In 2020, New York named baseball as the official state sport, celebrating its long history with the game, including being home to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
New York (U.S. State)
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Facts About New York (U.S. State)
The nine-spotted ladybug is specifically New York’s state insect, but it became so rare that scientists thought it had disappeared from the state until one was found again in 2011.
The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was a gift from France in 1886 and stands 305 feet (93 meters) tall from the ground to the tip of her torch, about the same height as a 30-story building.
Times Square in New York City was originally called Longacre Square, but it was renamed in 1904 when The New York Times moved its headquarters there. Today, around one million people gather there each New Year’s Eve to watch the famous ball drop.
The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for nearly 40 years and has 1,576 steps from street level to the 86th floor observation deck.
The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, contains more than 40,000 baseball artifacts and honors over 300 players, managers, and other baseball heroes.
Coney Island’s first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, opened in 1884 and traveled at just 6 miles per hour (10 km/h), much slower than today’s Cyclone roller coaster which reaches speeds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
Broadway in New York City is home to 41 professional theaters and is known worldwide as the heart of American theater, with some shows performing for decades.
The Underground Railroad History Project in Albany, New York, preserves the home of Stephen and Harriet Myers, who helped hundreds of escaped slaves find freedom in the 1850s.
The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, is the only museum in the world dedicated to the study of play, with the world’s largest collection of toys, dolls, games, and video games.
The Corning Museum of Glass, New York, houses the world’s largest collection of glass objects, including some that are 3,500 years old, and visitors can watch glassblowers create new pieces.
One World Trade Center in New York City stands 1,776 feet tall (representing the year the Declaration of Independence was signed) and is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in America, established in 1885, and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same person who co-designed Central Park.
Fort Ticonderoga, built by the French in 1755, has seen battles in two major wars and was the site where Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured important cannons for the American Revolution.
The New York Yankees baseball team has won 27 World Series championships, more than any other team in Major League Baseball.
Famous children’s author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, but created many of his famous books while living in New York.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a New York tradition since 1924, and the parade’s giant balloons were introduced in 1927 because real zoo animals used in earlier parades scared children.
Hip-hop music was born in the Bronx borough of New York City in the 1970s, when DJ Kool Herc began extending the instrumental breaks in songs, so people could dance longer.
New York is famous for its unique foods, including Buffalo wings (invented in Buffalo), Waldorf salad (created at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel), and New York-style cheesecake and pizza.
The New York State Fair, held in Syracuse each summer, is one of the oldest state fairs in the country, first held in 1841, and now attracts more than one million visitors annually.
The New York Public Library has more than 54 million items in its collection, including books, maps, photographs, and even a stuffed bear that inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.
Famous pilot Amelia Earhart lived in New York when she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.
The Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs is one of the oldest organized sporting venues of any kind in the United States, holding horse races since 1863.
Susan B. Anthony, who fought for women’s right to vote, lived most of her adult life in Rochester, New York, and was arrested there in 1872 for voting when it was illegal for women to do so.
New York City’s Central Park hosts free concerts, plays, and movies during the summer months, continuing a tradition of public entertainment that began in the 1800s.
Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City, was the heart of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, a time when African American art, music, and writing thrived.
The Hamptons on Long Island are famous as a summer playground for celebrities and wealthy New Yorkers, with beautiful beaches and fancy homes.
The first toilet paper in America was made in 1857 by Joseph Gayetty in New York City, sold in packages of 500 sheets for 50 cents.
The first pizzeria in America, Lombardi’s, opened in New York City in 1905 and is still serving pizza today, cooking it in the same coal-fired oven.
New York City’s subway system is the largest in the world with 472 stations and could reach from New York City to Detroit if all the tracks were laid in a straight line.
New York created a state police force in 1917, following the murder of a construction worker that local authorities couldn’t solve.
The first public demonstration of television took place in New York in 1927, when an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover was transmitted from Washington, D.C. to New York City.
New York became the first U.S. state to require cars to have license plates in 1901, and those first plates weren’t issued by the state but were made by the car owners themselves with their initials.
One of the longest domestic commercial flight in the United States connects New York City with Honolulu, Hawaii, covering about 4,983 miles (8,019 km) and taking around 11 hours.
The New York Public Library has an underground storage area beneath Bryant Park, known as the Milstein Research Stacks, which holds millions of books in a climate-controlled space to help preserve them.
New York’s state snack is yogurt, specifically recognizing the importance of Greek yogurt production, as New York makes more yogurt than any other state, producing over 700 million pounds each year.
The first American chess tournament was held in New York City in 1843, and today New York is home to many famous chess venues, including the Chess Forum in Greenwich Village.
General Electric was formed in 1892 in Schenectady, New York, and the company’s research lab invented many things we use today, including modern light bulbs, electric fans, and toasters.
The world’s smallest church, Cross Island Chapel in Oneida, New York, measures just 51 inches (1.3 meters) by 81 inches (2 meters) (about the size of a small closet) and can only seat 2–6 people.
The first American railroad passenger service began in Albany, New York in 1831, on a small line that connected Albany to Schenectady, a distance of only 16 miles (26 kilometers).
The world’s largest kaleidoscope is located in Mount Tremper, New York, standing 60 feet (18 meters) tall inside a converted grain silo where visitors can lie down and look up at the colorful displays.
The first synthetic plastic, called Bakelite, was invented in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, and this discovery led to the modern plastics industry.
Chautauqua Institution in western New York has been providing education, arts, and recreational programs since 1874, and U.S. Presidents from Ulysses S. Grant to Bill Clinton have visited.
Howe Caverns, discovered in 1842, is one of the most visited natural attraction in New York, with caves that maintain a constant 52-degree temperature year-round.
New York was the first U.S. state to pass a seatbelt law in 1984, requiring all front-seat passengers to buckle up, a law that has saved thousands of lives.
New York has more than 7,500 freshwater lakes and ponds, enough for every student in a typical elementary school to have their own private lake.
New York’s Finger Lakes region produces excellent wines because the deep lakes moderate the temperature, creating a microclimate similar to famous European wine-growing regions.
The Hot Dog was popularized in New York’s Coney Island in the early 1900s, where Nathan’s Famous still holds a hot dog eating contest every July 4th.
