Pennsylvania Trivia & Tidbits - Page 14

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

John Bartram, appointed King’s Botanist in America, sent hundreds of plants back to the Old World from the nursery he founded in Philadelphia in 1728. Bartram’s Garden, the oldest botanical garden in the United States, can still be visited.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

Settlers, often attracted to places with a ready water supply, named towns in Pennsylvania Three Springs, Yellow Springs, Boiling Springs, Sinking Spring, and Roaring Spring.

first appeared: 3/24/2002

The third day of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 3, 1863) saw more than 31,000 cannonballs fired during the artillery duel preceding Pickett’s charge.

first appeared: 3/17/2002

Working in Monongahela (pop. 4,761), electrochemical engineer Edward G. Acheson (1856–1931) developed carborundum, or silicon carbide, a hard abrasive used as a semiconductor. He also produced the first artificial graphite.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

Traditionally, the Pennsylvania Dutch have prepared fassnachts, deep-fried doughnuts, the day before Lent, to fill themselves.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

On June 27, 1930, eight days short of his 46th birthday, Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn became the oldest player in the history of the big leagues to hit a home run.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

This state’s record high temperature of 111 degrees was recorded on July 9-10, 1936, in the town of Phoenixville (pop. 14,788).

first appeared: 2/17/2002

During World War I, 370,961 Pennsylvania residents served in the military.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

The Lincoln Highway, U.S. Route 30, completed in 1913, was the nation’s first coast-to-coast highway. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor preserves a 200-mile stretch of the road between Pittsburgh and Gettysburg.

first appeared: 2/3/2002

Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, inaugurated on June 30, 1909, was the first steel-structured stadium built in the United States.

first appeared: 1/27/2002

Born in Chester (pop. 36,854), Humphrey Marshall (1722-1801) wrote, in 1785, Arbustrum Americanum (The American Grove), the first botanical essay about indigenous plants to be published in the Western Hemisphere.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

Born in Latrobe (pop. 8,900), golfer Arnold Palmer was named by The Associated Press as Athlete of the Decade in 1970.

first appeared: 1/13/2002

This state is the only known place in the world where all six species of the pike fish family are found.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

The gas turbine electric locomotive, a revolutionary train engine, was first track-tested in Erie on Nov. 15, 1948.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup was created in 1923 at Hershey (pop. 12,771) by Harry B. Reese of York County.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

The nation’s first formal association of craftsmen was called “The Carpenters’ Company,” formed in Pennsylvania in 1724.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

The fare for passengers on the Pennsylvania Canal in the 1830s was 2 cents a mile.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

“Wiggleware”—a type of tinware once unique to this state—is decorated by an artist using a stylus to etch a pattern and punch a design.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

The first autogiro (helicopter) flight took place just outside of Hatboro (pop. 7,393) in 1928.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

Paper towels were introduced in 1907 by Irvin and Clarence Scott of Philadelphia. In 1931, the product was officially designated “Scott Towels.”

first appeared: 11/18/2001

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