Archive for mark stein
50 Years of 50 States: Day Three Contest Winner
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Elizabeth Ann Seton, America's First Saint
Well, better late than never! I’ve been so ridiculously busy all day that I finally got a chance to announce the winner of last night’s trivia question. Last night’s question was:
Who was the first American-born citizen to be canonized by the Catholic church, and what state were they from?
The answer: Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was born in New York, but performed the acts that led to her sainthood in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She lived from 1774-1821, and was actually the granddaughter of an Episcopal priest, choosing to convert to Catholicism later in life. Congrats to Adam Kriesberg, who will receive a copy of How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein.
There’s still two more days left, and three more prizes, so subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow EiH on Twitter, or you’ll miss out!
50 Years of 50 States: Day Three Trivia Question – Answer and Win!
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Today's Prize: How the States Got Their Shapes
I can’t believe we are already over halfway through our wonderful adventure through the 50 states. I hope you have found some information that has shed some new light on this wonderful country. Today, you have the opportunity to win an incredible book; one which I have read and definitely recommend. It’s called How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein, and it could be yours simply by answering the following question.
Who was the first American-born citizen to be canonized by the Catholic church, and what state were they from?
As has been the case the last 2 days, the answer lies in the states I wrote about today. If you think you know the answer, submit it in the comments for your chance to win How the States Got Their Shapes. The winner will be selected at random from those who answered correctly. You have until 11:59 PM Eastern tonight to answer. Oh, and if you won before, you can’t participate again until the grand finale later this week.
You will have more chances to win through the end of the week, so subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow EiH on Twitter, or you could miss out!
50 Years of 50 States: Nebraska
Posted by: | CommentsNickname: The Cornhusker State
Date Ratified: March 1, 1867 (37th)
Capital: Lincoln
Map of Nebraska
- The first Arbor Day holiday was observed in Nebraska in 1872. To this day, the headquarters of the National Arbor Day Foundation is in Nebraska City.
- Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state.
- In 1927, Edward Perkins created Kool-Aid in the city of Hastings. Today, Kool-Aid is the official soft drink of Nebraska.
- Clifton Hilegrass, inventor of CliffsNotes, was from Rising City.
- The world’s largest train yard is located in North Platte (Union Pacific train yard).
- Omaha is headquarters to Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway, thus earning Buffett the nickname ‘The Oracle of Omaha.”
- Nebraska was the first state to complete its portion of the interstate highway system.
- The North American Vexillological Association ranked the Nebraska state flag as the worst designed flag out of 72 states and provinces in Canada and the U.S. It was adopted in 1925.
Flag of Nebraska
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50 Years of 50 States: Iowa
Posted by: | CommentsNickname: The Hawkeye State
Date Ratified: December 28, 1846
Capital: Des Moines
Map of Iowa
- Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are 100% water. Iowa is also the only state whose name starts with 2 vowels.
- Iowa has held the first presidential caucuses every election cycle since 1972.
- Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch. He was the first president born west of the Mississippi.
- Iowa City is the first American city to earn UNESCO’s designation “City of Literature.”
- Fort Atkinson is the site of the only fort ever built by the federal government to protect one Indian tribe from another.
- Useless fact: Strawberry Point is home to the world’s largest strawberry.
- Despite the reputation of Middle America, Iowa is one of the more progressive states in the region, and has been since it was admitted to the Union.
- The Iowa state flag was adopted in 1921, and is designed to reflect its heritage as part of the French Louisiana territory.
Flag of Iowa
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50 Years of 50 States: Missouri
Posted by: | CommentsNickname: There is no official nickname
Date Ratified: August 10, 1821 (24th)
Capital: Jefferson City
Map of Missouri
- Despite popular belief, Missouri has no official nickname. One of the unofficial nicknames of the state is, however, ‘The Show-Me State’.
- St. Charles is the site of the first interstate highway project (1956).
- A.T. Still University, in Kirksville, was the first osteopathic medical school in the world when it was founded in 1892.
- The tallest monument built in the U.S. is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; it is 630 feet tall.
- Albert Berry became the first person to successfully jump from a moving airplane in 1912. He landed at Jefferson Barracks, just south of St. Louis.
- St. Louis was home to both the III Olympiad and the World’s Fair in 1904. The ice cream cone and iced tea may have been served for the first time at the World’s Fair.
- Missouri, along with Tennessee, borders more states than any other; eight.
- The state flag of Missouri was adopted in 1913, and remains unchanged to this day. The three stripes in the background are to recognize the area’s status as part of the French Louisiana territory.
Flag of Missouri
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50 Years of 50 States: Tennessee
Posted by: | CommentsNickname: The Volunteer State
Date Ratified: June 1, 1796 (16th)
Capital: Nashville
Map of Tennessee
- Tennessee earned its nickname during the War of 1812 when volunteers from the state fought bravely at the Battle of New Orleans.
- Tennessee was the first of the Confederate states to have its elected members readmitted to Congress (July 24, 1866). Andrew Johnson, the president at the time, was from Tennessee (conincidence?).
- The capital of Tennessee was originally Knoxville. However, the capital was moved to Kingston on September 21, 1807 for one day, to fulfill the obligations of a treaty with the Cherokee Nation. The capital was then moved back to Knoxville before it was permanently moved to Nashville in 1843.
- Andrew Johnson held every elected office at the state, local, and federal level, including president. He would also be elected to the Senate after his presidency, too.
- The only person in American history to be both general and admiral is Samuel Powhatan Carter, who was born in Elizabethton.
- The Tennessee state flag was adopted in 1905, but first raised in 1911. The 3 stars represent the different regions of Tennessee (East, Middle, and West), and the blue circle around the stars represents the unity of the regions. The blue bar on the right is purely there out because of design considerations. Colonel Leroy Reeves, the flag’s designer, had this to say about the bar:
“The final blue bar relieves the sameness of the crimson field and prevents the flag from showing too much crimson when hanging limp.”
Flag of Tennessee
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50 Years of 50 States: Wisconsin
Posted by: | CommentsNickname: Badger State
Date Ratified: May 29, 1848 (30th)
Capital: Madison
Map of Wisconsin
- Emil Seidel became the first socialist mayor of a large American city when he was elected mayor of Milwaukee in 1910.
- Tammy Baldwin of Madison, is the first (and only, so far) openly lesbian U.S. Representative.
- In March of 1854 , protesters meet at a schoolhouse in Ripon to debate the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Ultimately the group would end up creating the Republican Party.
- The state flag of Wisconsin was originally designed in 1863, but was not officially adopted until 1913. The North American Vexillological Association (remember them?) ranks the flag as one of the worst 10 flag designs in North America.
Flag of Wisconsin
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