Fun Facts about New York
About New York State
New York is known as the “Empire State” due to its growth and prosperity early in its history. George Washington is said to have seen New York as “the seat of the empire.”
New York City, New York, is the most linguistically diverse city with over 800 languages spoken, and 4 in 10 households speak a language other than English.
Adirondack Park in northeast New York has 6 million acres, making it the largest national park in the United States. It is larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Everglades, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.
The world’s smallest church is found in Oneida, NY. The Cross Island Chapel is 51″ x 81″, making it large enough to sit two people.
Lake Placid, NY, is the only U.S. city to have hosted the Winter Olympics twice, first in 1932 and again in 1980.
In 1848, the first women’s rights convention in the United States was held in Seneca Falls, NY, officially starting off the fight for women’s rights. Women would win the right to vote in New York in 1917.
More Fun Facts
In 1901, New York was the first state to require all automobiles to have license plates. However, the plates were not issued by the state but were made by the owner and were required to have the owner’s initials.
New York City’s Federal Reserve Bank has the largest gold storage in the world. The vault is 80 feet below street level and contains $90 billion in gold.
The New York Post, established by Alexander Hamilton in 1803, is the longest-running newspaper in the United States.
The New York Public Library has over 50 million books and other items and is the second largest library system in the nation after the Library of Congress. It is also the 3rd largest library in the world.
New York is the home of chewing gum, marshmallows, Jell-O, French’s Mustard, potato chips, ice cream cones, pasta primavera and eggs Benedict to name a few.
Central Park in the middle of Manhattan covers a larger area than the principality of Monaco.
About 1 in every 37 people living in the U.S.A. is a New York City resident.
New York is home to nine of the top 100 restaurants in the world, according to Restaurant magazine.
