This Week In 1962
On April 26, 1962, the spacecraft Ranger 4 crashed on the moon. It was only the second craft ever sent to another cosmic body, after the Ranger 3. There would be several more successful Ranger missions, gaining important reconnaissance for the landing of men on the moon in 1969.
Weather News for 1962
The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 ravaged Oregon and Washington. With coastal winds of up to 140 miles per hour, things were bad enough inland that they even closed the Seattle World’s Fair. More than 150 families lost their homes, and more than one billion board-feet of lumber fell in state-owned forests.
1962 In Sports
Jackie Robinson is in the news again, as the movie "42" is on top of the box office chart. But he was also in the news in 1962, being elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame that year, his first year of eligibility. He received 124 out of the 160 ballots cast.
1962 Comic Buy of the Week
scan from Grand Comics Database
Superman Annual #5. Reader James Kealy suggested this one. These 80-page giants were one of my favorite comics back then (yes, I'm old enough to have read them when they came out). Because they consisted of reprints, you got to read stories from several years back that you had never seen before!
US-6 Featured Trip Segment
Though it wasn’t there in 1962, the sculptures made from salvaged highway signs at the PennDOT maintenance yard site in Meadville, Pennsylvania is a must see! There’s about a quarter mile on the fenceline along US-6, plus a flower garden in front of the building. We passed it on Day 10.
About Roadtrip-'62 ™
Guest Blog of the Week
I recently visited some beautiful waterfalls in the Erwin, Tennessee area, not far from US-23. I got my directions to them from Mark Peacock’s Applachain Treks blog. Besides waterfalls, he also has great photos and directions to hiking in the area.
US-23 Featured Trip Segment
Speaking of Erwin, Tennessee, our US-23 roadtrip passed through the area and found some other sights both historical and natural between Johnson City, Tennessee and Asheville, North Carolina, on day 13 of that trip.
Bridges, Bridges, Bridges
The trip down US-23 was a trip of bridges, beginning at Michigan’s Mackinaw Bridge and ending just a few blocks from the Main Street Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. My article on bridges covers these and more, with information on bridge construction and some notable bridges of 1962.
Museum of the Week
The Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia has a wide variety of art and science exhibitions, a full-dome Planetarium, and even a Mini-Zoo with over 70 live animals. Not many museums can boast that. They've been here since before 1962, so stop in and make sure they'll be around another 50 years.
Video of the Week
Exciting NBC news broadcast from February 20, 1962, as astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. Like most of what we saw back then, it’s in black-and-white.
Our front page changes frequently, so you may have missed some fun stuff if you don't check in frequently. Check the Home Page Archives for all the previous iterations of our front page. Discover links, videos, roadtrip suggestions, and lots of news from 1962!
All photos by the author and Copyright © 2013, 2021 - Donald Dale Milne, except as noted.
All other content Copyright © 2013, 2021 - Donald Dale Milne.
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