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Basic Facts About Woodinville
City Stats
• City Population: 10,390 (As of 4/1/2007)
• Incorporation date: March 31, 1993
• Latitude: 47 degrees 45 minutes
• Longitude: 122 degrees 09 minutes
Land & Roadways
• City geographical area: 5.65 square miles
• Park acreage: 100.84 acres
• State highway in city limits: State Route 202
Annual Events
• Cityhood Celebration as part of Celebrate Woodinville (March/April)
• Chipping Event (April/May)
• Earth Day Volunteer Event (April)
• Family Fitness Event (June)
• Summer Concert Series (July/August)
• Sammamish ReLeaf (September/October)
• Harvest Festival (October)
• Spring & Fall Recycling Events
• Light Festival (December)
Largest Employers in the City (2007–2008 Budget)
• W.A. Botting Company: 289
• Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Ltd: 252
• Molbak’s Nursery & Greenhouse: 249
• Loud Technologies: 238
• Target: 200
Historic Woodinville
The Woodins were the first family to settle in the Woodinville community when they homesteaded 160 acres along the banks of the Squak Slough. Later renamed the Sammamish River, the slough served as the highway for the early pioneers since there were no roads. During the early years, lumber mills and logging were the main employers. Woodinville’s mills included the Machias and Saginaw Sawmilles and the Woodinville Shingle Mill.
The commununity of Woodinville did not develop until the Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway arrived in 1888. The early business district evolved around the railroad depot located where the railroad split at Woodinville. For the first time, stores, saloons, roads and bridges were built.
As the land was cleared and the valley flooding tamed with the lowering of Lake Washington in 1916, produce and dairy farming extended across the Sammamish Valley. Much of the produce was processed at the DeYoung Produce Packeing Shed and shipped by railroad to the East Coast as well as to Seattle. This later became the Lowell DeYoung Feed Mill, which continued to operate until the 1980s. Early dairy farms included Jess Brown’s Millview Dairy and Fred Stimson’s Hollywood Farms which is the current site of Chateau St. Michelle Winery.
Woodinville’s first post office, school and Sunday School were held in the home of Susan and Ira Woodin. As Woodinville grew, the Calkins family donated land for a one-room school which was built in 1892. Today, the land is the current site of the Carol Edwards Center/Old Woodinville School (NE 175th Street/133rd Avene NE). This building was replaced by a two-room schoolhouse in 1906 which burned from a chimney fire two years later.
In 1909, the first brick school east of Lake Washington was built on the site. It was enlarged by the Work Project Administration in 1935 and expanded to its current size in 1948. In the 1960s, the school ceased to be a regular elementary and was called the Woodinville Annex to house an overflow of students. From 1993 to 2001, the building served as Woodinville City Hall.
Historical Timeline
| 1800’s | The area along Squak Slough (today known as the Sammamish River) was inhabited by the Simump Tribe. The word “Squak” was a term used by local Native Americans which meant swampy area. |
| 1862 | National Homestead Act signed by Abraham Lincoln. This act stimulated homesteading of 160 acres per family for more than just timber claims. |
| Sept 1871 | Ira and Susan Woodin homesteaded 160 acres along Squak Slough and became the first permanent white settlers in the region. |
| 1874 | Emanuel Neilsen and Gustav Jacobsen, who were brothers that immigrated from Norway to America in 1870, each homesteaded 160 acres south of the Woodin’s homestead. |
| ca.1874 | Mary B. Neilsen, age 16, married Eric Jaderholm, age 49, and jointly homesteaded 160 acres next to her father’s homestead and just south of the Woodins. This became the early business district. |
| 1876 | The first steamboat to be put into use on Squak Slough (later renamed Sammamish River) was the Mud Hen. The side wheeler made only one trip up the meandering slough because her wheels became entangled in the reeds and grasses. It is believed the Mud Hen remained on Squak Lake and provided freight and passenger service there. |
| 1877 | The Calkins came from Kansas and homesteaded 160 acres in the valley floor east of the Neilsen’s homestead. |
| 1885 | The “Little” White Methodist Church was built at the corner of 131st Ave NE and NE 175th Street. |
| 1885 | The Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway was formed because the Northern Pacific Railway initially terminated its line in Tacoma rather than in Seattle. |
| 1887 | The Seattle-Lake Shore & Eastern Railway reached Woodinville. |
| 1888 | Woodin-Sanders Store was built on pilings next to the railroad platform and operated until 1898. |
| 1889 | On April 4, 1889 the Woodins deeded one acre for a cemetery in Woodinville. Two small girls, Regine Hammer and her sister, died of diphtheria and were the first recorded burials here in 1888. |
| 1889 | Anderson-Kennedy Rainier Saloon was built on pilings near the railroad platform and owned by the Seattle Brewing and Malt Company. The saloon ceased operating as a saloon on August 15, 1912 when the County Commissioners did not renew their license based on the strength of a Citizen Petition. |
| 1889 | American House was built by Joe Redberg and operated as a saloon and hotel. It burned down in the mid 1890’s. |
| 1889 | The Stringtown Bridge over Squak Slough connected Woodinville and Bothell. The bridge was built by Emanuel Neilsen using an ox powered pile driver he designed. |
| 1889 | Washington granted statehood. Woodinville citizen Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm was the first person granted citizenship in the State of Washington. |
| 1890 | Town of Woodinville was platted by Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm which was not incorporated until 1993 – more than 100 years later. |
| 1890 | (Teegarden’s) Mercantile Store was built and initially operated by Milt Russell. The store was sold to Clara and Sara Jacobsen who sold groceries, fabric, feed, etc. It also included a blacksmith shop operated by Harry Teegarden who married Clara in 1914. |
| 1892 | First “permanent” schoolhouse in Woodinville had just one-room and was located at the intersection of 131st Ave NE and NE 175th Street on land donated by the Calkins. Four schools were built on this site between 1892 and 1934. |
| 1892 | The Grace School was built. The school ceased operation in 1928 due to the lack of students. |
| ca.1893 | A permanent railroad depot was built at Woodinville. |
| 1894 | The Forester’s Lodge was built on land donated by Andrew Hansen. The upper floor was used for community activities and served as a local court room when required. The first floor housed the Ruelle’s Brothers Company also known as the Woodinville Trading Company. It eventually disbanded as the need was no longer there for an organization to help widows & children of deceased loggers. |
