100 Fun Facts About American

The 13 stripes on the flag of the United States stand for what?

The 13 stripes stand for the thirteen original colonies that declared independence in 1776; the stars, one per state, have been added as new states joined.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from the people of which country?

The copper-clad statue was designed by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel, and it was dedicated on 28 October 1886.

In which year did the United States complete the Louisiana Purchase?

The Louisiana Purchase treaty was signed in Paris on 30 April 1803 and the United States took formal possession at New Orleans that December, roughly doubling the nation for about $15 million.

Who was the first president to live in the White House?

John Adams moved into the unfinished White House on 1 November 1800, only months before losing the 1800 election to his own vice president, Thomas Jefferson.

Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem in 1814 after the British bombarded which Baltimore fort?

Fort McHenry guarded Baltimore harbour; Key watched the Royal Navy shell it on 13-14 September 1814 and wrote the poem 'Defence of Fort M'Henry', later set to music as the anthem.

Which was the first national park in the United States, created in 1872?

Yellowstone became the first national park when President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act on 1 March 1872; it is generally considered the world's first national park.

The Golden Gate Bridge spans a one-mile strait between the Pacific Ocean and which bay?

The Golden Gate strait links the Pacific to San Francisco Bay; the bridge across it opened on 27 May 1937 with the world's longest suspension span at the time, 4,200 feet.

Which amendment to the US Constitution, adopted in 1920, bars denying the vote on account of sex?

The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on 18 August 1920, when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to approve it, and was certified on 26 August 1920.

Mount Rushmore carries the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and which fourth president?

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum oversaw the carving from 1927 to 1941, and the four heads were chosen to represent the nation's foundation, expansion, development and preservation.

The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory Summit, in which territory?

The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, on 10 May 1869, where the Central Pacific's 690 miles of track from Sacramento met the Union Pacific's line from Omaha.

When it first went up in 1923, the Hollywood Sign spelled out which word?

The sign read HOLLYWOODLAND, a temporary advertisement for a hillside real-estate development, put up in 1923 in 50-foot-tall white letters; the final four letters were removed in 1949.

How many amendments to the United States Constitution have been ratified?

Twenty-seven amendments have been ratified, the last of them in 1992; Congress has sent thirty-three to the states in total, and six of those were never ratified.

In which city can visitors see the Liberty Bell?

The Liberty Bell hung in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, now Independence Hall, and since 2003 it has been displayed nearby in the Liberty Bell Center.

The trophy handed to the Super Bowl champions is named after which coach?

Vince Lombardi coached the Green Bay Packers to victory in the first two Super Bowls, and the trophy was renamed for him in 1970, the year he died.

The United States bought Alaska in 1867 from which country?

Russia sold Alaska for $7.2 million under a treaty signed on 30 March 1867; Tsar Alexander II had sought a buyer after the Crimean War showed the territory could not be defended.

How many states make up the United States?

The last two, Alaska and Hawaii, both joined in 1959; the 48 'contiguous' states are the ones on the mainland between Canada and Mexico.

Which city is the federal capital of the United States?

Washington, D.C. became the seat of government in 1800; the federal district is not a state, and Philadelphia served as the temporary capital through the 1790s while the new city was built.

Which flower was named the national floral emblem of the United States in 1986?

The rose became the national floral emblem when Ronald Reagan signed a joint resolution of Congress and proclaimed it on 20 November 1986, in a White House Rose Garden ceremony.

Which bird is the national bird of the United States?

The bald eagle has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782, but Congress only made it the official national bird in a law signed on 24 December 2024.

On what date is Independence Day celebrated?

Independence Day is July 4, the date printed on the Declaration; Congress actually voted for independence on July 2, 1776, and approved the Declaration's final text two days later.

What is the street address of the White House?

The White House stands at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.; its cornerstone was laid in 1792 and every president since 1800 has lived there.

Which president had the first telephone installed in the White House, in 1877?

Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House in 1877, the year after Alexander Graham Bell patented the device.

What is the title of the US national anthem?

