Posts Tagged State Facts

Golden is an abandoned mining town in Oregon. Photo Credit: Tedder (Source)

Oregon has the most ghost towns than any other U.S. state. There are over 60 ghost towns in Oregon from abandoned logging camps to deserted gold mining towns. It’s hard to find a definitive number of how many towns there are because the state of remaining buildings and debris, if there are any, vary greatly. Some sources state there are over hundreds in Oregon (see comment section below). Some of the ghost towns have no current residents while others still have a few dozen citizens left.

Travel Oregon

Maryland’s namesake – Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England, Studio of Anthony Van Dyck, 1632. Courtesy of Commission on Artistic Property, Maryland State Archives.

Maryland was named by King Charles I of England after he signed the 1632 charter establishing the colony. He named it in honor of his wife Queen Henrietta Maria, commonly known as Queen Mary.

Charlotte Lowe, History Fact-O-Pedia, New York: Skyhorse Publishing. 2011, 252.

The cancelled check for the purchase of the Alaska territory. The check was issued August 1, 1868, and made payable to the Russian Minister to the United States, Edouard de Stoeckl. The receipt indicates that de Stoeckel accepted full payment on behalf of the Emperor of Russia at the U.S. Treasury Department, Washington, DC. (National Archives)

In 1867 the United States, led by Secretary of State William Seward, purchased the Alaska territory from Russia. After controlling most of the area that is now Alaska from the late 1700s until 1867, Russia sold the territory for $7.2 million dollars. This equals out to roughly two cents per acre. The U.S. gained a new territory of around 600,000 square miles. Alaska was admitted into the union as the 49th state in 1959, also making it the largest state in the United States.

Alaska’s Heritage

On May 4, 1776, the colony of Rhode Island declared its independence from England, becoming the first of the original thirteen colonies to do so. However, Rhode Island was the last of the original colonies to become a state when it ratified the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790.

Source

It’s the newspaper in which George Washington placed an ad to lease part of his Mount Vernon land.

It’s where Noah Webster’s “Blue-Backed Speller” was first published.

Thomas Jefferson sued this newspaper for libel – and lost.

And Mark Twain tried to buy stock in this paper but his offer was turned down.

This 1879 picture details a parade by Rex, an all-male krewe (semi-mythological creature) whose leader is known as the “King of Carnival.” The Krewe of Rex established the official Mardi Gras colors of green, gold, and purple. Photo Credit: Howard Tilton Memorial Library/Tulane University/AP/TIME

The earliest date given to the beginning of the Mardi Gras celebration in the United States is 1703. However, New Orleans was not its birth place, it was in fact Mobile, Alabama and was originally called Boef Gras (Fat Beef). [Zim's Side Note: New Orleans was not founded until 1718, fifteen years after the first Mardi Gras celebration.]

Joe Cain dressed as the make-believe Chickasaw chief Slacabamarinico. Photo Credit: The University of South Alabama Archives/Alabama Heritage

One of the earliest, well-known celebration occurred in 1830 on New Year’s Eve. It was begun by Michael Krafft and his friends who did not want to end a dinner party. After raiding a nearby hardware store, the group proceeded down the town streets with their stolen rakes, hoes and cowbells and woke the town up. Afterwards, the group formed Moblie’s first modern mystic organization called the Cowbellion de Rakin Society. Ten years later the Cowbellions presented their first parade with floats and a carnival theme.

During the Civil War, Mobile was under Union occupation and city soon became discouraged. The stress of the war had halted the Mardi Gras celebration until 1866 when Joseph Stillwell Cain dressed as “Chief Slacabamorinico” in full Chickasaw Indian regalia. Unbeknown to the Union army as well as the United States Government, Cain was making a political statement with his attire. It was meant to be a reminder that the Chickasaw never surrendered during the war and by suit, the people of Mobile should never surrender as well. Cain revived the celebration for future generations and while donning feathers and a skirt he rode the streets while encouraging the city. He was not punished because the government did not understand the meaning behind his costume. Because of his efforts in reviving Mardi Gras, the Sunday before Mardi Gras Day is called “Joe Cain Day,” where the city dresses in costume and celebrates him.

