On May 10, 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railroads met in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial
last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S.
history. No longer would western-bound travelers need to take
the long and dangerous journey by wagon train.

On December 14, 1909, workers placed the last of the 3.2 million
10-pound bricks that pave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana (a town surrounded by the city of Indianapolis).
Since then, most of that brick has been buried under asphalt, but
one yard remains exposed at the start-finish line (below). Kissing
those bricks after a successful race remains a tradition among Indy
drivers.

On December 6, 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers placed a nine-
inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing
the construction of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake
and the nation’s first president, George Washington. As early as
1783, the infant U.S. Congress decided that a statue of George
Washington, the great Revolutionary War general, should be
placed near the site of the new Congressional building,
wherever it might be.

After then-President Washington asked him to lay out federal
capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L ‘Enfant
left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping
National Mall (near the monument’s present location). It wasn’t
until 1832, however–33 years after Washington’s death–that
anyone really did anything about the monument.

Postcard photo of the Southern Pacific’s “Sunset Limited” train as it traveled between Los Angeles and San Francisco, c. 1910s.

The Southern Pacific Railroad completed its transcontinental “Sunset Route”
from New Orleans to California, consolidating its dominance over rail traffic
to the Pacific.

One of the most powerful railroad companies of the 19th century, the “Espee”
(as the railroad was often called) originated in an ambitious plan conceived in
1870 by the “Big Four” western railroad barons: Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins. A year earlier, the Big Four’s
western-based Central Pacific had linked up with the eastern-based Union
Pacific in Utah, creating the first transcontinental American railway. With
that finished, the “Big Four” began to look for ways to increase their control
over West Coast shipping, and decided to focus their efforts on extending
the California-based Southern Pacific southward.

Early 20th-century postcard of the “Sunset Express” train passing
through Yuma, Arizona.

Workers set the capstone on top of the Washington Monument on
Dec. 6, 1884.

On this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers (above) place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction
of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first
president, George Washington. As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress
decided that a statue of George Washington, the great Revolutionary War
general, should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out
a new federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L’Enfant
left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping National Mall
(near the monument’s present location).

It wasn’t until 1832, however–33 years after Washington’s death–that anyone
really did anything about the monument. That year, a private Washington
National Monument Society was formed. After holding a design competition
and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design by architect Robert Mills,
the society began a fundraising drive to raise money for the statue’s
construction.

The Washington Monument is under construction in 1859 in
Washington D.C.

The Washington Monument in 1888, the year it was
open to the public.

The Monument reopened to the public in September after a three-
year closure for elevator repairs and other updates.