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Facts About New Jersey

Two-thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

“I’m From New Jersey” is the only state song that is adaptable to any municipality with a two or three syllable name.

New Jersey has the highest population density in the U.S. An average 1,030 people per sq. mi., which is 13 times the national average.

New Jersey has the highest percent urban population in the U.S. with about 90% of the people living in an urban area.

In November of 1914, the New York Tribune, cooperating with Mr. Bertram Chapman Mayo (founder of Beachwood) issued an “Extra” announcing: “Subscribe to the New York Tribune and secure a lot at Beautiful Beachwood. Act at once, secure your lot in this Summer Paradise now!” This was the greatest premium offered by a newspaper – nothing equal to it was ever attempted in the United States.

New Jersey is the only state where all its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.

North Jersey is the car theft capital of the world, with more cars stolen in Newark then any other city. Even the 2 largest cities, NYC and LA put together.

New Jersey has the most dense system of highways and railroads in the U.S.

Picturesque Cape May holds the distinction of being the oldest seashore resort in the United States and one of the most unique.

In order to meet the increasing demand for his wire rope John Roebling opened a factory in Trenton, New Jersey in 1848. John Roebling, along with his two sons, Washington and Ferdinand, built a suspension bridge across the gorge of the Niagara River. They then built the Brooklyn Bridge plus many other suspension bridges in the United States.

New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the diner capital of the world.

North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world with seven major shopping malls in a 25 sq. mile radius.

New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Passaic River was the site to the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.

New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.

New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the U.S. located in Elizabeth.

The light bulb, phonograph (record player), motion picture projector were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park laboratory.

Fort Dix is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. During his distinguished public career, he was a United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, Minister to France and Governor of New York.

Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world.

New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey.

New Jersey has the tallest water tower in the world.

The first tin-foil phonograph developed by Thomas Edison was crude, but it proved his point– that sound could be recorded and played back. Thomas Edison had phonograph demonstrations and became world-renowned as the “Wizard of Menlo Park” for this invention.

New Jersey is the only state in the nation which offers child abuse prevention workshops to every public school.

The first baseball game was played in Hoboken.

The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick, in 1869. Rutgers College played Princeton. Rutgers won.

The first Drive-In Movie theatre was opened in Camden.

New Jersey has 108 toxic waste dumps. Which is the most in any one state in the nation.

New Jersey has a spoon museum featuring over 5,400 spoons from every state and almost every country.

Origin of name: From the Channel Isle of Jersey.

Tourism is the second-largest industry in New Jersey.

In 1977, New Jersey voters approved legislation allowing legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City.

New Jersey has 21 counties.

Although the Borough of Ship Bottom was incorporated in 1925, the name dates back to a shipwreck that occurred in March 1817, when Captain Stephen Willets of Tuckerton rescued a young woman from the hull of a ship overturned in the shoals. The rescue became known as “Ship Bottom.”

State motto is liberty and prosperity.

The honeybee, apis mellifera, is the New Jersey state bug.

The state seashell is the knobbed whelk, busycon carica gmelin, it is found on all beaches and bays of New Jersey.

Modern paleontology, the science of studying dinosaur fossils, began in 1858 with the discovery of the first nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The Hadrosaurus is the official New Jersey state dinosaur.

Atlantic City’s original summer visitors were the Absegami Indians of the Lenni Lenape tribe.

Fair Haven is believed to have been seasonally inhabited by native Indians prior to the coming of European settlers in the 1660’s

Parsippany has been named Tree City USA for 24 consecutive years.

New Jersey’s state seal was designed by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere and presented in May 1777.

Software and software related companies account for nearly 2,700 companies in New Jersey.

The Statue, “Soldier At Rest” was dedicated to New Jersey Civil War veterans on June 28, 1875. It was purchased by the New Jersey State Legislature for $10,000.

General Philip Kearny had a New Jersey town and 2 military decorations named after him.

The Borough of Roosevelt is the only municipality in New Jersey that is, in its entirety, a registered National Historic Site.

