Fun Facts
Pennsylvania is the only one of the original 13 states without a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.
You’re never more than 60 miles from salt water in any place in Florida.
Indiana is the smallest state west of the Appalachian Mountains in the continental United States.
The Columbia River along the Oregon/Washington border is the largest river in North America or South America that flows into the Pacific Ocean.
The state of Kansas has more than 6,000 “ghost towns.”
Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes, actually has 11,842 of them.
The Great Salt Lake has no fish living in it.
Utah has the youngest population of any state with a median age of 31 years.
There are only 6 covered bridges left in Madison County, Iowa.
Dr Pepper was invented in a pharmacy in Waco, Texas.
The crescent wrench was invented by the Crescent Tool Company in Jamestown, New York.
The Dick Van Dyke Show was set in New Rochelle, New York.
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, is known as the "Mushroom Capital of the World."
The first discovery of gold in North America was in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1799.
The kazoo made its musical debut in 1852 at the Georgia State Fair in Macon.
Maine is the only state that shares its border with only one other state.
"The Scarlet Letter," written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem, Massachusetts, was the first mass produced book in the United States.
Lawyers were banned in Savannah, Georgia, until 1755.
The oldest barber shop in the United States is located in Saugus, Massachusetts. George’s Barber Shop founded in 1902. It's fifth generation owned and operated.
The first paintball game was played in a wooded area in Henniker, New Hampshire.
The American Banjo Museum is located in Oklahoma City.
John Chapman, better known as the legendary Johnny Appleseed, is buried in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The character of Uncle Sam is based on a butcher in Troy, New York.
The nation's first crop dusting company was located in Monroe, Louisiana. It eventually developed into a passenger carrier and became Delta Airlines.
Austin, Texas, is the southernmost state capital in the continental United States, slightly more south than Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Tallahassee, Florida.
Vicks VapoRub was invented at a drug store in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The term "maverick" for an independent thinker comes from Samuel Maverick, a rancher in San Antonio, Texas, who let his unbranded cattle roam the countryside in the 1840s.
Colorado has a median elevation of 6,800 feet, the highest of any state.
The geographic center of the continental United States is near Lebanon, Kansas.
The population center has shifted westward to Plato, Missouri. It was in Salem, Illinois, in 1960.
Missouri and Tennessee have borders with eight other states, the most of any states.
The National D-Day Monument is in the small town of Bedford, Virginia.
Almost 90 percent of Nebraska’s towns have fewer than 3,000 residents.
Nevada is the driest state with an average of 9 inches of precipitation a year.
Vermont receives the most snowfall of any state with an average of nearly 90 inches per year. Maine is second. Alaska is actually fifth.
Pennsylvania is known as the “snack food capital of the world,” due to its production of pretzels, potato chips, and candy.
Rayne, Louisiana, is known as the "Frog Capital of the World."
Fire ants were introduced in the United States from ships that docked at Mobile, Alabama.
The world's first speeding ticket was issued in Dayton, Ohio, in 1904. Harry Myers was ticketed for driving 12 miles per hour.
The first mass produced toy in the United States were clay marbles that were manufactured beginning in 1884 in Akron, Ohio.
The nation's first general purpose credit card was introduced by Bank of America in Fresno, California, in 1958.
The corn dog was invented in 1946 at the Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield, Illinois.
Klondike bars were invented by William Islay in his ice cream shop in Mansfield, Ohio. They were sold only in Ohio and Pennsylvania until the 1970s.
The nation's first soap box derby was held in 1933 in Dayton, Ohio, with 19 boys racing 19 different cars.
The only state named after a president is Washington.
El Paso, Texas, is closer to San Diego than it is to Houston.
El Paso is also the only Texas city in the Mountain Time Zone.
Freeways that run east to west are given even numbers with the lowest numbers being southerly routes. Interstate 10 goes through the southern United States while Interstate 90 cuts across the northern portion of the country.
Freeways that run north to south are given odd numbers with the lowest numbers appearing in the western United States. Interstate 5 travels through California, Oregon, and Washington while Interstate 95 skirts the Atlantic Coast.
The "Star Spangled Banner" didn't officially become the national anthem until 1931 when President Herbert Hoover signed a law designating it with that status.
President James Polk died in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1850 during a cholera epidemic, just three months after leaving office. It's the shortest retirement of any U.S. president.
Besides leading the nation in oil production, Texas is also number one in wind energy.
Arizona was the last of the 48 contiguous states to be admitted to the union. It became a state in 1912. It held the title of newest state for 47 years until Alaska and then Hawaii were added in 1959.