| 1895 | Emanuel Neilsen’s General Merchandise Store opened on Front Street (became the site of the Woodinville Mercantile Company in 1927). |
| 1895 | The Paradise Lake Cemetery was established. |
| Late 1890’s | A one-room wood frame schoolhouse was built at Derby. |
| 1897 | Klondike Gold Rush begins – several prominent Woodinville residents ventured north. These included Ira & Frank Woodin and several Calkins. |
| 1898 | Snoqualmie Falls underground hydroelectric power plant #1 was constructed. It was the first major hydroelectric plant in Washington. |
| ca.1900 | The Cottage Lake School was built in the center of a logging community. |
| 1903 | Machias Sawmill was built on Squak Slough by Charley Niemeyer and Colonel Miller. Later the Machias Sawmill was obtained by Jesse Brown and operated as a shingle mill until 1926. |
| 1904 | “The Belt Line” of the Northern Pacific Railway from Black River Jct (Renton) to Woodinville was completed. |
| 1906 | The Woodinville Lumber Company located in Grace was established by Jesse Brown. |
| 1907 | Dodd’s Adjustable School Desk Factory was built. Mr. Dodd, a school teacher and principal, started the factory but soon went bankrupt. The factory was sold at auction on May 15, 1909 to the Ruelle Brothers. |
| 1908 | The two-room Woodin School burned. For ~2 years, the empty Dodd Adjustable School Desk Factory was used as a school. The school was replaced by the first brick schoolhouse on the eastside of Lake Washington. |
| 1908 | On August 18 at 5:00 PM, a passenger locomotive train that was running about two hours late crashed head-on into a freight locomotive at Woodinville. |
| 1908 | The Superior Brick, Tile & Pottery Company was built by George Shaw and operated until ~1930. |
| 1909 | Seattle hosts the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition which opened on June 1st. |
| 1909-10 | Electrical power and telephone systems arrived in Woodinville. |
| 1910 | Hollywood (dairy) Farm was built by the wealthy Seattle lumberman Frederick S. Stimson. Mrs. Stimson had several large greenhouses and sold flowers all over the world. Today this is the site of Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery |
| 1912 | The Derby School built of wood was replaced by a brick schoolhouse paid for by Mr. Stimson and renamed Hollywood School. It operated for only two years and closed for lack of students. |
| 1912 | Squak Slough was straightened and dredged between Redmond and NE 145th Street at a cost of $60,000 paid for by the valley farmers. The valley still flooded at times. |
| 1913 | Hollywood Poultry Farm was founded by Mr. Mort Atkinson on 40 acres of timber land owned by Fred Stimson. By 1930, he was brooding about 30,000 chicks per year that were shipped worldwide. |
| 1916 | Lake Washington was lowered nine feet to install the Ballard Locks. This made Squak Slough very difficult to navigate. |
| 1916 | The first Boeing built airplane, the B&W, made its maiden flight from Lake Union on June 15th. |
| 1917 | Lake Washington Ship Canal opens on July 4th. |
| 1929 | The road between Woodinville and Cottage Lake was paved and electrical power was finally extended to Cottage Lake. |
| 1940 | Lake Washington Floating Bridge is dedicated on July 2nd. |
| 1944 | The Lowell DeYoung Feed Mill Company was established. |
| 1947 | The Summit Fire District located next to Lake Leota was established. Fred Luzzani remodeled his barn to accommodate a fire truck which was purchased from King County at public auction June 2, 1947 for $500. |
| 1953 | Saginaw Sawmill was built on the Sammamish River at Woodinville. |
| 1963-64 | Sammamish River (formerly Squak Slough) flood control project was completed. The river was straightened, widened and deepened to protect adjacent farm lands from spring flooding. |
| 1974 | First stoplight was installed in Woodinville. |
| 1978 | First All Fool’s Day Parade held in Woodinville. |
| 1980 | At 8:32am on Sunday May 18th, 1980, Mount St Helens erupts and sends a cloud of ash nearly 40,000 feet into the air. More than 200 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing. |
| 1993 | City of Woodinville was incorporated March 31, 1993. (103 years after the Town of Woodinville was initially platted by Mary B. Neilsen Jaderholm in 1890.) |
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Durango, Colorado is located in one of the most beautiful areas in the Four Corners region. Surrounding areas plunge from 14,000 foot peaks to desert valley floors, supporting alpine forests and aspen groves, rolling mountains rich with ponderosa, piñon and juniper trees and lush green valleys. Sagebrush and yuccas are framed by dramatic cliffs of purple and crimson rock.
At an elevation of 6,512 feet above sea level, Durango enjoys an ideal four-season climate with 300 days of sunshine and moderate temperatures year-round. Winters are usually mild and sunny with temperatures ranging from 10 to 50 degrees. Despite Durango’s average snowfall of 71 inches, accumulations don’t stay long in town and snow removal is manageable. Spring brings warmer weather and rain. Summer temperatures seldom climb above the upper 80′s and rivers and reservoirs stay relatively full in summer, fed by melting snow in the San Juan Mountains. Autumn days are dry and cool, creating wonderful fall colors to view while hiking, biking or driving the area’s Scenic Byways.
Due to its ideal climate, beautiful landscapes and plentiful natural resources, Durango has enjoyed a long and rich history.
Founded in 1880 by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, historic Durango is perched at 6512 feet above sea level and is the county seat of La Plata County.
Best known for the Historic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, as the home of Fort Lewis College, and for its proximity to Mesa Verde National Park, Durango is a popular year-round destination. From pristine snow and waterways, majestic mountains to superb shopping and dining, fascinating arts and culture, you’ll find an array of activities as relaxing or adventurous as you like.
Fun History Fact: The narrow gauge rails are 36 inches apart, whereas standard gauge rails are 56 inches!
Durango History
During the period beginning 2,500 years ago until the 1300s, Ancestral Puebloans called this area home. By the time the Ute Indians settled here, centuries later, these ancient people had mysteriously disappeared from their last homeland – the area now called Mesa Verde National Park. The Ute Indians sheltered in the abandoned dwellings and enjoyed ample fishing and hunting opportunities the area offered.
In 1860, a lucky prospector discovered gold. Within the year, miners, farmers and families flocked to the area.
Twenty years later, railroad officials created plans for the railroad, Main Avenue, Second and Third Avenues, and by 1881 the City of Durango was incorporated and became the county seat.
By the turn of the century, Durango had become a vacation destination, with the creation of the San Juan National Forest in 1905 and Mesa Verde National Park in 1906.
