Week of June 12th

Take a look back at this week in History

Episode Transcript

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And now I look back at thisweek in history on iHeartRadio. This week
in eighteen eighty four, the firstroller coaster in America open za Cooney Island
in Brooklyn, New York. Knownas a Switchback Railway, it was the
brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson and traveled approximatelysix miles per hour and it costs a
nickel to ride. The new entertainmentwas an instant success, and by the

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turn of the century there were hundredsof roller coasters around the country. This
week in nineteen twenty three, thefirst Checker Cab rolls off the line at
the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In its peak production year
of nineteen sixty two, Checker rolledout some eight one hundred and seventy three
cars, the great majority of thosewere taxis. The last Checker Cab rolled

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off the line in Kalamazoo on Julytwelfth, nineteen eighty two. This week
in nineteen eighty three, from CapeCanaveral, Florida, the Space Shuttle Challenger
is launched into space on its secondmission. Board the shuttle was doctor Sally
Ride, who became the first Americanwoman to travel into space. During the
six day mission ride, an astrophysicistfrom Stanford operated the shuttle's robot arm,

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which she had helped design and thisWeek In nineteen eighty seven, President Ronald
Reagan, during his visit to thedivided Germany city of Berlin, pleaded to
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear downthis wall, which had encircled West Berlin
since nineteen sixty one. Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall. The wall

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did come down two years later,in nineteen eighty nine, and that's what
happened. Thanks for listening to ThisWeek in History on iHeartRadio