Back to Locations
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.
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
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).
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
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.
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
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.
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
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.
[Return to top]
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.
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted Colorado as the 38th state to enter the union on August 1, 1876.
Abbreviation:
CO
Capital of Colorado State:
Denver
Primary Agriculture:
The farm industry, which is primarily concentrated in livestock, is also an important element of the state’s economy. The primary crops in Colorado are corn, hay, and wheat.
Primary Industry:
The primary factors of Colorado’s manufacturing industry are food and kindred products, and printing/publishing. The mining industry includes oil and gas, coal, and metal mining. Denver is home to companies that control half of the gold production of the nation.
Colorado State Nickname:
The Centennial State
Colorado State Motto:
Nil Sine Numine (Nothing Without the Deity)
Colorado State Flower:
Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia caerulea)
(Legislation of 1925)
Colorado State Tree:
Colorado Blue Spruce (Legislation of 1939)
Colorado State Bird:
Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys)
(Legislation of 1931)
The Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) is a medium-sized sparrow and the only member of the genus Calamospiza. It breeds in the prairie regions of central Canada and the mid-western United States. Their nest is an open cup on the ground in a grassy area.
These Lark Bunting has a large pale bill and a pale wing patch. The plumage of the adult males in breeding is black except for their white wing patch. Females of the species and immature males appear more sparrow-like, having dark brown upperparts and white underparts, with streaking on the back, breast and flanks. The wings are dark with brown edges.
Colorado State Fish:
Greenback Cutthroat Trout (Legislation of 1994)
Colorado State Insect:
Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly (Legislation of 1996)
Colorado State Gemstone:
Aquamarine (Legislation of 1971)
Official State Seal:
Depicted to the right is the state seal of Colorado. The seal of the state of Colorado 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.
The Official Colorado State Flag:
Depicted to the left is the state flag of Colorado. The flag of the state of Colorado is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The Colorado 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 third commemorative quarter-dollar coin released in 2006 honors Colorado, and is the 38th coin in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program. The Colorado quarter depicts a sweeping view of the state’s rugged Rocky Mountains with evergreen trees and a banner carrying the inscription “Colorful Colorado.” The coin also bears the inscriptions “Colorado” and “1876″.
Colorado’s Rocky Mountains are home to some of the Nation’s most majestic natural wonders. Among these, rising approximately 10,000 feet from the valley floor in Northwest Colorado, Grand Mesa is the largest flat-top mountain in the world, and is home to more than 200 lakes and many miles of scenic hiking trails.
Colorado was admitted into the Union on August 1, 1876, becoming our Nation’s 38th state. With statehood gained less than one month after the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Colorado is nicknamed the “Centennial State”.
Quarter Specifications
Release Date: June 14, 2006
Reverse (tails) Side: Colorful Colorado
Engraver: Norm 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 Colorado
Chipeta, “White Singing Bird”
1844-1924: In 1859, she became the second wife of Ouray of the Uncompaghres, chief of the Ute Indian Nation. Her diplomatic tenacity strove to achieve a bloodless peace with white settlers.
Kit Carson
1809-68: Known best as a mountain man, Kit Carson also was an Indian agent and had a long military service record. He accompanied three of the Fremont expeditions as a guide.
Nathaniel P. Hill
1832-1900: Known as a famous chemist who built the first large mining smelter in Colorado in 1868. The building of the smelter is said to have initiated the era of hard rock mining in our state. The company was called the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company.
William J. Palmer
1836-1907: Known best as a builder of railroads, but also as a successful businessman, military man and philanthropist. William J. Palmer was a Union Cavalry General during the Civil War, and later founded the town of Colorado Springs and subsequently founded the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in Pueblo, Colorado. Palmer was instrumental in bringing the Denver and the Kansas Pacific railroad lines to Denver. Palmer is perhaps best known as the builder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad which was the first narrow gauge railroad in the United States. The Denver – Colorado Springs line started service in 1871.
Barney Ford
1822-1902: Known as a successful businessman in early Colorado, Barney Ford was instrumental in ensuring that equal voting rights for all citizens became a part of our state’s constitution in 1876. Ford, who was once a runaway slave, is best known for his work in support of civil rights in early Colorado history.