The 1900s brought many of the modern-day amenities that residents still enjoy today, including the Durango Municipal Airport in 1929, the expansion of Fort Lewis College to a four year college in 1957 and Purgatory ski resort in 1965.
Present-day Durango sees multitudes of visitors each year who embrace the many opportunities to fish, hike, mountain bike and ski, and welcomes history buffs taking in Durango’s historic downtown and nearby archaeological wonders.
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Misfit McCabe Travel Quiz # 3 – For the Birds
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Washington as the 42nd state to enter the union on November 11, 1889.
Abbreviation:
WA
Capital of Washington State:
Olympia
Primary Agriculture:
Washington state is a leading lumber producer. The types of lumber include stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa and white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. The state currently ranks first in the nation for apples, pears, edible dry peas, red raspberries, hops, lentils, spearmint oil and sweet cherries. Washington also ranks high in the production of grapes, apricots, asparagus, peppermint oil and potatoes. Livestock and livestock products make important contributions to total farm revenue and the commercial fishing catch of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish makes a significant contribution to the economy of the state.
Primary Industry:
The top Washington manufaturing industries include lumber, aircraft/missiles, food processing, shipbuilding, transportation equipment, metals/metal products, chemicals and machinery.
Washington State Nickname:
The Evergreen State
Washington State Motto:
Al-Ki (Indian word meaning By and By)
Washington State Flower:
Coast Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum)
(Legislation of 1892)
Washington State Tree:
Western Hemlock (Legislation of 1947)
Washington State Bird:
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
(Legislation of 1951)
The Willow or American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) is a typical North American seed-eating member of the finch family, averaging 4-1/4 inches in length that breeds across southern Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland and through most of the United States north of the Gulf of Mexico and core Southwestern States.
They molt all but their black wing and tail feathers in the spring, and the bills of both sexes turn orange. The male of the species takes on a brilliant canary yellow plumage with a jet black cap and has a very pleasing call song. A white rump contrasts with the black tail while in flight. Their winter plumage is a duller olive-brown with some yellow still showing on the head.
Washington State Fish:
Steelhead Trout (Legislation of 1969)
Washington State Insect:
Green Darner Dragonfly (Legislation of 1997)
Washington State Gemstone:
Petrified Wood (Legislation of 1975)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Washington. The seal of the state of Washington is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Washington. The flag of the state of Washington is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Washington flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program
The second commemorative quarter-dollar coin released in 2007 honors Washington, and is the 42nd coin in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters Program. Washington, nicknamed the “Evergreen State,” was admitted into the Union on November 11, 1889, becoming our Nation’s 42nd state. The reverse of Washington’s quarter features a king salmon breaching the water in front of majestic Mount Rainier. The coin bears the inscriptions “The Evergreen State,” “Washington” and “1889.”
Mount Rainier is an active volcano encased in more than 35 square miles of snow and glacial ice. It is the symbolic bridge between the eastern and western parts of the State. The salmon is another important symbol of Washington. It is a traditional image of Pacific Northwest culture, and this fish has provided nourishment for the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Newsman and real estate pioneer C.T. Conover nicknamed Washington the “Evergreen State” because of its many lush evergreen forests.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: April 11, 2007
Reverse (tails) Side: The Evergreen State
Engraver: Charles Vickers
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of Washington
George Washington
Black founder of Centralia. George Washington was the son of a slave and a woman of English decent. Soon after his birth, his father was sold to a new owner and his mother took him to the home of the Cochranes, a white couple who later adopted George. Anti-black laws, restrictions, and prejudice followed George and the Cochranes through six moves and six different states from Virginia to Washington. Prior to 1857, a law barring blacks from land ownership prevented George from owning the property he found in Washington. The Cochranes filed for the land chosen by George in order to protect it for him. In 1857 the law was repealed and the Cochranes deeded back to George, the 640 acres he had lived on and developed for the past five years. At last, receiving that title symbolized the attainment of basic rights and in 1875 George filed his intention of laying out a new town, originally named Centerville. In 1889 the town had a population of 1,000 and George had sold his 2,000th lot. In the Panic of 1893, Centralia was hard hit, and George saved the town by purchasing properties gone to the auction block and making wagon trips alone to Portland, Oregon for supplies, and by lending considerable sums of money with no interest or terms for repayment.
Dr. Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
1802-47: The Whitmans were early Protestant missionaries to the Cayuse Indians near what is now Walla Walla. Narcissa was one of the first two women to cross the continent over land. Their mission became an important stop for emigrants traveling the Oregon Trail in the early 1840s. On November 29, 1847 a small group of the Cayuse Indians, angry, possibly, as a result of cultural differences and a smallpox outbreak, murdered Dr. Whitman, Narcissa and 12 other at the mission.
Chief Seattle
1786-1866: Among the Pacific Northwest Indians, Chief Seattle is one of the most known. Called Sealth by his native Suquamish tribe, his frame rests largely upon his leadership and a speech he gave in 1854 when Governor Stevens visited Seattle for meetings with Native Puget Sound Tribes, he spoke about life and the environment. This particular speech was well known during the 1970′s environmental movement.
Captain George Vancouver
1757-98: In 1792, Captain George Vancouver, of the British Navy, sailed his ships into Puget Sound and named many of the mountains, bays and islands. His goal was to explore the inland waters and make one last attempt at finding the Northwest Passage.
Captain Robert Gray
1755-1806: Captain Robert Gray sailed out of Boston to explore and trade along the Northwest Coast in the late 1700s. Gray discovered Grays Harbor, then continuing south, he finally discovered the mouth of the Columbia River.
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Virginia as the 10th state to enter the union on June25, 1788.
Abbreviation:
VA
Capital of Virginia State:
Richmond
Primary Agriculture:
Virginia ranks among the top 10 in the U.S. in tomatoes, tobacco, peanuts, summer potatoes, turkeys, apples, broilers, and sweet potatoes. Other crops include corn, vegetables, and barley. Famous for Smithfield hams. Virginia also has a large dairy industry.
Primary Industry:
Virginia’s manufacturing industries include transportation equipment, textiles, food processing, and printing. Other industries are electronic and other electric equipment, chemicals, apparel, lumber and wood products, furniture, and industrial machinery and equipment. Coal mining accounts for roughly 75% of Virginia’s mineral output, and lime, kyanite, and stone are also mined.
Virginia State Nickname:
The Old Dominion State
Virginia State Motto:
Sic Semper Tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants.)