The date of Easter determines the date of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras Day also known as “Fat Tuesday,” takes place on the Tuesday before the Ash Wednesday.

Sources
Mobile Mardi Gras website.
Carpenter, Allan and Carl Provorse, compl. Facts About the Cities. 2nd ed. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1996, 5.

A statue of Captain James Cook located in Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii.

The Hawaiian Islands were called the Sandwich Islands by Captain James Cook in 1778. The name was in honor of the Earl of Sandwich. When Cook landed on Kauai at Waimea Bay, Hawaii became open up to the west. Cook’s stay on the island was short-lived when he was killed a year later by locals in Kealakekua Bay.

Source

Beulah Red Marble

The Colorado State Capitol utilized a unique and extremely rare material when creating the building.  The Colorado Rose Onyx, commonly referred to as Beulah Red Marble, was so rare that all the known marble was used in the capitol building and cannot be replaced.

Colorado State Capitol website

Americans became fascinated with goldfish in 1878, when Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen of the Navy returned from Japan with goldfish. He presented these fish to the U.S. Fish Commission, which they then displayed throughout the east coast.

Postcard of Grassyfork Fisheries

The first goldfish hatchery to be successfully operated in the United States was established in the summer of 1899. Eguene Curtis Shireman opened the hatchery with 200 goldfish in Martinsville, IN. Eventually, the hatchery bred millions of goldfish annually.

It became incorporated in 1924 under the name “Grassyfork Fisheries” and was dubbed ”The World’s Largest Goldfish Hatcheries.”  Grassyfork Fisheries still exists but ownership has switched to Ozarks Fisheries in 1970.

Kane, Joseph Nathan, Steven Anzovin and Janet Podell. Famous First Facts. 5th ed. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1997, 5.
Americangoldfish.org

Benny Benson, a 13-year-old from the small village of Chignik on the southern end of the Alaska Peninsula, designed the Alaskan state flag.

Benny Benson holding his homemade flag design entry.

In early 1926, Territorial Governor George Parks decided that the territory  was in dire need of a flag. On a trip to the nation’s capital, Parks noticed all of the states had individualized flags and since he wanted Alaska to be a state, he decided that a “state” flag would help the cause. On January 1927, the government body of Alaska created the contest rules and circulated these rules to Alaskan schools.

The contest deadline was March 1, 1927 and the winner was a seventh-grader named Benny Benson. Out of 142 entries, Benson’s design won the contest. Within two months, his design was unanimously agreed upon by the Alaskan legislature. He was rewarded with $1,000, a trip to Washington, D.C., an engraved watch and his name put down in the history books.

His design was quite simple. It consisted of eight stars sewn onto a blue background with the forget-me-not flower. In his explanation of the flag, Benson stated, “The blue field is for the Alaska sky. . . .  The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly in the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strenth [sic].”

The Benson-designed flag was flown for the first time on July 9, 1927. Alaska was granted statehood in 1959 and Benson’s flag turned into the Alaskan state flag.

Photos and information found online at the University of Alaska’s website.

The first state to sanction sales tax was West Virginia in 1921

Willis' famous Las Vegas sign

Nevada legalized gambling in 1931.

When it opened in 1906, the Golden Gate Hotel became the first hotel and casino in Las Vegas

Las Vegas’ first racially integrated hotel opened in 1955 – The Moulin Rouge.

Betty Willis, who also designed the neon sign for the Moulin Rouge Hotel, created the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.

In 1966, the famous aviator Howard Hughes moved into the Desert Inn and a year later the management asked him to leave. Instead, he bought the hotel. Hughes also purchased four other Vegas hotels/casinos: New Frontier, Sands, The Landmark Hotel and Casino and Castaways. None of the Hughes’ hotels exists today in their original form or name.

• Desert Inn is now Wynn Las Vegas.
• New Frontier has been demolished and construction is underway.
• Sands is now The Venetian.
• Castaways is now The Mirage.
• The Landmark Hotel and Casino received the short end of the stick and is now a parking lot.

[Information and more facts can be found on the City of Las Vegas and Visit Las Vegas websites. Photo can be found here.]