Massachusettes State Facts and Trivia

Massachusetts Facts and Trivia

1. Boston built the first subway system in the United States in 1897.
2. In Holyoke, William G. Morgan created a new game called "Mintonette" in 1895. After a demonstration was given at the YMCA in nearby Springfield, the name "Mintonette" was replaced with the now-familiar name "Volleyball."
3. There is a house in Rockport built entirely of newspaper.
4. The Fig Newton was named after Newton, Massachusetts.
5. The visible portion of Plymouth Rock is a lumpy fragment of glacial moraine about the size of a coffee table, with the date 1620 cut into its surface. After being broken, dragged about the town of Plymouth by ox teams used to inspire Revolutionaries, and reverently gouged and scraped by 19th-century souvenir hunters, it is now at rest near the head of Plymouth Harbor.
6. The Basketball Hall Of Fame is located in Springfield.
7. James Michael Curley was the first mayor of Boston to have an automobile. The plate number was "576" - the number of letters in "James Michael Curley." The mayor of Boston's official car still uses the same number on its plate.
8. The American industrial revolution began in Lowell. Lowell was America's first planned industrial city.
9. 1634: Boston Common became the first public park in America.
10. 1891: The first basketball game was played in Springfield.
11. Massachusetts holds the two largest cities in New England, Boston, the largest, and Worcester.
12. The creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which was formerly private town and state-owned landmarked the first time the federal government purchased land for a park.
13. Quincy boasts the first Dunkin Donuts on Hancock Street and the first Howard Johnson's on Newport Ave.
14. Glaciers formed the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard during the ice age.
15. The first U.S.Postal zip code in Massachusetts is 01001 at Agawam.
16. The signs along the Massachusetts Turnpike reading "x miles to Boston" refer to the distance from that point to the gold dome of the statehouse.
17. Harvard was the first college established in North America. Harvard was founded in 1636. Because of Harvard's size, there is no universal mailing address that will work for every office at the University.
18. The Boston University Bridge on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.
19. The Children's Museum in Boston displays a giant milk bottle on the museum's wharf. If it were real it would hold 50,000 gallons of milk and 8,620 gallons of cream.
20. In 1908, Miss Caroline O. Emmerton purchased The House of the Seven Gables - built in 1668 - restored it to its present state and, in 1910, opened the site to the touring public. The seven-gabled house inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne to write his famous novel of the same name.
21. The Boston Tea Party reenactment takes place in Boston Harbor every December 16th.
22. Balance Rock in Lanesborough is named in honor of a 25' x 15' x 10 boulder that balances upon a small stone below it.
23. Massachusetts first began issuing drivers licenses and registration plates in June of 1903.
24. The 3rd Monday in April is a legal holiday in Massachusetts called Patriot's Day.
25. The USS Constitution 'Old Ironsides', the oldest fully commissioned vessel in the US Navy is permanently berthed at Charlestown Navy Yard. Since 1897 the ship has been overhauled several times in Dry Dock 1.
26. The official state dessert of Massachusetts is Boston cream pie.
27. Milford is known the world over for its unique pink granite, discovered in the 1870s and quarried for many years to grace the exteriors of museums, government buildings, monuments, and railroad stations.