Yet one more "significant" event
earns its five minutes.
Three years ago I noted that two semi-significant, if hard to confirm, events
took place on this day. I don't know whether I disregarded,
or overlooked, another significant event that also took place on this same day
- 135 years ago to be precise. It may well be that three years ago I simply didn't
know about it. To be honest, chances are good that had I found some other event
worthy of being highlighted, this event still wouldn't get its five minutes here.
Whatever, it was on this day, in 1870, that "the first sheet of Edward de
Smedt's asphalt pavement was laid on William Street in Newark, New Jersey",
thus apparently ushering in the age of the asphalt-paved road, certainly an important
invention on the road toward our modern, transportation-heavy culture. Earlier
in that same year de Smedt had received two patents for his asphalt roads. We
might say that de Smedt's
inventions paved the way toward automotive culture.
These columns are usually more concerned with the rather inaccurately termed "information
superhighway", but it's certainly worth taking a moment to recognize a significant
highway achievement on a more physical plane.
Go to: Who cares?