It only became the official anthem in 1931, when Herbert Hoover signed the resolution; the poem has four stanzas but only the first is usually sung.

In which year did 'The Star-Spangled Banner' officially become the national anthem?

Congress passed a joint resolution making it the national anthem in 1931, and President Herbert Hoover signed it on 3 March 1931, more than a century after Key wrote the words.

What does the motto on the scroll in the Great Seal eagle's beak mean?

The scroll reads E pluribus unum, 'Out of many, one'; the seal's reverse carries the other two Latin mottos, Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum, and both sides have been on the $1 bill since 1935.

How many arrows does the eagle on the Great Seal hold in its talon?

The eagle grips 13 arrows, echoing the original states; the olive branch in its other talon is drawn with 13 leaves and 13 olives too.

On which day of November is Thanksgiving celebrated?

Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November under a law Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in 1941; Lincoln had proclaimed the national holiday in 1863, on the last Thursday of November.

In which year did the Pilgrims hold their famous harvest feast at Plymouth?

The Pilgrims' three-day harvest feast at Plymouth took place in the autumn of 1621; it was only labelled the 'first Thanksgiving' by editor Alexander Young in 1841.

Which artist created the famous 'I Want You' Uncle Sam recruiting poster in 1917?

James Montgomery Flagg reportedly used his own face as the model; the character itself is traditionally traced to meat-packer Samuel Wilson of Troy, New York.

In which year were the words 'under God' added to the Pledge of Allegiance?

Eisenhower signed the change on Flag Day, 14 June 1954, partly to set the United States apart from Cold War state atheism; Francis Bellamy's original 1892 pledge had no religious reference.

Whose portrait is on the US $100 bill?

Benjamin Franklin's portrait is on the $100, which is why the note is nicknamed a 'Benjamin'; Franklin and Alexander Hamilton are the only non-presidents on the seven denominations printed since 1946.

What is the largest denomination of US paper money printed since 1946?

The $100 is the largest note printed since 1946; the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 notes were formally withdrawn in 1969, partly because organized crime favoured them.

Route 66 ran from Chicago to which West Coast city?

US 66 ran about 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica; established in 1926 and nicknamed the Mother Road by Steinbeck, it was removed from the highway system in 1985.

Which sculptor led the carving of Mount Rushmore from 1927 to 1941?

Gutzon Borglum called it the Shrine of Democracy; his son Lincoln finished the job after he died in March 1941.

In which state is Mount Rushmore?

Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota's Black Hills near Keystone, on a peak the Lakota call Six Grandfathers Mountain.

What is inscribed on the tablet the Statue of Liberty holds?

The tablet reads JULY IV MDCCLXXVI, the date of the Declaration of Independence in Roman numerals; a broken shackle and chains lie at her feet.

Which famous French engineer built the metal framework inside the Statue of Liberty?

Gustave Eiffel engineered the iron pylon and armature that support the copper skin Bartholdi designed; the statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886 on what was then Bedloe's Island.

Which of the thirteen colonies was the last to be founded, chartered in 1732?

Georgia, chartered in 1732 and settled by James Oglethorpe at Savannah in 1733, was the last of the thirteen colonies to be founded.

Which building sits at the eastern end of the National Mall in the US capital?

The US Capitol: Congress first met there in November 1800; the British burned it in 1814 and the great dome was finished around 1866.

What shape is the 555-foot monument to the first president that towers over the National Mall?

The Washington Monument is a marble obelisk; its cornerstone was laid in 1848 and it was completed in 1884, using stone from three quarries because the work stopped for more than twenty years.

Which waterway carved the Grand Canyon?

The Colorado River carved the Grand Canyon over millions of years; the gorge reaches more than a mile deep, and the canyon became a national park in 1919.

Which sport was being called the American 'national pastime' as early as the 1850s?

Baseball was being called the 'national pastime' in the New York press by 1856; the National League followed in 1876 and the first modern World Series was played in 1903.

Which US city is nicknamed the Windy City?

