70 Fun Facts About New Jersey

New Jersey takes its name from a place in which body of water?

The Duke of York granted the land to two loyal friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, and Carteret had been governor of Jersey.

What is New Jersey's state capital?

The state is the only one where every county is classed as urban.

New Jersey holds which population distinction among US states?

Over 9.5 million people live in the fifth-smallest state by land area.

New Jersey ratified the US Constitution on December 18, 1787, making it which state to do so?

It was also the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights, in November 1789.

Which Indigenous people were dominant in the region when Europeans arrived in the 17th century?

Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements before the British took over.

Which troops did Washington's army surprise after crossing the Delaware on the night of December 25-26, 1776?

Morristown, twice Washington's headquarters, has been called the Military Capital of the American Revolution.

Because of its many Revolutionary War battles, New Jersey earned what title?

The Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 was one of the pivotal but indecisive clashes.

Edison invented the first electric light bulb in 1879 at his laboratory in which New Jersey community?

Christie Street there became the first street in the world lit by electric light, and Edison went on to 1,093 patents.

Which of these inventions is NOT listed among New Jersey creations?

The state also claims the phonograph, saltwater taffy, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce and the boardwalk.

The first drive-in movie theater opened on June 6, 1933, near which city on the Delaware?

Richard Hollingshead's patented drive-in stood on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, just outside Camden.

The first organised baseball game under Knickerbocker rules was played in 1846 at the Elysian Fields in which city?

The Knickerbockers took on the New York Ball Club on June 19, 1846.

Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game in 1869 against which Ivy League rival?

Rutgers players wore scarlet turbans and handkerchiefs to tell the sides apart, which is how scarlet became the school colour.

Rutgers, chartered in 1766, was originally known by what name?

It is the eighth-oldest college in the US and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church.

Nassau Hall at the state's Ivy League college served as the US capital for four months in which year?

Congress learned of the peace treaty with Britain while sitting there; the school was founded in 1746 as the College of New Jersey.

Which Caldwell, New Jersey-born president was the first to serve non-consecutive terms?

Cleveland served 1885-89 and 1893-97. Woodrow Wilson, by contrast, was governor of the state from 1911 to 1913 before winning the White House.

New Jersey is famous for having more of which eatery than anywhere else in the world?

There are more than 600, and the state is home to many of the companies that build them.

Since 2016, New Jersey has been the last US state where every gas station must do what?

Oregon's loosening of its self-service rules that year left Jersey alone with the full-service requirement.

Under what brand name was the state's famous pork roll sold until food labelling rules changed in 1906?

John Taylor of Trenton developed it in 1856; the north-south argument over whether to call it Taylor ham or pork roll has never ended.

New Jersey ranks second among US states in the production of which fruit?

It is third in cranberries and spinach and fourth in bell peppers, peaches and head lettuce.

New Jersey is the only one of the fifty never to have had what?

'I'm From New Jersey' is often wrongly listed as the anthem, but it was never even a contender.

The Jersey Shore's first boardwalk, built in 1870, was intended to solve what problem?

The early boardwalk was taken up at the end of every season; the Jersey Shore now has the highest concentration of oceanside boardwalks in the world.

The first Miss America Pageant was held on the boardwalk in which year?

The Holland Tunnel followed in 1927 and the first drive-in in 1933 during a prosperous decade for the state.

The US edition of Monopoly takes its street names from which shore resort?

'Marvin Gardens' is a misspelling of the real Marven Gardens, passed on by the couple who taught the game to Charles Darrow.

In which year did New Jersey voters legalise casino gambling in the state's boardwalk resort?

The city styled itself the 'Las Vegas of the East Coast'.

Which South Jersey town, with a National Historic Landmark Victorian downtown, is America's oldest seaside resort?

Congress Hall, built in 1816, made it a favourite escape for Philadelphians.

The Hindenburg burst into flames in 1937 while landing at a naval air station in which New Jersey town?

Radio reporter Herbert Morrison's 'Oh, the humanity!' came from the landing field; 36 people died.

Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast placed the Martian landing in which New Jersey hamlet?

The Halloween-eve Mercury Theatre broadcast is remembered for the panic it reportedly caused.

In which year was the Jersey Devil, the cursed thirteenth Leeds child, said to be born?

The winged creature is said to haunt the Pine Barrens, and the NHL's Devils are named for it.

The New Jersey Devils began life in 1974 as which team?

They played in Denver as the Colorado Rockies before moving east, and now play at the Prudential Center in Newark.

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford is home to which two NFL teams?

Built for about $1.6 billion, it hosted Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 and 2026 World Cup matches.

Which crooner, nicknamed Ol' Blue Eyes, was born in the same Hudson County city in 1915?

His first break came in 1935 with a local group that became the Hoboken Four.

Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch and grew up in which Monmouth County town?

His Italian grandfather came through Ellis Island unable to read or write English.

