Historical eventDecember 221937

Lincoln Tunnel

The Lincoln Tunnel, connecting New York City to Weehawken, New Jersey, opened.

Everything on December 22Original source

In context

When
Wednesday, December 22 193789 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1930s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1937-12-22.

Place: New Jersey, United States.

Type: road tunnel.

What came before

Part of: New Jersey Route 495.

What happened

Description Tubes Entrance to the north tube from the New York side The three tubes, operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (formerly Port of New York Authority), comprise six traffic lanes in total and carry a combined total of 112,995 vehicles per day as of 2016 [update] . [ 1 ] In 2017, there were 19,039,210 tolls collected in the eastbound direction. [ 2 ] Although the center tube normally provides one travel lane in each direction,

History Planning The idea for a three-tube vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River , connecting Weehawken, New Jersey , with the West Side of Manhattan , New York, was first proposed by Darwin R. James in 1923. [ 1 ] The tube's Manhattan entrance could be built at any point between 23rd and 42nd Streets, while the New Jersey entrance would be located directly across the river in either Hoboken or Weehawken. According to the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce,

The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and the unsigned New York State Route 495 on the New York side. It was designed by Ole Singstad and named after Abraham Lincoln. The tunnel consists of three vehicular tubes of varying lengths, with two traffic lanes in each tube.

December 22 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1937Lincoln Tunnel
  2. 2001Richard Reid
  3. 2001Burhanuddin Rabbani
  4. 2008Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill
  5. 2010Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
  6. 2012Bashir Ahmad Bilour
  7. 2014United States Copyright Office
  8. 2016RVSV-ZEBOV vaccine
  9. 2017United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397
  10. 20182018–2019 United States federal government shutdown
  11. 20182018 Sunda Strait tsunami

Also in 1937

  • September 13Chicago Public SchoolsChicago Public Schools began delivering lessons via radio amid to a polio outbreak, marking the first large-scale use of radio broadcasts…
  • July 5Hormel FoodsThe Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned precooked meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture, folklore, a…
  • July 9NitrocelluloseNitrate film being stored in a 20th Century Fox facility spontaneously combusted, destroying more than 40,000 reels of negatives and film…
  • October 5The Queen's College, OxfordSix days after retiring from the Queen's College, Oxford, Robert Howard Hodgkin was elected its provost due to the sudden death of B. H.…
  • November 10Getúlio VargasBrazilian president Getúlio Vargas led a coup against his own constitutional government, establishing the dictatorial Estado Novo regime.
  • December 3Rupert Bruce-MitfordRupert Bruce-Mitford, the spiritus rector of research on the Sutton Hoo ship burial, joined the British Museum.
  • May 7Fleischer StudiosEmployees at Fleischer Studios in New York City went on strike in the animation industry's first major labor strike.
  • August 2Marihuana Tax Act of 1937The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.

Everything we record for 1937 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Lincoln Tunnel”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/lincoln-tunnel-1937-december-22, accessed October 27, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Lincoln Tunnel happen?

December 22 1937 — 89 years ago, on a Wednesday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

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