Ohio was the first state to enact laws protecting women in 1852. AA was started there (in Akron, my hometown) and the first police cars were used there too. Ohio is also the home state of seven presidents and Akron is/was the rubber capital of the world.
What are some cool but little known facts about where you live or come from?

Clackline is named after the noise that the trains made as they went over the joins in the railway lines.
it is also the place that made the best refractory bricks for the wood fired ovens and kilns In Australia

Potato chips were invented at a restaurant in my home town near Saratoga New York. A patron was complaining that his fried potatoes were not sliced thin enough... so the chef accommodated him and potato chips were born.

Contrary to popular belief Chicago got its nick name "the windy city " not because it near a lake and there are some pretty windy days ... but because of the politicians blowing hot air. Things haven't changed much since that nick name was first used. We are about to send the third governor to prison.

my grandfather invented ply wood. he made the machines to strip the wood of the trees and invented a new glue as the old cows hoof glue stained the wood, he also crossed the layers to make it stronger,
during the war my uncle was working for Dunlop and rubber was hard to get as the ships were blown out of the water so he was asked to invent a substitute and he invented plastic. then he found if you put washing up liquid with it you got plasticc foam sin=milar to the foam eskies of today

My biological dad invented the dryer for the printing press.

WoW! That is AWESOME!

You have a very talented and smart family!

My village has the smallest Cathedral in Western Europe - sadly not in use now, as its too small for practical use. It has also been both Church of Ireland and Catholic, and it built on the site of a previous one, but the site dates back to pagan times.

Absolutely nothing happened here ever :)

Maypo was invented in Vermont.

I'm originally from Toledo Ohio and I do know that before the name Toledo came into play, the original name for it was Frogtown. (Found that to be very interesting!) And I live in the great state of Texas now and we are the only state allowed to fly our flag the same height as the American flag. :-)

Only in Texas.....lol.

Nothing????? Are you sure? :)

The "Creature From The Black Lagoon" movie was filmed at Wakulla Springs, FL, about 30 miles from where I live.

Michiganders are the only ones that carry a map of their state with them at all times! LOL

I live in OK and I am afraid of what might have started here..seriously...

well my ancestors helped bring the first 300 colonists to Texas. Stephen Fuller Austin is known as the Father of Texas and his Father,Moses who originally started that movement, is known as the GrandFather of Texas. Both have plaques at the State Capital in Austin,Tx.

very cool!

PT Barnum's original fat lady came from my town n Ct.

Toasted Ravioli and gooey butter cake can only be purchased here.

The tallest monument in the world is here. (gateway arch)

Illinois has more Governors or ex-Governers gulty of Federal Crimes than any other state.

Just makes me wanna bust with pride.

Isn't St. Louis also known for their fried brain sandwiches? I have never had one and never will!

As a fellow Illini I totally agree Next is Quin?

PT Barnum was born in the town I used to live in. We have a town triangle (not square!) named in his honor.

Now that is cool!

you have to explain this one please.

Kool-Aid was invented near Hastings, NE.
BIL told me Cedar Rapids,IA is the only town in US that built their courthouse in a river.

"Leverage" has a lot of scenes filmed locally.

My grandfather's cousin invented the snowmobile and On Golden Pond was filmed not too far from me.

Interesting topic. CC, love the history of your family in Texas. Although faaaaar from famous, I am a 7 generation resident of my town.

piney

jackson michigan had the largest walled prison in the u.s. until it closed , ohhh 6 yrs ago. it was tooo big to air condition. and the prisoners had taken the state to court and won air conditioning. sooo rather than have the cost of air conditioning such a hugeeeee building, they made smaller ones.

Sherriff Joe Arpiao in AZ puts prisoners in tents!

He also makes them wear pink and eat Nutriloaf. Yuk!

Go Blago! Woot Woot! lol.

Rhode Island - the Smallest State.

And we have the best politicians money can buy!


Also, the town where I live is the birthplace of Gilbert Stuart - who painted the famous portrait of George Washington.

White Horse Tavern was built in 1673 and is the oldest operating tavern in the United States is in Newport, RI.

Aww poor babies. Aren't they in prison to be punished? Prisoners before a/c was invented managed to make it through the summer OK.

I'm from Toledo, OH too and it used to be (maybe still is) called The Glass Capital of the World because Libby/Owens/Ford factory is there.

Yup, have Kool-Aid days every summer!

St. Paul, capitol city of Minnesota started off as a little French village that was visited by fur traders traveling down the Mississippi River in Indian canoes. Its first resident was Pierre Parrant, a French-Canadian voyageur. He was known as Pig's Eye. French-Swiss refugees came down the river seeking homes and landed near Pig's Eye Landing. Homes were built in European peasant style and that became Pig's Eye, Minnesota. Soon the German immigrants came and then the Swedes and Norwegians (they were the Lutherans). The town of Pig's Eye was changed eventually to St. Paul, after St. Paul (the Apostle). We became a very diverse city. We celebrate practically everyone's holiday - Oktoberfest, Svenskarnas Dag, Syttende Mai, Cinco de Mayo, and the ever popular St. Urho's Day (that's when the Finns chased the grasshoppers out of Finland). We had areas around the city, "Little Italy" and "Swede Hollow" (that is where my great aunts lived when they came to St. Paul from Sweden. My great uncle was a Police Officer for the City of St. Paul in the late 1800's/early 1900's.) The Swedes moved out and moved to the East side of St. Paul and then another group moved in and lived there until it was declared unfit for human habitation in 1950 and now it is a City Park. I have a lot of stories of when my aunts lived there - happy, sad, scary and a close knit community.

This is my city, I love it, I always have and I always will.
My husband worked for the City of St. Paul as a laborer for 34 years. We can drive around and he says "I built that", I shoveled those steps, I fixed that alley! He worked the floods in 1964 and 1968. He has put his life into St. Paul, broken bones, Hepatitis, Leukemia, stitches, herniated discs, but we still love St. Paul. We can get angry at it, and if I couldn't live here anymore, where would I go? I would go to the Amana Colonies in Iowa. It is steeped deep in my husband's family as St. Paul is steeped deep in mine!
There is one spot in St. Paul that, to me, is awesome. You can stand in one spot and make a complete 360 degree circle and see every mode of transportation - airport, the river, the railroad tracks, the bike trails, the walking paths, the roads for driving - all of this within about one block. No wonder Pig's Eye loved this area. And I do too. Edie

Oklahoma can claim the shopping cart and the parking meter. Here in my home town..they flimed the bathroom scene from Rain Man in a local motel and most of the vintage cars are from around here, too.