Chronology of Transportation in the United States

For most of the 200 years from 1600 to 1800, the basic means of transportation, other than human feet, was horse-drawn wagons and carriages. The following 200 years, from 1800 up to the present time, brought changes that no one could have imagined in the early 1800s, and the United States grew into an economic colossus where buyers and sellers could consider the whole country one enormous market connected by road, rail, air and even the airwaves. The history of private and commercial transportation in the United States is thoroughly covered in this chronology. It begins with December 10, 1672, when New York and Massachusetts agreed to start a monthly postal service between New York City and Boston and thus encourage the development of roads and communication. It concludes with April 14, 2003, when British Airways and Air France announced that they would discontinue the supersonic Concorde's commercial service in October 2003.