Virginia State Flower:
American Dogwood (Cornus florida)
(Legislation of 1918)
Virginia State Tree:
American Dogwood (Legislation of 1956)
Virginia State Bird:
Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
(Legislation of 1950)
The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a member of the North America cardinal family.
Males of the species are a bright, deep red with black faces and coral-red beaks. Females of the species are a fawn or light brown color, with mostly grayish-brown tones and a slight reddish tint in their wings and tail feathers, also with a bright coral-red beak. Both have prominent raised crests and strong beaks. Young birds are the colored like the adult females until they molt and grow their adult feathers in the fall.
Virginia State Fish:
Brook Trout (Legislation of 1993)
Virginia State Insect:
Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (Legislation of 1991)
Virginia State Gemstone:
None (Legislation Pending)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Virginia. The seal of the state of Virginia is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Virginia. The flag of the state of Virginia is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Virginia flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program
The Virginia quarter, the tenth coin released under the 50 State Quarters® Program, honors Jamestown, Virginia, our nation’s first permanent English settlement. Jamestown turns 400 years old in 2007. The selected design features the three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. These ships brought the first English settlers to Jamestown.
On April 10, 1606, King James I of England chartered the Virginia Company to encourage colonization in the New World. The first expedition, consisting of the three ships depicted on the quarter, embarked from London on December 20, 1606. On May 12, 1607, they landed on a small island along the James River nearly 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It was here the original settlers (104 men and boys) established the first permanent English settlement called Jamestown, in honor of King James I.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: October 16, 2000
Reverse (tails) Side: Jamestown 1607-2007, Quadricentennial
Engraver: Edgar Z. Steever
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of Virginia
William H. Harrison
1773-1841: Ninth U.S. president; born in Charles City County, Va. Wellborn and well-educated, Harrison opted for the army and in the 1790s fought Indians in the Northwest Territory under Anthony Wayne. As governor of the new Indian Territory (1800–12), he extracted millions of acres from the Indians and fought Tecumseh’s rebels in the battle of Tippecanoe (November 1811); though the battle was inconclusive, it made Harrison a hero. Commanding regular army forces in the Northwest during the War of 1812, he reoccupied Detroit in 1813 and soundly defeated the British and Indians at the Thames River in Ontario, Canada (October 1813). He went on to serve Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives (1817–19) and in the U.S. Senate (1825–28). After an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1836, Harrison won (as a Whig) with Tyler as vice-president in 1840, on a campaign of ballyhoo and mudslinging, with its slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” An exhausted Harrison caught a cold at the inauguration and he died of pneumonia a month later.
Sam Houston
1793-1863: Texas leader, public official; born near Lexington, Va. He received little schooling and lived for three years among the Cherokee Indians (1809-12). He served in the War of 1812 (1813-14) and studied law. He served in the House of Representatives (Dem., Tenn.; 1823-27) and was governor of Tennessee (1827-29). He resigned the governorship and again lived among the Cherokee Indians. Attracted to the struggle for Texan independence, he led the Texan army at the battle of San Jacinto (1836) and became the first president of the Republic of Texas (1836-38, second term 1841-44). After the admission of Texas as a state, he became a senator (Dem., Texas; 1846-59). He was the governor of Texas (1859-61) but was deposed (1861) when he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederate States of America.
Patrick Henry
1736-99: Orator, political leader; born in Hanover County, Va. He took up law in 1760 after failures in business and farming. He vigorously opposed the Stamp Act (1765). He was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. In 1775, he proposed revolutionary motions to the Virginia assembly, including one for the arming and training of militiamen. He carried the day with a speech that included “I do not know what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” He was governor of Virginia (1776-79, 1784-86) and he opposed the new Constitution (1787) because he felt it endangered individuals’ and states’ rights. He retired from public life in 1788 and refused several offers of posts in the federal government. He was influential in the creation of the Bill of Rights (1791). Although he became reactionary in his later years, his dramatic presence was considered to be integral to the early patriot cause.
Robert E. Lee
1807-70: Soldier; born in Westmoreland County, Va. (son of Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee). His father, a Revolutionary War hero, had fallen into debt and Robert grew up in modest circumstances in Alexandria, Va. Graduating second in his West Point class of 1829 (and without a single demerit), he married a great-granddaughter of Martha Custis Washington and seems to have consciously emulated George Washington in several respects. He held assignments with the Army Corps of Engineers and then distinguished himself in combat during the Mexican War (1846–47) where he fought alongside many of the officers he would later fight against in the Civil War. He returned to duty as an engineer, served as superintendent of West Point (1852–55), transferred to the cavalry and served on the Texas frontier, and commanded the troops that put down John Brown’s raid in Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859. Lee opposed secession in 1861, but resigned from the U.S. Army in order to fight with his state of Virginia, having turned down Lincoln’s offer to command U.S. forces in the field. He held a variety of posts with Confederate forces until July 1, 1862, when he succeeded Gen. Joseph E. Johnston in command of the troops soon known as the Army of Northern Virginia. He then proceeded on a series of campaigns and battles that–because of their sheer boldness, dynamism, flexibility–continue to be admired by all students of military history: the Seven Days’ battles that forced the federals to retreat down the Virginia peninsula; the victory at the Second Bull Run (August 1862); the invasion of Maryland that ended in the standoff Battle of Antietam (September 1862); the great defensive victory of Fredericksburg (December 1862); and the battle known as his masterpiece, Chancellorsville (May 1863). After the latter victory he resolved upon a bold gamble, a second invasion of the North that he hoped would end the war; after three days of savage fighting at Gettysburg (July 1863), he conceded the gamble had failed and led his badly damaged army back to Virginia. With diminishing resources, Lee fought Ulysses S. Grant’s forces in a series of brilliant but costly defensive struggles; these continued through the winter of 1864–65, and by the beginning of Grant’s spring offensive, Lee commanded an army doomed by the overwhelming numbers and resources of the Union; finally trapped at Appomattox Courthouse, Va., Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865, effectively ending the Confederacy’s fight. Although indicted for treason, he was never tried, and he urged all Southerners to take the oath of allegiance to the United States and get on with the rebuilding of one nation. Decisive and willing to run large risks to get at “those people,” as Lee called his opponents, he ranks among the greatest of battlefield commanders, although he has been faulted for a strategic short-sightedness that placed his native Virginia at the center of importance. After Appomattox he became president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee) in Lexington, Va. He died there of a heart ailment, already an object, as he would remain, of his countrymen’s veneration; because of the way he conducted himself in defeat as well as in victory, he became many Americans’ ideal of the gentleman Christian soldier. Among his many notable words were those as he looked over the forces at Fredericksburg before the carnage: “It is well that war is so terrible-we would grow too fond of it.”
