50 Years of 50 States: New Jersey

Nickname: Garden State
Date Joined: December 18th, 1787 (3rd)
Capital: Trenton

Map of New Jersey

• In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
• Christie Street, in Menlo Park, was the first electrically lighted thoroughfare.
• The first Miss America Pageant was held in Atlantic City in 1921.
• The first drive-in movie was shown in Camden in 1933.
• The Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal was the world’s first container port. Today, it is one of the world’s largest.
• The first officially recorded baseball game in history was played in 1846 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, with the New York Base Ball Club defeating the New York Knickerbockers 23-1.
• The first intercollegiate football game in history was played in New Brunswick, New Jersey on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton. Rutgers won 6-4.
• The Atlantic City Boardwalk was the world’s first, and to this day is the world’s longest (4 mi.).
• The state flag of New Jersey has the emblem of the Great Seal of the State of New Jersey on it, and was adopted in 1896.


Flag of New Jersey

• Oh Yeah, and I was born in New Jersey in 1981!

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