Los Alamos, New Mexico, has one of the highest millionaire-per-capita rates than any town in the United States.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, has the highest elevation of any state capital at 7,198 feet.
The Fritos corn chip was invented during the Great Depression of the 1930s by a business owner in San Antonio, Texas.
Arizona accounts for 68 percent of the copper produced in the United States.
In 2001, Flagstaff in Arizona was selected as the world’s first International Dark Sky City.
Only 0.2 percent of the land in New Mexico is covered by water, the lowest percentage of any state.
The nation’s first parking meter was installed in downtown Oklahoma City in 1935.
The world's first speeding ticket was issued in Dayton, Ohio, in 1904 to Harry Myers for driving 12 miles per hour.
Every jar of Skippy Peanut Butter is manufactured inside a plant at the Port of Little Rock in Arkansas.
The largest peanut butter producing facility in the world is the Jif factory in Lexington, Kentucky.
Delta Air Lines was founded in Monroe, Louisiana, and was named after the Mississippi Delta
In 1935, Richmond, Virginia, became the first city where canned beer was sold.
The bourbon-based Old Fashioned cocktail was invented in the late 1800s by a headwaiter at the Pendennis Club, a private men’s club in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lexington, Kentucky, has 450 horse farms and is known as the “Horse Capital of the World”
West Virginia in the only state to be created by carving out land from just one other state.
There were four slave states that did not secede from the Union during the Civil War. They were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri.
Delaware has only three counties, the smallest number of any state.
In the early 1900s, Fort Lee, New Jersey, and New Rochelle, New York, were the nation’s film capitals before Hollywood claimed that title in the 1930s.
In the 1910s, Jacksonville, Florida, was a center for silent movies. Filmmakers from New York would spend the winter months in sunny Florida creating these productions. The city has a Jacksonville Silent Film Museum.
Jacksonville is also the largest city in the continental United States in terms of square miles.
Circus owner P.T. Barnum was elected mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1875.
The first Subway sandwich shop was opened by a physics professor and a college student in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1965.
The Frisbee disc was invented in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1948, inspired by Yale University students tossing around pie tins for fun.
The tractor was invented in Charles City, Iowa. Its name comes from the combination of "traction" and either "power" or "motor."
The nation’s first municipal tree planting program was started in 1868 in New Haven, Connecticut.
The Fig Newton is named after Newton, Massachusetts, where the cookie was first manufactured, beginning in 1891.
The nation’s first chewing gum factory was established in Portland, Maine, in the 1850s.
The first successful oil well in the United States was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859.
If you've ever owned a goldfish, it's likely it came from Martinsville, Indiana, which has had fisheries in town since 1899.
The tradition of Niagara Falls being known as the “Honeymoon Capital of the World" began in 1801 when newlyweds Theodosia and Joseph Alston spent the immediate days after their wedding there. Theodosia was the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr and is the woman Burr’s character sings about in the play, “Hamilton.”
Vermont was an independent sovereign republic from 1777 to 1791 before becoming the 14th state in the United States.
Rudyard Kipling wrote his famous “The Jungle Book” while living near Brattleboro, Vermont, with his new wife.
The nickname of “The Big Apple” for New York City hasn’t nothing to do with fruit. It started in the 1920s in reference to the city’s horse racing tracks.
The IRS office in Holtsville, New York, has the lowest numbered ZIP code at 00501. The town of Ketchikan, Alaska, has highest ZIP code number with 99950.
The General Electric office in Schenectady, New York, was awarded the ZIP code 12345 in 1971. They get thousands of letters a year from children addressed to Santa Claus at that ZIP code. Company employees volunteer to answer the letters.
Buffalo chicken wings were indeed invented in Buffalo, New York, in 1964 at the Anchor Bar. In the finger food’s honor, there is a National Buffalo Wing Festival held in that city in September.
Syracuse, New York, was known as “The Salt City” in the first half of the 1800s because most of the salt used in the United States at that time was produced there.
Seneca Falls in upstate New York is believed to be the inspiration for Bedford Falls in Frank Capra’s 1946 classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Rochester, New York, is considered to be the first “boom town” in the United States.
The four upper Great Lakes contain about 20 percent of the world’s fresh water.
Buffalo, New York, was known in the late 1800s as the “City of Light” because of all the electric power generated by hydroelectric plants at nearby Niagara Falls.
The Maid-Rite Sandwich Shop in Springfield, Illinois, claims to have had the first drive-up delivery window in the country.