Did You Know? John Greenleaf Whittier celebrated the wrong woman in “The Ballad of Barbara Fritchie;” the flag waver was Mary Quantrell. Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star-Spangled Banner” lyrics, was born on a farm near Frederick (1779). Lew Wallace, commander of Union forces at the Battle of Monocacy,
Did You Know? The 1960 movie, “Where the Boys Are,” set in Fort Lauderdale, turned the resort into spring break central. Palm Beach got its palms — and later its name — because a ship loaded with coconuts ran aground there (1878). The Seminoles of Florida are the only tribe
Did You Know? Flagstaff was the highest-altitude city on the historic Route 66 (6,900-plus feet). Astronomers at Lowell Observatory discovered Pluto, the on-again, off-again planet, in 1930. The meteor that created Meteor Crater hit Earth with the energy of more than 20 million tons of TNT. More than 250 people
Did You Know? When ice sculpting was revived in Fairbanks (1988), sculptors used commercial ice from Seattle. The 1,523-mile Alaska Highway, ending in Fairbanks, was built in eight months as a World War II supply route. North America’s largest gold mill, Fort Knox Gold Mine, grinds 40,000 tons of ore
Did You Know? Ford Motor Company sold 15 million-plus Model Ts worldwide (1908 to 1927). Windsor in Ontario, Canada, is south of Detroit. The Ambassador Bridge on the Detroit River is the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing. One mile of Detroit’s Woodward Avenue was the world’s first paved road (1908). Berry
Did You Know? The McCaughey septuplets, born in Des Moines (1997), were the world’s first set to survive infancy. “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995) was filmed in nearby Winterset and Adel. Ronald Reagan was the first sports director for Des Moines’ WHO radio station (1930s). The 600 pounds of
Did you know... ? Denver is the home of the cheeseburger, invented by Louis Ballast (1935). The entire world’s supply of Colorado onyx was used in the Capitol building; no one can build a structure blocking the view of the Rockies from the Capitol. At 4,530 square miles, the metro
Did You Know? Dearborn's first automaker was the Detroit-Dearborn Motor Company (1909), which made 110 cars. In 1914, Ford’s assembly line could assemble a Model T in 93 minutes. Dearborn’s Ford Airport installed the first runways that crossed each other and were paved (1929). The Dearborn Inn was the world’s first
Did You Know? The world’s first and largest convenience store, 7-Eleven, got its start in Dallas (1927). The integrated circuit computer chip (later, the microchip) was invented in Dallas (1958). Sixty percent of America's paper money is printed in Fort Worth. The Dallas Arts District is America’s largest contiguous urban
Did You Know? Columbus is America’s largest city (more than 800,000) named after Christopher Columbus. The American Whistle Corporation is the only maker of metal whistles in the U.S. James Thurber, humorist and author of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” was born in Columbus (1894). Columbus was founded specifically
