TODAY IN PARK HISTORY

Thomas Hill's  painting 
courtesy of the California State Railroad Museum

MAY 10

1869
Completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is celebrated in Promontory Summit, Utah, where the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads met. By bridging the 2,000 miles from the Missouri River to the West Coast, the nation was now joined by 3,500 miles of transcontinental railroad from New York to California. A journey that had once taken four to six months by the overland pioneers had been reduced to six days.

1940
The Manassas National Battlefield Park is established in Virginia to preserve the scene of two major Civil War battles in 1861 and 1862.