Back to Locations
Back to Locations
General Information, Facts & Symbols
The United States of America accepted California as the 31st state to enter the union on September 9, 1850.
Abbreviation:
CA
Capital of California State:
Sacramento
Primary Agriculture:
California grows more food than any other state in the country. among these crops are almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, kiwi, raisins, strawberries, walnuts and wine.
Primary Industry:
California industries include manufacturing (transportation equipment, machinery, and electronic equipment), agriculture, biotechnology and tourism. Principal natural resources include timber, petroleum, cement and natural gas.
California State Nickname:
The Golden State
California State Tree:
California Redwood (Legislation of 1937)
California State Flower:
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
(Legislation of 1903)
California State Bird:
California Quail (Callipepla californica)
(Legislation of 1931)
The California Quail (Callipepla californica, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the quail family that breeds in shrubby areas and open woodlands in western North America.
The California Quail have a curving crest that droops forward (black in males and brown for females), their flanks are brown with white streaks. Males of the species have a dark brown cap, a black face with a brown back, a grey-blue chest and light brown belly. Females of the species and immature birds are mainly grey-brown with a light colored belly.
California State Fish:
Golden Trout (Legislation of 1947)
California State Insect:
California Dogface Butterfly (Legislation of 1972)
California State Gemstone:
Benitoite (Legislation of 1985)
Official State Seal:
Depicted is the state seal of California. The seal of the state of California 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.
The Official California State Flag
Depicted to the left is the state flag of California. The flag of the state of California is a symbol of the authority and sovereignty of the state and is a valuable asset of its people. The California 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
The first quarter released in 2005 honors California, and is the 31st in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program. California was admitted into the Union on September 9, 1850, becoming our Nation’s 31st State. Nicknamed the “Golden State,” California’s quarter depicts naturalist and conservationist John Muir admiring Yosemite Valley’s monolithic granite headwall known as “Half Dome” and also contains a soaring California condor. The coin bears the inscriptions “California,” “John Muir,” “Yosemite Valley” and “1850″.In 1849, the year before California gained statehood, the family of 11-year-old John Muir emigrated from Scotland to the United States, settling in Wisconsin. In 1868, at the age of 30, Muir sailed up the West Coast and landed in San Francisco. He made his home in the Yosemite Valley, describing the Sierra Nevada Mountains as “the Range of Light” the most divinely beautiful of all the mountain chains I have seen.” He devoted the rest of his life to the conservation of natural beauty, publishing more than 300 articles and 10 books that expanded his naturalist philosophy.In 1890, Congress established Yosemite National Park, and in 1892 John Muir helped form the Sierra Club to protect it, serving as that organization’s President until his death in 1914.
Important Historical Figures of California
John Sutter
1803-80: In the 1840′s, businessman Sutter ran a trading empire from a fort he built (with Native american help) in what is now mid-town Sacramento. He also was owner of Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, where gold was first discovered in 1848 by James Marshall.
Jedediah Smith
1798-1831: This early 19-th century trapper and explorer is believed to have been the first non-Native american to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. He was also among the first white men to explore the state’s far northern coast. A beautiful redwood state park and the scenic Smith River are named after him.
John Muir
1838-1914: an explorer, naturalist, and writer, Muir helped preserve many of California’s greatest scenic wonders, such as Yosemite Valley and Kings Canyon, now both national parks. He also founded the Sierra Club, a well-known San Francisco-based conservation group. Muir Woods National Monument, a redwood grove north of San Francisco, is named for him.
Leland Stanford
1824-93: This tycoon helped map out a route for the first transcontinental railroad, which linked California to the East Coast in 1869. He also started Stanford University in Palo alto.
Back to Locations
Back to Book 5
Almost everyone has heard of Las Vegas, NV. It is famous for being the gambling captiol of the United States, but there is much more to Las Vegas than gambling. Let’s take a quick run through the history of Las Vegas:
10,000 Years Ago:
Paleo-Indians first visited the Las Vegas valley hundreds of years ago. They lived as nomads, traveling and camping in different locations. These people left behind petroglyphs that help us tell our early history.
