Nickname: The Empire State Date Ratified: July 26, 1788 (11th) Capital: Albany [caption id="attachment_1990" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Map of New York"] [/caption]

• With a population of nearly 8.5 million, New York City is the most populous city in the United States. The New York metropolitan area, which includes parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, was also the first in the world to reach 10 million people.
• The first state park in the U.S. was established at Niagara Falls in 1885.
• The First U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court each assembled for the first time in New York City, and George Washington was inaugurated there. Also, The Bill of Rights was drafted at Federal Hall, on Wall St.
• Central Park, created in 1857, was America's first landscaped park.
• The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn, was the world's largest suspension bridge when it was completed in 1964. It was surpassed in 1981 by the Humber Bridge in the United Kingdom, but it remains the largest suspension bridge in the U.S.
• The Holland Tunnel, which connects Jersey City, NJ with Manhattan, was the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel. It also has the distinction of not being named for a local hero, politician, or historical person of interest, rather being named for its first chief engineer.
• The New York Post, established by Alexander Hamilton in 1803, is the oldest running newspaper in the U.S.
• The state flag of New York bears the state's coat of arms, which was adopted in 1778. The modern flag, which was adopted in 1901 is based on the Revolutionary War flag, with the only difference being that the field is blue.

[caption id="attachment_1989" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Flag of New York"] [/caption] Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow EiH on Twitter or you could miss out on your chance to win a USA License Plate Map Fine Art Poster or a $50 gift card to Amazon.com!