New Jersey Trivia & Tidbits - Page 14

Looking for New Jersey trivia? Try our list New Jersey little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Colgate Clock in Jersey City faces the bay and can best be seen from the water. The clock face is 50 feet in diameter, the minute hand weighs 2,200 pounds, and its tip moves 23 inches every minute.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

The Absecon Lighthouse at Atlantic City was built under the supervision of Army Engineer Lt. George G. Meade in 1857. With the Civil War, Meade rapidly advanced in his army career and was the general in command of Union forces at the Battle of Gettysburg.

first appeared: 3/24/2002

Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States (1913-1921), served as Princeton University president in 1902 and a term as the state’s governor (1911-1913).

first appeared: 3/17/2002

During the Revolutionary War, signal beacons—large hollow pyramids of logs filled with brush—were built on high ground within sight of each other, the length of northern New Jersey. They were ignited to summon local militia and to notify the next beacon-keeper to pass the signal on in times of danger or invasion.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

The gingerbread woodwork of Victorian architecture in Cape May (pop. 4,034) is a recurrent theme in this resort area. The prevalence of well-preserved, late-19th-century structures resulted in the town of Cape May being designated a national historic landmark in 1976. Today, more than 600 Victorian houses remain in Cape May.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

Trenton-born TV comedian Ernie Kovacs’ (1919-1962) trademark mustache, cigar, and smile were familiar to Johnny Carson fans, whose show he frequently hosted. Three films won him fame during the 1950s: The Silent Show, Operation Mad Ball, and Bell, Book and Candle.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

Born in New Brunswick, poet Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) achieved great popularity for his poem Trees (1914), combining his respect for God and nature. Enlisting in the Army during World War I, he was killed in action in France.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

As a research chemist at Jackson Lab in Deepwater (pop. 1,500), Roy Plunkett invented the process for making Teflon. The first products—machine parts for military and industrial applications—were sold in 1946. In the early 1960s, Teflon found its most famous use as nonstick surface for cookware.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

Productive farmland covers nearly 1 million acres, or about 20 percent of the state’s land area. The average per-acre value of New Jersey farmland last year, including land and buildings, was $7,100, the highest in the nation.

first appeared: 2/3/2002

Born in Boonton (pop. 8,496) in 1900, Helen Gahagan Douglas became a Broadway star, then an opera singer in California in the 1920s. She later was elected to three terms in Congress, beginning in 1944. She lost a senate race to Richard Nixon in 1950.

first appeared: 1/27/2002

Egg Harbor City (pop. 4,545) isn’t famous either for eggs or a harbor but for acres of vineyards. The discovery in 1858 that the soil was good for grape growing attracted German vintners to the area, and Italian growers settled there after the Civil War. Some of today’s vineyards are run by the original German and Italian families.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

A transistor water tower was erected in 1961 on the property of what is now Lucent Technologies, commemorating the transistor’s role in modern electronics. The three-legged saucer looms over the entrance drive to Lucent’s research facility in Holmdel (pop. 11,500).

first appeared: 1/13/2002

Stephen Crane (1871-1900), born in Newark, is known for his novels, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (1893) and the Civil War tale of self-doubting heroism, Red Badge of Courage (1895).

first appeared: 1/6/2002

In partnership with his colleague, William Hanford, Donald Fletcher Holmes (1910-1980), born in Woodbury (pop. 10,307), received a patent for polyurethane in 1942. The plastic can be formed into anything from chair padding to spandex to bowling balls.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

One of the fiercest fights of the American Revolution took place Jan. 3, 1777, at the site of what is now Princeton Battlefield State Park. The battle extended about a mile away to College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and gave Gen. George Washington his first victory against British regulars.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

Except for its 50-mile border with New York, New Jersey is virtually surrounded by water—of the Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay, and the Delaware River.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

John Wesley Hyatt, responding to a prize offer to find a replacement for billiard balls made of ivory, began manufacturing hard-plastic (celluloid) billiard balls in Newark during the 1880s.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

Earle Dickson, an employee of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, invented a bandage strip to provide a convenient dressing for his accident-prone wife. He showed it to his employers and, after it was produced commercially in 1921, Dickson became a company vice president. Johnson & Johnson estimate more than 100 billion Band-Aides have been used around the world.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Aaron Burr (1756-1836), born in Newark, was the country’s third vice president (1801-1805) but is remembered more for his duel with Alexander Hamilton, which resulted in the latter’s death. He was the son of the Rev. Aaron Burr, the cofounder and second president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Esther Edwards Burr, daughter of New England theologian Jonathan Edwards.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), born in Englewood (pop. 26,203), is best known for five volumes of diaries and letters that provide a record of the period of the celebrity of her husband, aviator Charles Lindbergh.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

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