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826: Third U.S. president; born in Albermarle County, Va. Son of a surveyor-landowner and a mother who was a member of the distinguished Randolph family of Virginia, he graduated from the College of William and Mary (1762) and read law under George Wythe. After several years of law practice, Jefferson was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses (1769-75) and sided with the revolutionary faction, writing an influential tract, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774). In 1770 he began designing and building Monticello, which would occupy him on and off for some 35 years. Here in 1772 he brought his new wife, Martha Wyles Skelton; together they had six children, only two of whom survived into maturity; she herself died in 1782. Jefferson was among those who called the First Continental Congress in 1774; as a delegate to the Second Congress (1775-77), he was the principal drafter of the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, which embodied some of his ideas on the natural rights of certain people. Jefferson then returned to Virginia, where as a member of its legislature (1776-79), he took the lead in creating a state constitution and then served as governor (1779-81); during this time he proposed that Virginia abolish the slave trade and assure religious freedom, but he did not achieve this. He was not very successful in organizing Virginian resistance to the British military operations there and would come under criticism for his lack of leadership. Returning to the Continental Congress in 1783, Jefferson drafted the policy organizing the Northwest Territory and secured the adoption of the decimal system of coinage. He was sent to France in 1784 with Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams to negotiate commercial treaties and the next year succeeded Franklin as ambassador there. In 1789 George Washington appointed Jefferson secretary of state. In that position he became head of the liberal Democratic-Republican faction–as it was then called–and worked against the more conservative Federalist policies of Hamilton, Madison, and Washington. Jefferson resigned as secretary of state at the end of 1793 to devote himself to his estate at Monticello. (There is no denying, either, that he retained about 150 slaves there, selling or “giving” them to others, treating them as property; he could accept this along with his high ideals because he regarded Africans as inferior beings.) In 1796 Jefferson was elected vice-president under Federalist John Adams. After four troubled years in that position (1797-1801), he beat Adams and, barely, Aaron Burr for the presidency, thanks in large part to the fact that his arch rival, Hamilton, supported him when the Electoral College vote was tied. Among the events of his triumphant first term (1801-05) were the successful war against Barbary pirates, the Louisiana Purchase (which more than doubled the size of the U.S.A.), and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. His second term (1805–09), however, was marred by vice-president Burr’s trial for treason and Jefferson’s highly unpopular embargo on trade with England and France. In 1809 he retired to his estate at Monticello, continuing his scholarly and scientific interests and helping to found the University of Virginia (1825). The campus he designed for the latter, the masterpiece of his periodic architectural endeavors, ushered in the Classical Revival in the United States; he also designed the Virginia state capitol and several fine homes. In 1813 he began what became an extended and remarkable exchange of letters with his old political adversary, John Adams; both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. A complex man, happier when at intellectual pursuits than as an elected politician (he made no reference to his presidency on his tombstone), Jefferson was more admired abroad in his day than at home, where he was charged by some with everything from godlessness to fathering a child with his black servant girl. (This last charge has never been proved.) In the 20th century he has assumed the status of one of the greatest of all Americans, respected for his many achievements, from pioneering work in several disciplines to prophetic insights into such issues as freedom of the press.
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Texas as the 28th state to enter the union on December 29, 1845.
Abbreviation:
TX
Capital of Texas State:
Austin
Primary Agriculture:
Chief agricultural products of Texas include cattle, grain sorghums, cotton lint and seed, wheat, rice, dairy products.
Primary Industry:
The major industries of Texas include chemicals and allied products, petroleum and coal products, food and kindred products, transportation equipment, petroleum, natural gas, natural gas liquids.
Texas State Nickname:
The Lone Star State
Texas State Motto:
Friendship
Texas State Flower:
Blue Bonnet (Lupinus texensis)
(Legislation of 1901)
Texas State Tree:
Pecan (Legislation of 1919)
Texas State Bird:
Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
(Legislation of 1927)
The only mockingbird commonly found in North America is the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
The Northern Mockingbird is a medium-sized songbird that can mimic other bird calls. It is pale gray above, whitish below with two white wingbars and shows large white patches in the wings while in flight. It has a thin black bill with brown base, yellow/orange eyes with thin dark eyeline. It has a long tail with white outer tail feathers, black central tailfeathers and long dusky legs. There is no difference in the appearance between the males and females of the species.
Generally, the Northern Mockingbird will build a twig nest in a dense shrub or tree and will aggressively defends against other birds and predators, including humans.
Texas State Fish:
Guadalupe Bass (Legislation of 1989)
Texas State Insect:
Monarch Butterfly (Legislation of 1995)
Texas State Gemstone:
Blue Topaz (Legislation of 1969)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Texas. The seal of the state of Texas is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Texas. The flag of the state of Texas is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Texas flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program
The Texas quarter is the third quarter of 2004, and the 28th in the 50 State Quarters® Program. On December 29, 1845, Texas became the 28th state to be admitted into the Union. The quarter’s reverse design incorporates an outline of the State with a star superimposed on the outline and the inscription, “The Lone Star State.” The lariat encircling the design is symbolic of the cattle and cowboy history of Texas, as well as the frontier spirit that tamed the land.
Texas comes from the Indian word “tejas,” meaning friends or allies, and appropriately Texas’s motto is “Friendship.” Probably the two most recognized symbols of Texas are its unique shape and the lone star that is represented on the State flag. The Texas flag design was approved in 1839 to symbolize the Republic of Texas and was adopted as the State flag in 1845. The simple design of a lone star and three bold stripes of red, white and blue represent bravery, purity and loyalty, respectively. Texas is the only state to have had six different flags fly over its land; Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States of America and the United States of America.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: June 1, 2004
Reverse (tails) Side: The Lone Star State
Engraver: Norman E. Nemeth
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of Texas
Steven Fuller Austin
1793-1836: He grew up in Missouri, studied at Transylvania Univ. in Kentucky, served (1814-20) in the Missouri territorial legislature, and was studying law in New Orleans when his father died. Stephen took up the plans to colonize Texas and on a journey there (1821) selected the area between the Brazos and Colorado rivers. In January, 1822, he planted the first legal settlement of Anglo-Americans in Texas. He later went to Mexico City to have his grant cleared and confirmed by the newly independent Mexican government. Austin’s settlements, with the towns of San Felipe de Austin and Brazoria, prospered. Other American colonists poured in. As friction developed over the years with the Mexican government, Austin opposed illegal efforts at Texan independence. He was sent in 1833 to Mexico City to present the settlers’ grievances, to ask that Texas be separated from Coahuila, and to get the Mexican immigration law modified. He was accused of treason and imprisoned. On his return to Texas in 1835 he opposed the government of Santa Anna and so forwarded the Texas Revolution. He was sent as one of the commissioners (1835-36) of the provisional government to obtain aid in the United States, was defeated (1836) by Samuel Houston for the presidency of Texas, and served briefly until his death as secretary of state.
