Pennsylvania Trivia & Tidbits - Page 4

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

—In the mid-1800s, the state’s first all-iron T-shaped rail was manufactured at the Montour Iron Works in Danville (pop. 4,897). The T-rail replaced iron-strapped wooden rails, which frequently broke under the weight of heavy trains.

first appeared: 4/22/2007

—The USS Monongahela, built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commissioned in 1863, was a Civil War-era sloop-of-war—a small, sailing ship with a single gun-deck. The ship was the first of three naval vessels to bear that name.

first appeared: 4/8/2007

—The first Ronald McDonald House was started by Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill, whose daughter had leukemia. Hill worked with teammates, a local doctor and the McDonald’s restaurant chain to open the house on Oct. 15, 1974 in Philadelphia. Today, 250 such houses dot the globe, serving as a home-away-from-home for families of seriously ill children being treated at nearby hospitals.

first appeared: 3/25/2007

—When Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena (known today as Mellon Arena) opened in 1961, it reportedly was the world’s first auditorium with a retractable roof. The dome is constructed with six moveable stainless steel panels, five of which slide beneath the last.

first appeared: 3/11/2007

—Schulmerich Bells in Sellersville (pop. 4,564) was the first to design and manufacture English handbells in North America in 1962. The company was founded in 1935.

first appeared: 2/27/2007

—The state was home to three of the nation’s capitals—in Philadelphia, Lancaster (pop. 56,348) and York (pop. 40,862)—before George Washington chose a permanent site and Washington, D.C., became the nation’s capital in 1800.

first appeared: 2/11/2007

—In 1999, Pennsylvania introduced license plates that bore the state’s Internet address—www.state.pa.us—instead of a slogan. Former Gov. Tom Ridge said the new plate’s design was an effort to depict the state as “high tech, high energy and ready for the new millennium.”

first appeared: 1/28/2007

The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society building, an icon of international-style modernism, was one of the nation’s first skyscrapers with central air conditioning. The building opened in 1932.

first appeared: 1/14/2007

—Stephen Banic, a coal miner from Greenville (pop. 6,380), was granted a patent for the first workable parachute on Aug. 25, 1914.

first appeared: 12/17/2006

—In 1771, artist Benjamin West depicted Pennsylvania founder William Penn’s meeting with the Lenape Indians under an elm tree in a painting titled “William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians.” The tree, which stood in Philadelphia’s Kensington section, is known as “The Treaty Elm.”

first appeared: 12/3/2006

—The Nazareth (pop. 6,023) sugar cookie, also called the Amish sugar cookie, is baked in the shape of a keystone, the state symbol. The cookie was concocted in the mid-1700s by German immigrants who settled in the Nazareth area of Pennsylvania.

first appeared: 11/19/2006

—On April 13, 1909, the first cherry trees planted along the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., were purchased from Hoopes Bros. & Thomas Co. in West Chester (pop. 17,861) at the request of Helen Herron Taft, wife of President William Howard Taft.

first appeared: 11/5/2006

—Specialty Bakers, a small bakery company on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Marysville (pop. 2,306), is known as “The Ladyfinger Specialist.” Since 1901, the company has baked virtually all of the nation’s commercially available ladyfingers, which are small finger-shaped sponge cakes.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

Carl Stoltz, of Bradford (pop. 9,175), pulled the state-record northern pike, a 35-pounder, from Allegheny Reservoir in 2003. Brian Keller, of Altoona (pop. 49,523), caught the state’s largest Atlantic salmon, a 17-pound, 2-ounce specimen, in Raystown Lake in 2001.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

The Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont (pop. 6,911) dates to 1903 when it was laid out as a Scottish links-style golf course. The National Historic Landmark consistently is named among the nation’s top 10 courses.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

The first all-aluminum building was the ALCOA building, completed in 1953 in Pittsburgh. Thirty stories tall, the 410-foot structure featured exterior walls made of thin stamped aluminum panels. Although ALCOA moved its corporate headquarters to Pittsburgh's North Shore in 1998, the building is known today as the Regional Enterprise Tower and houses the offices of about 90 businesses and nonprofit organizations.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

Berwick (pop. 10,774) is home to Berwick Offray, the largest manufacturer of decorative ribbons and bows in the world, and Wise Foods Inc., a snack food company founded by Berwick resident Earl Wise Sr.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

Dancer and actor Gene Kelly (1912-1996) was born in Pittsburgh. He was best known for his performances in movie musicals such as An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain. The athletic dancer received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1985.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

The U.S. Marine Corps was founded in Philadelphia's Tun Tavern in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress. Each Nov. 10, the Marines celebrate the event with a dance and a cake ceremony in which the birthday cake is shaped like the tavern. Traditionally, the first piece of cake is presented to the oldest Marine present and the second piece to the youngest Marine present.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

Scranton native Jimmy Caras won the 1936 world pool championship at age 26. He won three more world titles between 1938 and 1949 and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 1977.

first appeared: 7/30/2006

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