All Jersey Info:  New Jersey Trivia

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• New Jersey has the 40th lowest liquor tax of all the 50 states (http://www.swivel.com/data_columns/spreadsheet/9935263)
• Gov. Robert Meyner vetoed the bill to coin New Jersey as the "Garden State," writing, "I do not believe that the average citizen of New Jersey regards his state as more peculiarly identifiable with gardening for farming than any of its other industries or occupations." The state legislature promptly overrode his veto, and the rest is license-plate history.²
• NJ has more horses per square mile than any other state²
• 87% of New Jerseyans that are 25 or older have graduated from high school, as compared to 84.5% nationally³
• 33.9% of adults in NJ have a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.5% nationally.  As a result, NJ ranks among the top 5 states in terms of number of college graduates (CO, CT, MD, and MA are the other states)³
• GW stayed at more than 12 sites in North Jersey during the revolutionary war³
• 1883: Wiliiam F. Allen of South Orange (Railroad engineer) devised the time zone system to divide the US into 4 time zones (eastern, central, mtn, pacific).  Was put into place on 11/18/1883³
• The Hackensack River crossing at New Bridge was the site of GW's retreat after losing the battles of Brooklyn and Fort Washington.  The retreat (Nov 1776) was the inspiration for the 1st volume of Thomas Paine's "the American Crisis," published in Dec 1776.  It begins, "These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman"³
• From 1955-1980, Mahwah had the Ford's largest plant in the country.  Ford was the 2nd biggest auto company at the time
• The Sandy Hook Lighthouse in Sandy Hook is the oldest working lighthouse in the U.S.  Was first lit on June 11, 1764
• NJ is the 3rd largest cranberry grower in the U.S. behind Wisconsin and Massachusetts
• NJ was the first colony to ratify the Bill of Rights
• New Jerseyan Aaron Burr killed New Yorker Alexander Hamilton on a Weehawken, NJ cliff overlooking Manhattan

• 10% of students that score perfect on the SATs are from NJ (even though NJ makes up less than 3% of the total U.S. population
• Renault Winery in Atlantic County is the 2nd oldest continually running winery in the US; it opened in 1864
• There are 34 wineries in New Jersey
• World record for fishing: in 1982, Al McReynolds caught a world record 78-pound, 8-oz. striped bass off the Vermont Avenue jetty in Atlantic city on 20-pound test line*
• The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark is the fifth largest cathedral in the U.S.^*
• NJ is the leading harvester of surf clams in the U.S.*
• $1,916,321: tolls collected on the Garden State Parkway over Fourth of July weekend, 2007*
• There are 1000+ known shipwrecks offf the Jersey coast*
• Sandy Hook Lighthouse is the oldest operating light tower in the U.S.*
• The Clownfest in Seaside Heights is the world's biggest clown parade*
• The least populous town on the Jersey Shore is Strathmere, with a total population of 175*
• The most shark attacks in one summer: 5.  Took place in 1916, and four were fatal*
• First satellite communications system (Tellstar) & electronic telephone-switching system: Developed in the 1960s at Bell Labs in NJ
• Krueger Brewing in Newark was the launching site for canned beer in 1933
• The first filly to win the Kentucky derby was born in Lincroft, NJ on Brookdale Farm
• 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 densest 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 has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the "Diner Capital of the World."
• New Jersey is home to the original Mystery Pork Parts Club (no, not Spam): Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.
• Home to the less mysterious but the best Italian hot dogs and Italian sausage w/peppers and onions.
• North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world, with seven major shopping malls in a 25 square mile radius.
• New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
• The Passaic River was the site of the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.
• New Jersey has 50+ resort cities & towns; some of the nation's most famous: Asbury Park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Long Branch, 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 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 percent of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.
• New Jersey is home to one of the nation's busiest airports (in Newark), Liberty International.
• Several important Revolutionary War battles were fought on New Jersey soil, led by General George Washington.
• The light bulb, phonograph (record player), and motion picture projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ laboratory.
• We also boast the first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs.
• 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 was home to the first Miss America Pageant held in Atlantic City.
• The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on its playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City.
• And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world, not to mention salt water taffy.
• New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.
• The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey, in the Watchung Mountains.
• New Jersey has the tallest water tower in the world. (Union, NJ!!!)
• 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 under a river, the Hudson (Holland Tunnel).
• The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ
• 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" pro football 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.
• New Jersey's name originates from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.  The Isle of Jersey was named after Julius Caesar. 
• Princeton and Trenton were each the capital of the United States for a short period of time.
• 24 of the 27 acres that make up Ellis Island are in New Jersey.
• Two-thirds of the 12 million immigrants that passed through Ellis Island and gained admission into the U.S. took the ferry to different places in New Jersey.  The remaining third took a ferry to lower Manhattan.
• The ice cream cone was invented in 1896 by Italo Marcioni in New Jersey.
• The first intercollegiate football game in U.S. history: Rutgers vs. Princeton, at College field in New Brunswick, NJ.  Final Score: Rutgers - 6; Princeton - 4.
• The Statue of Liberty is located in New Jersey.
• 23% of NJ is preserved as open space.
• NJ is the birthplace of the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive four year terms (Grover Clevland).
• NJ is the home of the C.A. Nothnagle House, the oldest log cabin home in the western hemisphere.
• Two U.S. Presidents served as President of Princeton University (James Madison and Woodrow Wilson).
• Hoboken has the most bars per square in the entire U.S. (140 active liquor licenses, which includes bars, restaurants, liquor stores and private clubs).
• The first milking machine was invented by Walker Gordon Farms in Plainsboro, NJ.  This machine revolutionized the milk industry.
• Elsie the cow and her husband Elmer (inspiration for the Elmer's glue brand) are actual cows from Plainsboro, NJ.
• NJ is home to 2 of the top domestic professional cycling teams (the Colavita Team and the Navigators team), both of which will compete in the 2007 Tour de France.

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