Chicago is the Windy City; the nickname was in print by the 1870s, and its origin is debated between the lakefront winds and the city's boastful politicians.

The Gateway Arch, the world's tallest arch, stands in which US city?

St. Louis's arch, designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947, is a monument to the westward expansion of the United States.

Which 20,310-foot peak, North America's highest, was renamed Mount McKinley in 2025?

Denali had been Alaska's official name since 1975; the Interior Department followed suit in 2015, and a 2025 federal order restored McKinley.

Hoover Dam sits on the Colorado River on the boundary between Nevada and which other state?

It was dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, whose administration insisted on calling it Boulder Dam until Congress restored the Hoover name in 1947.

How many stories does the Empire State Building have?

The Empire State Building rises 102 stories; its design was revised fifteen times to guarantee it would be the world's tallest, a title it held until the World Trade Center's North Tower was topped out in 1970.

Where was the 134 °F air temperature of July 1913, a world record, measured?

The 134 °F reading was taken at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, then known as Greenland Ranch, on July 10, 1913.

The Mississippi River traditionally begins at Lake Itasca in which state?

Lake Itasca is in northern Minnesota; from there the Mississippi flows about 2,340 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, draining all or part of more than 30 states and two Canadian provinces.

Which of the Great Lakes is the world's largest body of fresh water by surface area?

Superior's Ojibwe name gichi-gami means 'great sea', which Longfellow rendered as 'Gitche Gumee' in The Song of Hiawatha.

Which US state has the smallest land area?

Rhode Island is small but crowded: it has the second-highest population density of any state, behind only New Jersey.

Which state has had a one-chamber legislature since 1937?

Nebraska's voters approved a one-house legislature by a 1934 constitutional amendment, and it first met in 1937; Senator George Norris pointed to Queensland, Australia, which had abolished its upper house in 1922.

Which state earned the nickname 'The First State' by ratifying the Constitution before any other?

Delaware ratified the Constitution on 7 December 1787, five days ahead of Pennsylvania; it was slower later, not formally ratifying the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments until 1901.

Which river, the nation's longest, rises in Montana and runs 2,341 miles to the Mississippi?

The Missouri rises at Three Forks, Montana, and joins the Mississippi just above St. Louis; together with the lower Mississippi it forms the fourth-longest river system in the world.

Coins stamped with a 'D' mint mark come from the US Mint branch in which city?

The Denver Mint, striking coins since 1906, is the largest producer of coins in the world; the Dahlonega, Georgia, mint used the same 'D' before it closed in 1861.

The US gold bullion depository at Fort Knox is in which state?

The depository stands beside the Fort Knox army post in Kentucky; during the Second World War it also sheltered the original Declaration of Independence and Constitution, from December 1941 until 1944.

In which year did Congress make 'In God We Trust' the official national motto?

Eisenhower signed the law making 'In God We Trust' the national motto on 30 July 1956; the phrase had first appeared on the two-cent coin in 1864.

Which animal was declared the national mammal of the United States in 2016?

The American bison became the national mammal under the National Bison Legacy Act, signed by Barack Obama on 9 May 2016; the Nature Conservancy released a bison herd at Kankakee Sands, Indiana, that same year.

In which year did the first immigration inspection station open on Ellis Island?

Ellis Island opened on 1 January 1892, and that first wooden station burned down in 1897; about 12 million immigrants passed through before the island closed in 1954.

Who is the only US president to have resigned from office?

Richard Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, facing near-certain impeachment and removal over Watergate; no other president has left office by resignation.

Which territory passed the first US law explicitly giving women the vote, in 1869?

Wyoming Territory's legislature granted women the vote on 10 December 1869; Wyoming later became the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, in 1924.

Churchill Downs hosts which famous horse race on the first Saturday in May?

The Kentucky Derby has been run at Churchill Downs since 1875; the track is named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land, and the race is billed as 'the most exciting two minutes in sports'.

Area 51, the highly classified Air Force facility, is in which state?

