1795 First ferry, a pirogue, crosses Mississippi River into what is now St. Louis
1803-1806 Lewis & Clark (33). Began from William Clark’s Clarsksville, IN on Ohio River 100 miles south of Indianapolis
1804 First full-scale working railway steam locomotive by Richard Trevithic, UK
1806 National Rd. Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson. DC, through Indianapolis, to Mississippi River
1811 First steamboat trip from Pittsburgh, PA on Ohio River to the Mississippi River
1811-1869 Oregon Trail. (Wagon trains 1836) Mississippi River to Oregon Coast (350k)
1827 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad first U.S. railway
1837 Horse powered ferry service across Mississippi begins in Dubuque Iowa
1839 Charles Goodyear vulcanizes rubber making rubber useful in any kind of weather
1846-1869 Mormon Trail (70k Mormons) Illinois to Salt Lake City
1846-47 Donner Party tries to go over Sierras (83 start, 45 survived)
1848 Discovery of gold in CA
1848 Mormon Emigrant Pass over Sierras forged. (30K) first east-west road for wagons over Sierras into N California
1850 Donation Land Claim Act encourages settlement of Oregon with free land
1850 Lone Tree Ferry begins crossing Missouri River – Council Bluffs, IA to Omaha, NE
1852 Present day US 50 (Lincoln Hwy) over Sierra’s replaces Mormon Emigrant Pass with lower shorter route (200K)
1852-1918 Stage coaches SF to St Louis also carry mail, news & gold
1853 Indianapolis builds first ‘Union’ RR station in world, a hub that all 8 local train lines would use
1854 First rail crossing of Mississippi River – Rock Isl, IL to Davenport, IA
1856 Henry Bessemer turns iron into steel.
1858 Gold Discovered in Colorado causing routes to branch off Oregon Trail
1859 Discovery of Oil near Pittsburgh
1860 Pony Express. (18 mos) SF to St Louis
1861 TransCon telegraph completed
1862 Pres. Lincoln signs Homestead act which begins closing off the frontier with private property
1869 Hiwheel Bicycle, pre-roller chain bike, invented, France
1869 TransCon rail completed (reaches CA thru Sierras and not OR)
1870 First paved road in USA, Newark, NJ
1873 First rail bridge cross Missouri River – Council Bluffs Iowa to Omaha Nebraska
1873 Barbed wire invented begins end of cattle drives & turns frontier into a network of privately owned parcels
1876 Transcontinental rail line rerouted in CA from Altamont Pass c/o Solano Train Ferry (worlds largest. carried entire train) over SF Bay via Benecia-Martinez
1876 Telephone invented
1880 Good Roads Movement by LAW in East
1880 Roller chain invented by Hans Renold
1884 Thomas Stevens bikes across USA on Hiwheel
1885 Hans Renold openly gives roller chain patent to bike industry
1885 Safety Bicycle invented with two equal sized wheels
1885 First has powered automobile Karl Benz, Germany
1888 Pneumatic tire invented in Ireland. Makes smaller wheeled safety bicycles comfortable to ride
1890 Diamond Chain (was Indpls Chain & Stamping) opens in Indianapolis. Powers avalanche of Gay 90’s safety bicycles, first airplane, Henry Ford’s autos
1891 Lyons Fulton Bridge built. Dedicated car bridge over Mississippi. Ultimately used by Lincoln Highway. Fulton, IL to Clinton, IA
1903 First car trip across America. Bike racer driving w/retired doctor in shotgun, 63 days
1908 Henry Ford’s first mass produced auto
1912 Lincoln Highway conceived by Carl Fisher at German Haus, Indianapolis
1913 Lincoln Hoosier Tour Indianapolis – SF to survey Lincoln Hwy route
1914 Lincoln NYC to SF route opens
1916 Federal aid Road act by Woodrow Wilson establishes funding for highways by federal govt.
1917 First 3 miles of National Rd. get paved in Indianapolis
1918 Bureau of Public Roads (renamed Public Roads Administration, 1939) begins as part of New Deal
1919 TransCon convoy (w/Eisenhower) celebrates end WWI in Indianapolis on way from Gettysburg, PA  to San Francisco on Lincoln Hwy
1926 Road over Sierra’s paved commemorated by Reno Arch
1926 Bureau of Public Roads changes named roads to numbered roads. Lincoln becomes US 30, 40 & 50
1926 Route 66 C’go to LA (not coast coast)
1927 Carquinez Bridge replaces train & car ferry crossing of SF Bay for Lincoln Hwy travelers
1956 The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, aka FHA signed into law
1955-1968 Jane Jacobs fights Robert Moses over bulldozing NYC neighborhood for freeways
1959-1991 Embarcadero freeway stopped in SF
1961 American river parkway conceived Sacramento
1976 Bikecentennial (1750 TransCon cyclists)
1979 Krieg solo TransCons, Astoria, OR to Washington, DC after coma. paralysis, clinical death
1983 Krieg ride featured in bike voice of its day, “Bicycling” magazine. Plants seed for long distance health cause rides
1986 Krieg TransCon reaches 40 million for cause of recumbents, head injury and coast-to-coast Greenbelt (as it was called at the time)
1986 Rails to Trails begins
1988 National Bicycle Greenway Vision Statement proclaimed.
1988-1993 Cycle America Regional Directories, 60K books call for NBG
1995 National Bicycle Greenway goes on line with BikeRoute.com, one of the first few hundred web sites in the world
1995 American Discovery Tour
2000 Cycle America 2000 SF to DC
2001 Washington DC to Pittsburgh car free connection soft opening
2002 First NBG Mayors’ Ride Washington, DC to SF
2004 Carquinez Bridge bike way completed
2006 NBG Anchor cities designated
2008 Omaha – Council Bluffs bridge first bike/ped crossing of Missouri River
2010 Google launches bike maps
2013 NBG coast to coast route on line
2013 America’s First Downtown Greenway, the Indianapolis Cultural Trail
2018 National Bicycle Greenway moves to Indianapolis