2,000 Years Ago:
Anasazi Indians move into southern Nevada and live along the Muddy and Virgin rivers. The “Lost City” are ruins of the Anasazi community that can be found in Overton, Nevada, northwest of Las Vegas. The Pauite people also explored the Las Vegas area.
1829:
A young scout named Rafael Rivera is the first person of European ancestry to look upon the valley. His discovery of a valley with abundant wild grasses growing and a plentiful water supply reduces the journey by several days. The valley is named Las Vegas, Spanish for “The Meadows.”
1844:
John C. Fremont arrived in Las Vegas and kept a journal describing two springs he found. These writings were very popular and lured many individuals to the area.
1855:
Members of the Mormon Church choose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The remainder of the Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. The fort was abandoned several years later.
1864:
Nevada is admitted into the union as the 36th state. This day is recognized annually as a state holiday.
Late 1800′s:
The discovery of minerals, including precious metals, leads to the beginning of the mining industry.
1885:
The State Land Act of 1885 offers sections of land at $1.25 per acre. Farmers move in and agriculture becomes the dominant industry for the next 20 years.
Early 1900′s:
The completion of the main railway, linking Southern California with Salt Lake City, establishes Las Vegas as a railroad town. The availability of water makes Las Vegas an ideal refueling point and rest stop.
1905:
Las Vegas is founded as a city on May 15, 1905, when 110 acres of land situated between Stewart Avenue on the north, Garces Avenue to the south, Main Street to the west, and 5th Street (Las Vegas Boulevard) to the east, are auctioned off.
1909:
The Nevada Legislature creates Clark County on July 1, 1909. The new county was named after William Clark, who brought the railroad to southern Nevada. Las Vegas became the county seat. Prior to the formation of Clark County, southern Nevada was part of Lincoln County.
1911:
Las Vegas is incorporated on March 16, 1911. The population stands at 800. Clark County has a population of 3,321.
Divorce laws are liberalized in the State of Nevada, making residency easier to attain. A “quickie” divorce can be attained after six weeks of residency. These short-term residents stay at “dude ranches” which are the forerunners of the sprawling Strip hotels.
1930:
Las Vegas grows to a population of 5,165.
1931:
Beginning in 1931, the construction of Hoover Dam brings an influx of construction workers which starts a population boom and gives the Valley’s economy, which was in the grips of the Great Depression, a needed boost.
While gambling took place illegally for many years, it was officially legalized in March 1931 by the state legislature.
1935:
Hoover Dam is complete. At 726 feet high and more than 1,200 feet long when built, it was the tallest dam in the world. President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the dam’s dedication.
1940′s:
Las Vegas’ population has grown to 8,422. The outbreak of World War II brings the defense industry to the valley. The isolated location, along with plentiful water and inexpensive energy, makes Las Vegas an ideal site for military and defense related industries. The site for Nellis Air Force Base is located in the northeast, and the Basic Management Complex, providers of raw materials, is located in the southeastern suburb of Henderson. The defense industry continues to employ a significant number of valley residents.
In 1944, the city of Las Vegas begins to operate council / manager form of government. Previous to this date, the city was operated as a “commission” form of government.
1945:
Following World War II, lavishly decorated resort hotels and gambling casinos offering top-name entertainment come into existence. Tourism and entertainment took over as the largest employer in the valley.
1951:
The first atomic bomb is detonated at the Nevada Test Site north of Las Vegas. People flocked to watch the tests until the limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963 required that nuclear tests be moved underground.
1955:
Moulin Rouge, Las Vegas’ first racially integrated hotel, opens its doors
1956:
The city of Las Vegas annexes one square mile of land, its first such addition since incorporation 45 years earlier.
1957:
Topless Showgirls debut on the Strip with “Minsky’s Follies.”
1959:
“Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign is created by Betty Willis.
The Nevada State Legislature creates the Nevada Gaming Commission.
1960:
Las Vegas encompasses 25 square miles and has a population of 64,405. Las Vegas has more than 22 percent of Nevada’s total population on less than .02 percent of the State’s land. At the same time, Clark County has a population of 127,016.
