The first personal computer was invented in America in 1971!
United States of America (USA) - Facts for Kids
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Facts About United States of America (USA) For Kids
Regional Traditions
The Running of the Reindeer in Alaska is like Spainâs Running of the Bulls, but with reindeer!
New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras with parades and festivals that last several weeks!
The Kentucky Derby has been run every year since 1875, even during both World Wars!
In Hawaii, May Day is also Lei Day, when people celebrate by wearing and giving flower leis!
The Macyâs Thanksgiving Day Parade has been held since 1924 and uses enough helium to fill 2.5 million party balloons!
The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. celebrates trees that were a gift from Japan in 1912!
The Iowa State Fair features a life-size cow sculpture made of butter each year!
American Literature & Stories
Dr. Seuss wrote âGreen Eggs and Hamâ using only 50 different words!
The first American childrenâs book was published in 1744 and was called âLittle Pretty Pocket-Bookâ!
âMary Had a Little Lambâ was inspired by a real girl named Mary Sawyer and her pet lamb in Massachusetts!
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 171 million items!
Comic books were invented in America in the 1930s!
The first American dictionary was written by Noah Webster and took 27 years to complete!
Famous Landmarks
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is as tall as 18 stacked school buses!
The Lincoln Memorial has 87 steps, but they arenât based on Abraham Lincolnâs age.
Mount Rushmoreâs noses are 20 feet (6 m) long â the same length as a great white shark!
The Empire State Building has its own ZIP code!
The Space Needle in Seattle was built to withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour (322 km/h)!
The Hoover Dam contains enough concrete to build a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York City!
The Willis Tower in Chicago has glass boxes that let you step out 1,353 feet (412 m) above the ground!
Transportation History
The first American gas station opened in 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri!
The first traffic light was installed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914!
Americaâs first subway opened in Boston in 1897!
The first drive-in movie theater opened in New Jersey in 1933!
The first successful steamboat service in America began in 1807!
The first transcontinental railroad in the United States was completed in 1869, connecting the east and west coasts!
The first drive-through restaurant in the U.S. opened in 1947 â but not in California! It was Redâs Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri, where customers could order and pick up food without leaving their cars.
The first American motorcycle company, Indian Motorcycle, started in 1901!
Holiday Traditions
The first recorded Valentineâs Day note in America was written on February 14, 1779!
Groundhog Day began in Pennsylvania in 1887!
The tradition of the Easter Egg Roll at the White House began in 1878!
Motherâs Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, following a campaign led by Anna Jarvis that began in 1907.
American Heroes & Changemakers
Rosa Parksâ bus protest in 1955 helped spark the Civil Rights Movement!
Jane Addams was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931!
Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for voting when it was illegal for women to do so in the U.S.!
Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals, the lightning rod, and the flexible catheter!
American Entertainment
Walt Disney began his artistic career by drawing cartoons for his high school newspaper at McKinley High School in Chicago.
The first feature-length animated movie in America was âSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsâ in 1937!
The Hollywood Walk of Fame has more than 2,700 stars!
Captain Kangarooâ was one of the longest-running childrenâs TV shows in the U.S., airing from 1955 to 1984. But the first American kidsâ TV show was âSmall Fry Clubâ in 1947, followed by âHowdy Doodyâ the same year!
Disneyland opened in 1955 and was built in just 366 days!
The first American radio station started broadcasting in Pittsburgh in 1920!
Americaâs first theme park, Santa Claus Land, opened in 1946, in Santa Claus, Indiana.
The first American circus was started by John Bill Ricketts in 1793!
State Symbols
Oklahomaâs state vegetable is the watermelon, which is technically a fruit!
Marylandâs state sport is jousting!
Wisconsin produces enough milk each year to fill 48,400 Olympic swimming pools!
Maine produces 99% of all wild blueberries in America!
New Mexicoâs state question is âRed or green?â referring to types of chile peppers!
