MHWN. The handover of Lotosland to Deeds took place nearly... Continue Reading →
June 6, 1944 Widely remembered as D-Day all of these decades later, the Normandy landing operations proved to be a critical turning point in World War II. This Allied campaign was the largest seaborne invasion in world history and contributed significantly to the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany. A key means of transport for getting Allied troops... Continue Reading →
May 7, 2013 Al Fritz, who launched a line of hugely popular and influential bicycles, died in Barrington, Illinois, at the age of 88. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Fritz returned to his hometown Chicago and began his longtime employment with the Schwinn Bicycle Company. He started out as a grinder... Continue Reading →
May 3, 1956 Kurt-Schumacher-Platz in Berlin, Germany, was officially opened. This underground station is a link in the Berlin U-Bahn, the rapid transit system serving the country’s largest city (and capital of the present-day Federal Republic of Germany). Kurt-Schumacher-Platz was built as part of the extension of the Berlin U-Bahn’s north-south line known as U6.... Continue Reading →
May 2, 1906 Thomas F. Airis, who would become director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Highways and Traffic (a predecessor of the present-day District Department of Transportation) was born in the town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He earned his degree in, civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin. In 1929, Airis joined the... Continue Reading →
During his long career as an architect, Gyo Obata achieved international acclaim for the wide range of major buildings that he designed. He was born to Japanese immigrants on February 28, 1923, in San Francisco. His mother Haruko Obata was a well-established floral designer and his father Chiura Obata became a widely known artist. Â ... Continue Reading →
March 19, 1947 William Starling Burgess, whose transportation legacy spans multiple means of mobility, died at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was 68. Burgess was born in Boston on Christmas Day in 1878. His father, Edward Burgess, was a renowned yacht designer. Early on in life, William Starling Burgess demonstrated a high level... Continue Reading →
Aviation pioneer and Olympic athlete Iris Cummings, who is also known by married name Iris Critchell, was on December 21, 1920, in Los Angeles. She attended the 1932 Summer Olympics in that city and shortly thereafter began swimming competitively. Cummings went on to win a large number of local and regional tournaments in this sport.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 