Dwight David Eisenhower
1890-1969: Thirty-fourth U.S. president; born in Denison, Texas. After graduating from West Point in 1915, he undertook further military studies and became a fast-rising staff officer in Washington, D.C.; from 1935–39 he was an assistant to Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines. As World War II progressed, he continued to rise in rank and responsibilities and was assigned to command the allied forces during their invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Italy (1942–43). His talent for both strategic planning and staff coordination led him (December 1943) to be named supreme commander of the allied invasion of Normandy and he directed the campaign from D-Day (June 6, 1944) to the surrender of Germany (May 1945). After commanding the U.S. occupation forces in Germany, he returned to the U.S.A. to serve as army chief of staff (1946–48) before retiring from active duty. He served as president of Columbia University (1948–50) and head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1951–52) before the Republicans drafted him as their presidential candidate in 1952; under the motto “I like Ike,” he won by a landslide over Adlai Stevenson and did the same in 1956. His record as president was mixed, but in the years following, his low-profile approach came to seem more attractive. He established a truce in the floundering Korean War in 1953, but still maintained American presence as the main bar to communist expansionism; with the “Eisenhower doctrine” he promised aid to Middle Eastern nations resisting communism; in 1956 he sent troops to restore order in racially troubled Little Rock, Ark. At the same time, he did little to restrain the Cold War machinations of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles or the red-scare.
Lyndon B. Johnson
1908-73: Thirty-sixth U.S. president; born near Stonewall, Texas. Son of schoolteachers, he taught school briefly after graduating from Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Southwest Texas State University) (1930), then gravitated to Democratic politics. After serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administrator of the National Youth Administration in Texas, he went on to the U.S. House of Representatives (1937–49) and was quickly marked by his strong support of New Deal programs. A member of the Naval Reserve, he enlisted for active duty within hours after Pearl Harbor–the first Congressman to do so; he served in the Pacific until President Roosevelt ordered all Congressmen back to their elective office in July 1942. He won a narrow race for the U.S. Senate (1948) and served two terms (1949–61). As Democratic whip and then majority leader (1955–61)–and as the consummate arm-twisting deal-maker–he helped pass some of the most progressive social legislation of the century, including the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960. Elected John F. Kennedy’s vice-president in 1960, he became president on Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963; in 1964 he was returned to office by a landslide. He proclaimed a “Great Society” program to fight poverty and racism, achieving passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965), plus a slate of social-welfare programs including Medicare. At the same time, he led the U.S.A. into an increasingly bloody and unpopular war in Vietnam. Declining support from his own high-level appointees and increasing divisiveness around the country led to his decision not to run in 1968. He retired to his Texas ranch and to writing his memoirs. Larger than life in his public behavior but more than vulgar in his private speech, sensitive to the plight of many less-fortunate Americans but insecure in his dealings with the Eastern Democratic Establishment, he ended as something of a tragic figure because of his overreaching ways.
Chester Nimitz
1885-1966: Naval officer; born in Fredericksburg, Texas. He supervised the construction of the navy’s first diesel ship engine (1913–16). He was chief of staff to the commander of the Atlantic fleet submarine division in World War I. He was chief of the Bureau of Navigation (1939–41) and became commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor (1941). In 1942 he was named commander of all land, sea, and air forces in the Pacific. He refused to attack until U.S. forces were fully ready, in spite of pressure from Congress and the newspapers. He developed much of the strategy of “island hopping” while leading the fleet to many victories. He signed for the U.S.A. at the Japanese surrender ceremonies, which took place aboard his flagship, the USS Missouri, in 1945. He served as chief of naval operations after the war (1945-47).
Audie Murphy
1924-71: Soldier, actor; born near Kingston, Texas. The most decorated American soldier of World War II, he won the Congressional Medal of Honor during the fighting in the Colmar Pocket, Germany, in 1945. He appeared in the war adventure films Beyond Glory (1948) and To Hell and Back (1948).
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Ohio as the 17th state to enter the union on March 1, 1803.
Abbreviation:
OH
Capital of Ohio State:
Columbus
Primary Agriculture:
Ohio’s fertile soil produces soybeans, corn, oats, grapes, and clover. More than half of Ohio’s farm receipts come from dairy farming and sheep and hog raising. Ohio is the top state in lime production and among the leaders in coal, clay, salt, sand, and gravel.
Primary Industry:
Akron is known for rubber; Canton for roller bearings; Cincinnati for jet engines and machine tools; Cleveland for auto assembly and parts, refining, and steel; Dayton for office machines, refrigeration, and heating and auto equipment; Youngstown and Steubenville for steel; and Toledo for glass and auto parts.
Ohio State Nickname:
The Buckeye State
Ohio State Motto:
With God all things are possible.
Ohio State Flower:
Red Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
(Legislation of 1904)
Ohio State Tree:
The Buckeye (Legislation of 1953)
Ohio State Bird:
Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
(Legislation of 1933)
The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a member of the North America cardinal family.
Males of the species are a bright, deep red with black faces and coral-red beaks. Females of the species are a fawn or light brown color, with mostly grayish-brown tones and a slight reddish tint in their wings and tail feathers, also with a bright coral-red beak. Both have prominent raised crests and strong beaks. Young birds are the colored like the adult females until they molt and grow their adult feathers in the fall.
Ohio State Fish:
None (Legislation Pending)
Ohio State Insect:
Ladybug (Legislation of 1975)
Ohio State Gemstone:
Flint (Legislation of 1965)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Ohio. The seal of the state of Ohio is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Ohio. The flag of the state of Ohio is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Ohio flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program
The Ohio quarter, the second quarter of 2002 and seventeenth in the 50 State Quarters® Program, honors the state’s contribution to the history of aviation, depicting an early aircraft and an astronaut, superimposed as a group on the outline of the state. The design also includes the inscription “Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers”.