Area 51 lies at Groom Lake in the Nevada desert, roughly 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas; early U-2 personnel flew in from Burbank, California, on Monday mornings and home on Friday evenings.

In which year did Mount St. Helens erupt catastrophically?

Mount St. Helens erupted on 18 May 1980; the collapse of its north face was the largest landslide in recorded history, and the blast killed 57 people.

Which lake, 1,949 feet deep, is the deepest in the United States?

Crater Lake, filling the caldera of Mount Mazama in Oregon, is 1,949 feet deep; by average depth it is the deepest lake in the Western Hemisphere and third-deepest in the world.

Which national park protects the world's longest known underground passage system?

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky has more than 420 miles of surveyed passages, far ahead of any other known cave system, and has been a national park since 1941.

The General Sherman Tree, the largest tree on Earth by volume, is what species?

General Sherman is a giant sequoia in California's Sequoia National Park; it is neither the tallest tree (a coast redwood called Hyperion) nor the oldest, but its trunk holds more wood than any other, about 52,500 cubic feet.

From 1860 the Pony Express carried mail between Sacramento and which eastern terminus?

The first rider left St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1860, and the mail reached Sacramento ten days later; the service folded within 18 months, undone by the transcontinental telegraph in October 1861.

In which year was the Erie Canal completed?

The Erie Canal opened in October 1825, linking the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo over 363 miles; its tolls had repaid the construction cost within about a decade.

In which year did the Brooklyn Bridge open?

The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883, as the first fixed crossing of the East River; during construction, visitors with passes walked across a temporary footbridge strung between the towers.

The first New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square welcomed which year?

The ball first dropped at midnight on 31 December 1907 to welcome 1908; waiters at nearby hotels wore top hats with battery-powered lights spelling '1908', and the drop was skipped only in 1942 and 1943 for wartime blackouts.

In which year was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade first held?

Macy's first parade marched on 27 November 1924 with live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo; Philadelphia's Gimbels parade, begun in 1920, is four years older.

The Smithsonian's founding donor, James Smithson, was a scientist of which nationality?

James Smithson was a British chemist and mineralogist who never visited America; his 1826 will left his fortune to the United States to found the Smithsonian, which Congress established in 1846.

Which amendment limits a person to being elected president twice?

The Twenty-second Amendment, ratified in 1951, followed Franklin D. Roosevelt's four election wins; before him, Washington and Jefferson had set the two-term tradition voluntarily.

How many electoral votes are cast in a US presidential election?

There are 538 electors: 435 matching House seats, 100 for senators and three for the District of Columbia, added by the Twenty-third Amendment in 1961.

In which year was the independent Republic of Texas annexed by the United States?

Texas was annexed in 1845, becoming the 28th state on 29 December 1845 and skipping the territorial phase; the formal handover of power followed on 19 February 1846.

Which president championed the Federal-Aid Highway Act that created the Interstate system?

Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act in June 1956; as a young officer he had joined the Army's 1919 transcontinental convoy, which showed how badly military vehicles coped with the nation's roads.

The first 911 call in the US was made in 1968 in Haleyville, a small town in which state?

Haleyville is in Alabama; the Alabama Telephone Company beat AT&T to the first 911 call on 16 February 1968, and the Bell System's first came in Huntington, Indiana, on 1 March 1968.

Cooperstown, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is in which state?

Cooperstown is in upstate New York; the town was chosen on the strength of the myth that Abner Doubleday invented baseball there in 1839, and the Hall opened in 1939.

The Wright brothers' first powered flight in 1903 took place near Kitty Hawk, in which state?

North Carolina, picked using Weather Bureau data on steady winds; the exact site, four miles south of Kitty Hawk, is now known as Kill Devil Hills.

How many columns ring the Lincoln Memorial, one for each state in the Union when Lincoln died?

There are 36 columns, one for each state in the Union when Lincoln died in 1865; the 48 festoons above them stand for the states that existed when the memorial was dedicated in 1922.

Which architect designed the black granite wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial?

