New York Trivia & Tidbits - Page 8

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

Fearing a British incursion, Dutch colonists in southern Manhattan built a protective wall from the Hudson River to the East River in 1653. The road alongside it is now known as Wall Street—the world’s financial epicenter.

first appeared: 8/1/2004

Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, established in 1896 in Hartsdale (pop. 9,830), is believed to be the nation’s oldest pet graveyard.

first appeared: 7/25/2004

New York’s only statue honoring a dog is that of Balto, the sled dog that led a team to Nome, Alaska, in 1925, to deliver anti-toxin for a diphtheria outbreak. Balto’s likeness can be found in New York City’s Central Park.

first appeared: 7/18/2004

The New York Stock Exchange was launched in 1792, when 24 merchants created an informal exchange specializing in paper transactions. Their pact was known as the Buttonwood Agreement because the group met beneath a buttonwood tree in lower Manhattan.

first appeared: 7/11/2004

New York City hosted the First American Chess Congress in 1857. The chess tournament was chronicled in a book published two years later by Daniel Willard Fiske.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

Horseheads (pop. 19,561) in south-central New York got its unusual name in 1779, after exhausted packhorses were mercifully destroyed by Continental Army soldiers. The bleached skulls were later arrayed alongside a trail that ran through the area.

first appeared: 6/20/2004

Dairy farming accounts for more than half of New York’s agricultural receipts. In 2003, some 7,100 farms produced 12.2 billion pounds of milk valued at $1.56 billion.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Chemung County has had its share of famous residents, including fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, Heisman trophy winner Ernie Davis, author Mark Twain, and NASCAR drivers Geoffrey, Brett and Todd Bodine.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Fort Klock in St. Johnsville (pop. 2,565) was built by Johannes Klock in 1750 as a fur-trading post and fortified stone house. Now a Colonial-era museum, it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

When her husband was named keeper of Robbins Reef Light off Staten Island in 1883, Kate Walker accompanied him, rowing her children to school each day. After her husband’s death in 1886, she continued as lighthouse keeper for another 33 years.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

The state’s first governor, George Clinton, was elected in 1777. He also served as vice president under presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

first appeared: 5/23/2004

NASCAR driver Brett Bodine, a native of Chemung (pop. 2,665), earned an associate’s degree in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Alfred (pop. 5,140).

first appeared: 5/16/2004

Elisha Graves Otis was living in Yonkers when he invented the elevator brake. This safety device is credited with propelling the elevator industry forward.

first appeared: 5/9/2004

The United Nations headquarters in New York City sits on 16 acres of land purchased with an $8 million donation made in 1946 by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

first appeared: 5/2/2004

Salt production played such a large role in the founding of Syracuse that the city was nicknamed “Salt City.” The city’s Salt Museum, situated on the shores of Onondaga Lake, highlights the salt production processes of old.

first appeared: 4/25/2004

The Salt Museum in Liverpool (pop. 2,505) traces the history of salt extraction in this Onondaga Lake-side town, known as “Salt City.” The “white gold” involved no mining, just boiling big kettles of Onondaga Lake brine.

first appeared: 4/18/2004

Grandma Moses, who painted rural scenes from her home in Hoosick Falls (pop. 3,436), took up painting at age 76. Though she’d never had an art lesson, she painted for 25 years until she died in 1961 at 101.

first appeared: 4/11/2004

Cortland County was named for Pierre Van Cortlandt, the state’s first lieutenant governor. In 1777, he was president of the convention that framed the state’s first constitution.

first appeared: 4/4/2004

The 1.5-mile Ausable Chasm near the mouth of Lake Champlain is said by some to rival Niagara Falls as a natural spectacle. It has been a tourist attraction since 1870.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

The Niagara River is one of the world’s greatest sources of hydroelectric power, supplying 25 percent of the electricity used in New York state and Ontario, Canada.

first appeared: 3/21/2004

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