On this day in 1917: Pamlico County inaugurates North Carolina’s first motorized school bus service. Previously the few state schools that ferried children used horse-drawn vehicles.
School officials have concluded that it will be cheaper to pay $1,379 for a bus to haul 26 pupils from 7 miles away than to open a second school.
Children are seated on long plank benches along each side of the bus, inspiring the nickname “rabbit box.”