Maya Lin, then a 21-year-old Yale student, won the 1981 competition with entry number 1026; the backlash produced a compromise that added a flagstaff and Frederick Hart's realist Three Servicemen statue.

The cherry trees around Washington's Tidal Basin were a gift from which Japanese city?

Tokyo's mayor Yukio Ozaki gave the trees; First Lady Helen Taft and the Japanese ambassador's wife planted the first two on March 27, 1912, and the US sent flowering dogwoods back in 1915.

Which Spanish explorer named Florida after landing there in 1513?

Juan Ponce de León landed on Florida's Atlantic coast in April 1513 and named the land La Florida, for the Easter season (Pascua Florida) and its flowering landscape.

In which year did Juneteenth become a federal holiday?

Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act on 17 June 2021, the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983; activist Opal Lee, the 'grandmother of Juneteenth', had campaigned for decades.

How many feet tall is One World Trade Center, including its spire?

One World Trade Center stands 1,776 feet to the top of its spire, a figure chosen for the year of the Declaration of Independence; the final spire section was lifted into place on May 10, 2013.

Which state capital has no road connecting it to the rest of its state?

Juneau, Alaska's capital, is reachable only by air or sea; rugged mountains and the Juneau Icefield, which feeds some 40 large glaciers, make a road link impractical.

Which Florida city, founded in 1565, is the continental US's oldest continuously occupied European settlement?

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine on September 8, 1565; Pensacola's 1559 colony was abandoned within two years, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, is older, dating from 1521.

At 7,199 feet above sea level, which is the highest-elevation US state capital?

Santa Fe, New Mexico, sits at 7,199 feet, the highest of any state capital; Cheyenne, Wyoming, at about 6,060 feet, and mile-high Denver are the next highest.

The geographic center of the contiguous 48 states lies near Lebanon, a town in which state?

Lebanon is in Smith County, Kansas, about 12 miles south of the Nebraska line; the point was computed in 1918, after Arizona and New Mexico completed the contiguous 48 in 1912.

Which state is the only one that borders just a single other US state?

Maine borders only New Hampshire among the states; its other land neighbours are the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick.

Which national park drew the most visitors in 2024, more than 12 million?

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddling Tennessee and North Carolina, recorded about 12.2 million visits in 2024, far ahead of Zion and the Grand Canyon; it has led the visitor count for decades.

Arlington National Cemetery occupies an estate seized from the family of which Confederate general?

The estate belonged to Robert E. Lee's wife, Mary Custis Lee; the government seized it in 1864 over a tax dispute, and the mansion had been built by her father, Martha Washington's grandson, as a memorial to George Washington.

Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello, appears on the back of which US coin?

Monticello has been on the reverse of the nickel since 1938, apart from 2004 and 2005, when the Westward Journey designs marking the Lewis and Clark expedition took its place.

In which year did the federal prison on Alcatraz close?

Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary on March 21, 1963, after 29 years; the breakfast menu chalked up for that last morning was left on the board and has been preserved.

Until 2009, Chicago's tallest skyscraper was named after which retailer?

The Sears Tower, renamed Willis Tower in 2009, opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building and held that title until the Petronas Towers surpassed it in 1998.

Tabasco sauce has been made since 1868 on Avery Island, in which state?

Avery Island is in southern Louisiana; it sits on a salt dome that once supplied the sauce's salt, and the McIlhenny family has made Tabasco there since 1868.

Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, lies how far below sea level?

Badwater Basin in Death Valley lies 282 feet below sea level; it is often wrongly called the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, but Argentina's Laguna del Carbón lies 344 feet below.

Which is the largest incorporated city in the United States by area?

Sitka, Alaska, a unified city and borough, covers about 2,870 square miles of land, more than the state of Delaware; under Russian rule the settlement was called New Archangel.

The Land Rush of April 22, 1889, opened the 'Unassigned Lands' of which future state to settlers?

The Unassigned Lands lay in the middle of what became Oklahoma; the rush began at high noon, and settlers who sneaked in early to grab the best homesteads became known as 'Sooners'.