1960′s:
During the 1960s, a phenomenon led by Howard Hughes, occurs in Las Vegas. Corporations are building and/or buying hotel/casino properties. They have the capital necessary and the profitability makes entrance into the casino industry extremely attractive. Gambling becomes “gaming” and starts the transition into legitimate business.
1969:
Elvis Presley opens at the International Hotel, now known as the Las Vegas Hilton.
1970-1980:
Corporations continue to invest in the hotel/casino industry. Gaming becomes a legitimate business and some properties have stock traded on the market.
1980:
Las Vegas economy remains strong and the population increases to 164,674. Clark County, meanwhile, grows to a population of 463,087.
1980′s:
Starting in the mid 1980s, a period of unprecedented growth begins. Annual population increases averaging nearly 7 percent causes the city’s population to almost double between 1985 and 1995, increasing from 186,380 to 368,360, a 97.6 percent increase. That is equivalent to building a city larger than Reno in 10 years! At the same time, Clark County’s population increases from 562,280 to 1,036,180, an increase of 84.3 percent.
1990′s:
Contributing to the population growth is a 4 percent annual increase in hotel rooms and a 9.18 percent annual increase in jobs.
1993:
The Dunes Hotel is imploded.
1995:
The Fremont Street Experience opens. The $70-million canopy above Fremont Street provides visitors with spectacular light and sound show.
2000:
The US Census reports the population of Las Vegas is 478,434 over a land area of 113 square miles. There are over 500 churches and synagogues, 799 acres of parks, 7 television stations, and 12 radio stations (4 AM and 8FM). Las Vegas is the largest metropolitan city in the U.S. that was founded in 20th century.
The Las Vegas City Council grows from four wards to six. A vote of the people in 1999 approved an advisory ballot question allowing this change.
2005:
The city of Las Vegas celebrated its 100th birthday on May 15, 2005. The events celebrated the May 15, 1905 auction in which 110 acres of downtown Las Vegas laid the foundation for the city we know today. The celebration began on December 31, 2004, and lasted throughout 2005.
For more information, visit the Centennial Web site.
June 2007:
The Las Vegas Springs Preserve, a cultural and historical experience just miles from downtown Las Vegas opens to the public. The 180-acre national historic site is commonly referred to as the “birthplace of Las Vegas.”
Fun Facts
Back to Book 5
Back to Book 4
Looking Back Over the Years
This begins a year-long celebration of the City of Hesperia’s 20th anniversary since incorporation. To commemorate this event, each issue of the Horizon in 2008, will include an article highlighting important historical events that have shaped us into the City we are today.
From the Beginning
The City’s history stretches far beyond its 1988 incorporation. Hesperia’s past is rich with the history of the Mojave Indian Tribe, Spanish settlers and the westward travelers of the Mormon Trail.
The first major turning point in present day Hesperia occurred in 1874, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad tracks were completed. This resulted in Hesperia’s first industry, providing juniper wood to bakers in Los Angeles by way of train. Juniper is a very hard wood that was used as fuel for kilns up until the early 1900’s, when oil became the principal fuel for bakers.
That change in technology did not slow Hesperia’s progress. The 1900’s were a booming time with the increased popularity of automobiles and Route 66. The City served as the last stopping point before travelers made the treacherous trip down the Cajon Pass.
City of Hesperia Prepares to Celebrate 20 Years
“Celebrating our past while building our future.”
The City of Hesperia celebrated 20 years of change and growth on June 28, 2008. Beginning as a stopping place along the Mojave River; through the Wild West years; developed as the “great escape from LA”; to incorporation in 1988, Hesperia has earned its name “star of the west”. A thriving community to over 90,000 residents, the City of Hesperia enjoys clear air, fine weather and plenty of wide open spaces. Join us for a daylong anniversary celebration and discover why so many people choose to come home to Hesperia, the gateway to the High Desert.
The Celebration took place at the new Hesperia Civic Plaza Park, located just west of City Hall. Thousands joined us for a trip down memory lane, celebrating Hesperia’s past, present and future, with a day of patriotism and fun, featuring festivities including:
Regardless of the season, the growing City of Hesperia offers a centralized location for a wide variety of nearby activities for you and your family to enjoy.
Welcome to the locations that Book 8 of Misfit McCabe has been in its travels.
