Fifty Fun Facts From Fifty States

This was sent to me by "S.L." of Seattle, Washington, and I thought I'd include it here. Maybe you can check it out in between doing crossword puzzles. Maybe you didn't know something about your own state. So here goes:

ALABAMA
Was the first place to have 9-1-1, started in 1968.

ALASKA
One out of every 64 people has a pilot's license.

ARIZONA
Is the only state in the continental United States that doesn't follow Daylight Savings Time.

ARKANSAS
Has the only active diamond mine in the USA.

CALIFORNIA
Its economy is so large that if it were a country, it would rank seventh in the entire world.

COLORADO
In 1976 it became the only state to turn down the Olympics.

CONNECTICUT
The Frisbee was invented here at Yale University.

DELAWARE
Has more scientists and engineers than any other state.

FLORIDA
At 759 square miles, Jacksonville is the USA's largest city.

GEORGIA
It was here, in 1886, that pharmacist John Pemberton made the first vat of Coca-Cola. [Hey, do you know what was in the formula originally that was eventually removed? No, not sugar in favor of high fructose corn syrup.]

HAWAII
Hawaiians live, on average, five years longer than residents in any other state.

IDAHO
TV was invented in Rigby, Idaho, in 1922.

ILLINOIS
The Chicago River is dyed green every Saint Patrick's Day

INDIANA
Home to Santa Claus, Indiana, which get a half million letters to Santa every year.

IOWA
Winnebagos get their name from Winnebago County. Also, it is the only state that begins with two vowels.

KANSAS
Liberal, Kansas, has an exact replica of the house in The Wizard of Oz.

KENTUCKY
Has more than $6 billion in gold underneath Fort Knox.

LOUISIANA
Has parishes instead of counties because they were originally Spanish church units.

MAINE
It's so big, it covers as many square miles as the other five New England states combined.

MARYLAND
The Ouija board was created in Baltimore in 1892.

MASSACHUSETTS
The Fig Newton is named after Newton, Massachusetts.

MICHIGAN
Fremont, home to Gerber, is the baby food capital of the world.

MINNESOTA
Bloomington's Mall of America is so big, if you spent 10 minutes in each store, you'd be there nearly four days.

MISSISSIPPI
President Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear here. That's how the teddy bear got its name.

MISSOURI
Is the birthplace of the ice cream cone.

MONTANA
A sapphire from Montana is in the Crown Jewels of England.

NEBRASKA
More triplets are born here than in any other state.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Birthplace of Tupperware, invented in 1938 by Earl Tupper.

NEW JERSEY
Has the most shopping malls in one area in the world.

NEW MEXICO
Smokey the Bear was rescued from a 1950 forest fire here.

NEW YORK
Is home to the nation's oldest cattle ranch, started in 1747 in Montauk.

NORTH CAROLINA
Home of the first Krispy Kreme doughnut.

NORTH DAKOTA
Rigby, North Dakota, is the exact geographic center of North America.

OHIO
The hot dog was invented here in 1900. OH!

OKLAHOMA
The grounds of the state capital are covered by operating oil wells.

OREGON
Has the most ghost towns in the country.

PENNSYLVANIA
The smiley, :) was first used in 1980 by computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University.

RHODE ISLAND
The nation's oldest bar, the White Horse Tavern, opened here in 1673

SOUTH CAROLINA
Sumter County is home to the world's largest gingko farm.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Is the only state that's never had an earthquake.

TENNESSEE
Nashville's Grand Ole Opry is the longest running live radio show in the world.

TEXAS
Dr Pepper was invented in Waco back in 1885.

UTAH
The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant opened here in 1952.

VERMONT
Montpelier is the only state capital without a McDonald's.

VIRGINIA
Home of the world's largest office building -- the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON
Seattle has twice as many college graduates as any other state.

WEST VIRGINIA
Had the world's first brick paved street, Summers Street, laid in Charleston in 1870.

WISCONSIN
The ice cream sundae was invented here in 1881 to get around Blue Laws prohibiting ice cream from being sold on Sundays.

WYOMING
Was the first state to allow women to vote.

That covers the fifty states. Now, for the bonus fun fact from a non-state ...

WASHINGTON, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Was the first planned capital in the world.
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