New Jersey is a peninsula.

Highlands, New Jersey has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Florida.

New Jersey is the only state where all of its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.

New Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky.

New Jersey has more Cubans in Union City (1 sq. mi.) than Havana, Cuba.

New Jersey has the most dense system of highways and railroads in the US.

New Jersey has the highest cost of living.

New Jersey has the highest cost of auto insurance.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.

New Jersey is home to the original mystery pork parts chub, Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.

New Jersey has 50+ resort cities & towns, some of the nations’ most famous: Asbury Park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Long Branch and Cape May.

New Jersey has the most stringent testing along our coastline for water quality control than any other seaboard state in the entire country.

New Jersey is a leading technology & industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation when you include pharmaceuticals.

Jersey tomatoes are known the world over as being the best you can buy.

New Jersey is the world leader in blueberry and cranberry production.

In 1642, the first brewery in America opened in Hoboken.

The famous Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar in Mahwah in 1940.

New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US, located in Elizabeth. Nearly 80% of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.

New Jersey is home to one of the nation’s busiest airports at Newark Liberty International.

George Washington slept here. Several important Revolutionary War battles were fought on New Jersey soil, led by General George Washington.

The light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ laboratory.

The first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs was in NJ.

The first seaplane was built in Keyport, NJ.

The first airmail (to Chicago) was started from Keyport, NJ.

The first phonograph records were made in Camden, NJ.

New Jersey is home to the Miss America Pageant held in Atlantic City.

The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on their playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City.

And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world.

New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey.

New Jersey has the tallest water-tower in the world.

New Jersey had the first Medical Center, in Jersey City.

The Pulaski SkyWay, from Jersey City to Newark, was the first skyway highway.

NJ built the first tunnel (Holland Tunnel) under a river, the Hudson.

The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ, which is also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra.

The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick in 1889. (Rutgers College played Princeton.)

The first Drive-in Movie theater was opened in Camden, NJ, (but they’re all gone now.)

New Jersey is home to both of “NEW YORK’S ” ProFootball Teams.

The first radio station and broadcast was in Paterson, NJ.

The first FM radio broadcast was made from Alpine, NJ, by Maj. Thomas Armstrong.

The following is a list of famous New Jersey natives:

Alan Ginsberg
Alexander Hamilton
Arron Burr
Bon Jovi
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Willis
Budd Abbott & Lou Costello
Caesar Romero
Connie Francis
Das EFX
Dionne Warwick
Eddie Money
Eileen Donnely
Flip Wilson
Frank Sinatra
Grover Cleveland
Ice-T
Jack Nicholson
Jason Alexander

Jerry Lewis
Joan Robertson
Joyce Kilmer
Judy Blume
Ken Kross
Lauryn Hill
Linda McElroy
Lords of the Underground
Marilynn McCoo
Naughty by Nature
Norman Mailer
Queen Latifa
Redman
Richard Wojewodzki
Sal Martorano
Sarah Vaughn
Shaq
Sugar Hill Gang
Susan Sarandon

Tom Cruise
Walt Whitman
Whitney Houston
Woodrow Wilson
Whitney Houston
Nick Adams
Nathan Lane
Sandra Dee
Danny DeVito
Richard Conti
Joe Pesci
Joe Piscopo
Robert Blake
John Forsyth
Meryl Streep
Loretta Swit
Norman Lloyd
Paul Simon
Jerry Herman
Gorden McCrae

Kevin Spacey
John Travolta
Phyllis Newman
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Eva Marie Saint
Elisabeth Shue
Zebulon Pike
James Fennimore Cooper
Admiral Wm. Halsey,Jr.
Dave Thomas(Wendy’s)
William Carlos Williams
Ray Liotta
Robert Wuhl
Bob Reyers
Paul Robeson
Ernie Kovacs
Joseph Macchia
Frank Albert Sinatra
“Uncle Floyd” Vivino
Kelly Rippa