New York Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

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

Union College in Schenectady—an independent liberal arts college founded in 1795—is sometimes called the “Mother of Fraternities.” Delta Phi, the oldest continually operating fraternity in the country, and Kappa Alpha and Sigma Phi societies all started on the campus.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

Although the state’s official flower is the rose, New York is home to 58 species of wild orchids.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

Rochester is known as the Flower City for its many parks. The community is home to the first abolitionist group and to the originators of bloomers, marshmallows, baby shoes, gold teeth, and the mail chute.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

Washington Irving (1783-1859), a resident of Tarrytown (pop. 10,756) and the author of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, both with New York settings, wrote under at least three pseudonyms: Dietrich Knickerbocker, Jonathan Oldstyle, and Geoffrey Crayon.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

—F.W. Woolworth (1852-1919) opened his first five-and-dime store in Utica in 1879. “I am the world’s worst salesman,” he said, “therefore I must make it easy for people to buy.”

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Comedienne Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy television fame was born in Jamestown on Aug. 6, 1911. She died April 26, 1989.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

In 1979, students from Hudson Valley’s Vassar College (founded in 1861) were the first from a private college to be granted permission to study in the People’s Republic of China.

first appeared: 1/14/2001

America’s first Eagle Scout was Arthur R. Eldred from Boy Scout Troop 1 in Oceanside (pop. 32,800). The honor was bestowed in May 1912, two years after the British-founded organization was imported into this country.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Reader's Digest, the magazine and book company, is headquartered—not in "The Big Apple" where so many publishing houses are located—but in Pleasantville (pop. 6,592).

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Cooperstown (pop. 2,180), home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, is also the hometown of novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). Cooper's Leatherstocking and Deerslayer tales were set in that region and the Fenimore home is located there.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Uncle Sam originally referred to Sam Wilson, a meatpacker buried in Troy’s Oakwood Cemetery. During the War of 1812, Wilson stamped “U.S. Beef” on his products, and soldiers playfully interpreted the U.S. as Uncle Sam.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

Dairy farming is New York’s most important agricultural activity, with more than 18,000 cattle and calving farms.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

In 1807, The Clermont made its maiden voyage up the Hudson River from New York to Albany, making the vessel the first successful American steamboat.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Chittenago (pop. 4,734) is the home of L. Frank Baum, author of the 1900 classic, Wizard of Oz. The town features a yellow brick inlaid sidewalk.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

The "Big Apple" is large indeed, but only one American president was born there—Theodore Roosevelt in 1858.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

Though originally from Scotland, the game of golf made its debut in America in 1888 when John Reid formed the St. Andrews Club in Yonkers.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

The oldest working cattle ranch in the United States is the Deep Hollow Ranch in—of all places—Montauk (pop. 3,001) on the tip of Long Island. It was established in 1658.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

The Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway is the longest toll road in the United States. It’s 641 miles long and connects to highways in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and other major expressways leading to Canada, the Midwest, and the South.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

At 6 million acres, Adirondack Park and Forest Preserve is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Everglades combined. It’s the largest park in the nation outside the state of Alaska.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

U.S. presidents once were inaugurated in March. The 20th Amendment changed the date to Jan. 20, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was born in Hyde Park, was the first president inaugurated on the new date. George Washington took his oath of office in April, on Federal Hall’s balcony on Wall Street.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

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