The claim to this inscription is well justified, the history making astronauts Neil Armstrong and John Glenn were both born in Ohio, as was Orville Wright, co-inventor of the airplane. Orville and his brother, Wilbur Wright, also built and tested one of their early aircraft, the 1905 Flyer III, in Ohio.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: March 11, 2002
Reverse (tails) Side: Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers
Engraver: Donna Weaver
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of Ohio
Tecumseh
1768-1813: Indian Chief for the Shawnee Tribe. Tecumseh had great ability as an organizational leader and is considered one of the outstanding Native Americans in American history.
William T. Sherman
1820-91: Graduate of West Point. Civil War General.
Ulysses Simpson Grant
1822-85: West Point Graduate, 18th President (1869-1877), Born in Point Pleasant., Ohio.
John Chapman
1774-1845: Traveled the land to promote orchard tree plantings. Better known as Johnny Appleseed. For 40 plus years Johnny Appleseed continued to wander up and down Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, taking care of his forest nurseries, pruning and caring for them. He helped hundreds of settlers to establish orchards of their own.
Annie Oakley
1860-1926: World Champion Sharpshooter from Greenville, Ohio. She was a major attraction during 1885 to 1902 at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show performing remarkable feats of marksmanship.
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted New Jersey as the 3rd state to enter the union on December 18, 1787.
Abbreviation:
NJ
Capital of New Jersey State:
Trenton
Primary Agriculture:
New Jersey ranks high in the production of almost all garden vegetables. Crops include tomatoes, asparagus, corn, and blueberries. Livestock animals include poultry and dairy farming.
Primary Industry:
New Jersey’s single largest industry is chemicals, as one of the foremost research centers in the world. Many large oil refineries are located in northern New Jersey. Other important industries include pharmaceuticals, instruments, machinery, electrical goods, and apparel.
New Jersey State Nickname:
The Garden State
New Jersey State Motto:
Liberty and prosperity.
New Jersey State Flower:
Violet (Viola sororia)
(Legislation of 1971)
New Jersey State Tree:
Red Oak (Legislation of 1951)
New Jersey State Bird:
Eastern Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
(Legislation of 1935)
The Eastern or American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) is a typical North American seed-eating member of the finch family, averaging 4-1/4 inches in length that breeds across southern Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland and through most of the United States north of the Gulf of Mexico and core Southwestern States.
They molt all but their black wing and tail feathers in the spring, and the bills of both sexes turn orange. The male of the species takes on a brilliant canary yellow plumage with a jet black cap and has a very pleasing call song. A white rump contrasts with the black tail while in flight. Their winter plumage is a duller olive-brown with some yellow still showing on the head.
New Jersey State Insect:
Honey Bee (Legislation of 1974)
New Jersey State Gemstone:
None (Legislation Pending)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of New Jersey. The seal of the state of New Jersey is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of New Jersey. The flag of the state of New Jersey is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The New Jersey flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program
The New Jersey quarter, the third coin in the 50 State Quarters® Program, depicts General George Washington and members of the Colonial Army crossing the Delaware River en route to very important victories during the Revolutionary War. The design is based on the 1851 painting by Emmanuel Leutze, “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” which currently hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
It was a cold Christmas night in 1776 and the Delaware River was frozen in many places. General George Washington calculated the enemy would not be expecting an assault in this kind of weather. He and his soldiers courageously crossed the Delaware River into Trenton, NJ. Using surprise as their greatest weapon, Washington’s army captured over 900 prisoners and secured the town. Later that night, his army continued towards Princeton, NJ, again taking the enemy by surprise. These two victories proved very important to his army as they gave the soldiers courage, hope, and newfound confidence. The ammunition, food and other supplies confiscated from their captives also helped them survive the brutal winter of 1777.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: May 17, 1999
Reverse (tails) Side: Crossroads of the Revolution
Engraver: Alfred Maletsky
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of New Jersey
Thomas Edison
1847-1931: He opened his own laboratory in Newark, N.J., where he made important improvements in telegraphy and on the typewriter, and invented the carbon transmitter that made Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone practical. In 1876 he moved his laboratory to Menlo Park, N.J., where he invented the first phonograph (1877) and the prototype of the commercially practical incandescent electric light bulb (1879). These and other inventions led to his being internationally known as “the wizard of Menlo Park”, although in 1887 he moved to a larger laboratory in West Orange, N.J. By the late 1880s he was contributing to the development of motion pictures, and by 1912 he was experimenting with talking pictures.
Grover Cleveland
1837-1908: Twenty-second/twenty-fourth U.S. president; born in Caldwell, N.J. Basically self-educated, he was admitted to the bar in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1859 and began to work his way up the political ladder as a Democrat, becoming a reformist mayor in 1881 and New York governor the next year. His efficiency, honesty, and independence from the state political machine took him to the presidency in 1884. During his first term he pursued civil service reform and lowered a protective tariff that was hurting labor. The latter, however, gained him the enmity of big-business interests; their man, Benjamin Harrison, won the close election of 1888. Cleveland came back to beat the ineffectual Harrison in 1892, but his second term was troubled by economic problems and ensuing unrest, during which Cleveland alienated workers and most Democrats. Losing the nomination in 1896, he retired to pursue business interests but he maintained his status as a respected statesman.
Walt Whitman
1819-92: Poet, writer; born in West Hills, Huntington, Long Island, N.Y. He was educated in Brooklyn (1825–30) where his father, a carpenter and farmer, had moved about 1823. He left school about age 12, and after working as an office boy, at age 13 he became a printer’s assistant on several papers around New York City. While exposing himself to opera and theater, he began to contribute occasional pieces to newspapers (including some of the earliest reports of baseball games); at one stage he taught in various schools on Long Island (1836–41). In 1838 he was the founder/editor of a Huntington, Long Island, newspaper, The Long Islander. He continued educating himself through his reading and between 1841–48 contributed to various magazines – both fiction and commentary – and worked as an editor on several newspapers in and around New York City, most especially the Brooklyn Eagle (1846–48); he was fired from this last post because of his outspoken antislavery views. He then journeyed to New Orleans where for three months he wrote for the New Orleans Crescent. On returning to Brooklyn, he continued writing for and editing various newspapers (1848–62), and occasionally helping his father build houses. Meanwhile, about 1848 he had begun writing poetry in earnest. In 1855 he gathered 12 of these relatively long poems and self-published them as Leaves of Grass. Its radically free-flowing style and intensely personal subject matter did not engage the public or critics – although when Ralph Waldo Emerson praised his brave new style and wrote to him, “I greet you at the beginning of a new career,” Whitman stamped that on the cover of an enlarged second edition (1856). In December 1862 he went to Virginia to find his brother who had been wounded in a battle; he stayed in Washington, D.C., to serve as a nurse in hospitals with wounded Civil War soldiers. He obtained a job as clerk in the Department of the Interior in 1865 but was soon fired when it was discovered he was the author of Leaves of Grass, already regarded as scandalous because of its frank sexual allusions. (His second volume of poems, Drum Taps (1865), was more acceptable to the public.) He then found a job in the attorney general’s office (1865–73) but when he suffered a paralytic stroke he moved to Camden, N.J. He continued to write and publish larger editions of Leaves of Grass (his deathbed edition appearing in 1892) and also published the second of his prose works, Specimen Days (1882; his first was Democratic Vistas, 1877). Revered by a small band as “the Good Gray Poet,” he held court in Camden, his reputation actually higher in Europe. It was only in the decades after his death that Whitman came to be recognized as one of the major American creative forces.
