Most steamboats in the 1800s died young – just four or five years before fires, explosions, or river snags claimed them. Not the City of Hawkinsville. Built in Georgia in 1886, this tough wooden ...

In 1941, two men dug into Arizona’s past and found a gold mine of history. Emil Haury, with his Harvard degree, teamed up with Julian Hayden, who learned archaeology in the field. They cut through 12 ...

Count John Polereczky went from Hungarian nobility to Maine lighthouse keeper in one lifetime. Born in France, he fought for America as a Hussar during the Revolution, then settled in Dresden, Maine.

When Ruth Reinhold first took to the skies in 1933, Sky Harbor was just a cow pasture with big dreams. She soon joined the ranks of Arizona’s first female pilots, built a career selling planes, and ...

Burt Munro bought a basic Indian Scout in 1920 that topped out at 55 mph. Then, he got to work. For two decades, the New Zealand mechanic built parts by hand in his shed, turning the bike into a speed ...

In 1858, Mobile plantation owner Timothy Meaher bet $1,000 he could sneak slaves into America, 50 years after the trade was banned. He soon hired Captain William Foster, who sailed to West Africa and ...

A candy store chess set changed America in 1949. Six-year-old Bobby Fischer learned the game in Brooklyn and soon played against himself when no one else would. Two years later, he lost to a chess ...

USS Cabana wasn’t the biggest ship in the Pacific, but she packed a punch. Built in Boston and launched in 1943, this destroyer escort quickly joined the war effort against Japan. From Pearl Harbor, ...

On March 2, 1900, a piano star named Ignacy Jan Paderewski played at Galveston’s Grand Opera House. Just six months later, a huge storm would kill 8,000 people and wreck the city. Back then, ...