James Fenimore Cooper
1789-1851: Writer; born in Burlington, N.J. Raised in prosperous circumstances in his father’s frontier settlement at Cooperstown, N.Y., he attended Yale University (but was expelled for a prank) and spent several years in the navy (1806–11). Living as a country gentleman, he wrote his first novel, Precaution (1820), allegedly after his wife challenged his claim that he could write a better one than what she was then reading. His second, The Spy (1821), is regarded as the first major American novel. He moved to New York City and achieved great popular success with The Pilot (1823) and his first three Leatherstocking tales, The Pioneers (1823), followed by The Last of the Mohicans (1826) and The Prairie (1827), a series that offered for the first time a heroic vision of the American frontier. From 1826 to 1833 he lived in Europe, where he wrote several American and European romances and other works revealing his deep homesickness for an unspoiled American wilderness. But his return to Cooperstown in 1834 was followed by years of bitter disillusionment with the U.S.A. He wrote many satires and virulent criticism that were largely ignored by readers; he also engaged in libel suits against some of his critics and this only further alienated the American public. The prolific output of his last years included a scholarly history of the U.S. Navy (1839), and, among other novels, two final Leatherstocking tales, The Pathfinder (1840) and The Deerslayer (1841).
Charles Addams
1912-88: Cartoonist, born in Westfield, NJ. He was a regular contributor to The New Yorker from 1935 onwards, specializing in macabre humour and a ghoulish group which was immortalized on television in the 1960s as The Addams Family.
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General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Nevada as the 36th state to enter the union on October 31, 1864.
Abbreviation:
NV
Capital of Nevada State:
Carson City
Primary Agriculture:
Nevada agriculture is directed primarily toward range livestock production. Cattle and calves are the leading agricultural industry. Cow-calf operations predominate with a few stocker operators and feedlots. Alfalfa hay is the leading cash crop of the state.
Primary Industry:
Nevada is most recognized for its world renowned casinos and resorts.
Nevada State Nickname:
The Silver State
Nevada State Motto:
All for our country.
Nevada State Flower:
Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)
(Legislation of 1917)
Nevada State Tree:
Single-Leaf Pinon (Legislation of 1953)
Nevada State Bird:
Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides)
(Legislation of 1967)
The Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides) is a medium-sized thrush that breeds in open country across western North America, including mountain areas.
The adult Mountain Bluebirds have thin bills. Adult males of the species are bright blue and lighter underneath. The wings and tail of the females is duller blue and they have a grey breast, crown, throat and back.
Nevada State Fish:
Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (Legislation of 1981)
Nevada State Insect:
None (Legislation Pending)
Nevada State Gemstone:
Nevada Turquoise (Legislation of 1987)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Nevada. The seal of the state of Nevada is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. It is the intent of the state government to ensure that appropriate uses are made of the state seal and to assist the secretary of state in the performance of the secretary’s constitutional duty as custodian of the seal.
Official State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Nevada. The flag of the state of Nevada is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Nevada flag is flown over all state buildings just below the country flag of the United States of America.
State Commemorative Quarter:
From the 1999-2008 United States Mint 50 State Quarters® Program.
The first commemorative quarter-dollar coin released in 2006 honors Nevada, and is the 36th coin in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program. Nevada, nicknamed “The Silver State,” was admitted into the Union on October 31, 1864, becoming our Nation’s 36th state. Nevada’s quarter depicts a trio of wild mustangs, the sun rising behind snow-capped mountains, bordered by sagebrush and a banner that reads “The Silver State.” The coin also bears the inscriptions “Nevada” and “1864″.
Nevada became a territory in 1861, several years after a Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War discovered gold and silver in the area of Virginia City. This discovery would later be referred to as one of the greatest mineral discoveries, famously known as the Comstock Lode.
Nevada is home to more than 50 percent of the Nation’s wild horses. The wild horses dominate the Great Basin in the vast deserts and the more than 150 mountain ranges. The first mention of wild horses was discovered in several journals dating to the 1820s.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Reverse (tails) Side: The Silver State
Engraver: Don Everhart
Standard Weight: 5.670g
Standard Diameter: 24.26mm (0.955 in)
Thickness: 1.75 mm
Edge Detail: Reeded
Composition: Cupro-Nickel Clad
(8.33% Nickel / 91.67% Copper)
Important Historical Figures of Nevada
Kit Carson
1809-68: U.S. frontiersman and scout. Born in Madison co., Kentucky. After Los Angeles was taken in 1846 by U.S. military forces, he was ordered to Washington with dispatches. In New Mexico he met Gen. Stephen Kearny’s troops, and Kearny commanded him to guide his forces to California.
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John C. Fremont
1813-90: American explorer, soldier, and political leader. Born in Savannah, Georgia. He taught mathematics to U.S. naval cadets, then became an assistant on a surveying expedition (1838-39) between the upper Mississippi River and the Missouri. He eloped (1841) with Jessie, daughter of Senator Thomas H. Benton, who, after he became reconciled to the match, helped his son-in-law secure command of an expedition to explore the Des Moines River. The next year (1842) Fremont headed an expedition to the Rocky Mts. with Kit Carson as guide, and in 1843-44, with first Thomas Fitzpatrick and then Carson as guide, he went to Oregon. He explored the Nevada country, crossed the Sierra Nevada to California, and returned home by a more southerly route. His enthusiastic reports created wide interest in Western scenery and Western concerns.
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