Bon Jovi formed in 1983 in which New Jersey town?

The band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Which best-selling musician was born in Newark and started singing at New Hope Baptist Church?

She became a background vocalist while still in high school.

Who created The Sopranos, the HBO drama about a New Jersey mob boss with panic attacks?

The Bada Bing! strip club is a real club on Route 17 in Lodi.

The New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1951. Which diagonal coastal highway followed in 1957?

It runs from Bergen County in the northeast to the state's southern tip, opening the Shore to millions.

Which double-decked Fort Lee–Manhattan span carries the world's heaviest bridge motor traffic?

About 102 million vehicles a year cross its fourteen lanes.

Which crossing connecting Jersey City to Manhattan opened in 1927?

It opened during the same prosperous decade as the first Miss America pageant.

Which soup company has been headquartered in the same South Jersey city since 1869?

Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned US food company, is based in Jersey City.

Which two English lords were granted the land between the Hudson and Delaware, creating New Jersey?

Both had stayed loyal to the crown through the English Civil War.

New Jersey's 1776 constitution extended the vote to which groups, subject to a wealth requirement?

The right applied to all inhabitants with a certain level of property.

Which private research campus, headquartered for decades in New Jersey, gave the world the transistor?

The state boasts more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world.

Where in Jersey City did German saboteurs set off the 1916 blast that damaged the Statue of Liberty?

The site is now part of Liberty State Park, from which ferries run to the statue and Ellis Island.

Which Passaic River city, known as Silk City, sits beside a Great Falls that is now a national historical park?

Canals brought Pennsylvania coal to Paterson, Newark and Jersey City as their industries grew.

Which theme park in Jackson Township is New Jersey's biggest amusement destination?

It shares its site with a drive-through safari.

Which South Jersey attraction is a six-storey building shaped like a pachyderm, built in 1881 in Margate?

It is a National Historic Landmark in Margate City.

Which shore town is famous for its 1950s and 60s 'doo-wop' motel architecture?

The neon-and-plastic-palm style survives in dozens of Wildwood motels.

Which New Jersey city, the state's largest, is home to Liberty International Airport?

The airport is run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is one of the three main airports for the New York area.

Which future president was governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 after leading Princeton?

He broke with the party bosses to pass progressive reforms, then beat Taft and Roosevelt in 1912.

Which two nearby cities do most New Jersey residents live within the orbit of?

The state sits at the hub of the Northeast megalopolis, and casual speech often drops the 'New' from its name.

In which town was the later research facility of New Jersey's most famous inventor, among America's first such centres?

Edison moved there from Menlo Park; the site is now Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

Jersey City is the second-most populous city in New Jersey. Which city is first?

Jersey City is closing the gap: its 2020 census count of 292,449 was up 18 percent on 2010, the biggest jump of any municipality in the state.

Jersey City is the county seat of which New Jersey county?

It is also the county's most populous city and its largest by area, with 30.7 miles of waterfront on the Hudson, Upper New York Bay, the Hackensack and Newark Bay.

What was the name of the Dutch settlement, meaning 'land of the peacock', that preceded Jersey City?

It was named for the patroon Michael Pauw, whose Latinised name means peacock, and Saint Peter's University later adopted the peacock as its mascot in a nod to the name.

The village of Bergen, chartered in 1661 in what is now Jersey City, holds which distinction?

Bergen Square, laid out in 1660, is also claimed as the first town square in North America.

Which Revolutionary War clash took place at a British fort in what is now downtown Jersey City in August 1779?

Major Henry 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee, then 23, led about 300 men and took 158 British prisoners, and an obelisk marks the fort site at Washington and Grand Streets.

Which founding father helped create the 1804 'Associates of the Jersey Company' behind Jersey City?

He predicted 'one day, a great city shall rise on the western banks of the Hudson River', then died in his duel with Burr in July of that same year.

Which political boss ran Jersey City as mayor from 1917 to 1947?

His salary never topped $8,500 a year yet he kept a duplex in Jersey City and a suite at the Plaza, and he was nicknamed 'King Hanky-Panky'.

In 1908 Jersey City became the first US place to permanently do what to its tap water?

The system, devised by John L. Leal, was installed at the Boonton Reservoir on the Rockaway River, which had replaced the Passaic as the city's source in 1904.

What is the giant timepiece on the Jersey City waterfront, billed as the world's largest of its kind, called?

It is 50 feet across with a minute hand weighing 2,200 pounds, and was erected in 1924 to replace a smaller one shipped off to Indiana.

Which 1,212-acre site on former railyards is New Jersey's largest urban green space?

At 1,212 acres it sits on old Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad land, and it has housed the Liberty Science Center since 1993.

Jersey City's Exchange Place financial district has earned what nickname?

UBS, Goldman Sachs, Chase, Citibank and Merrill Lynch all occupy towers there, and from 1995 to 2003 the city led America's 100 largest cities in job growth.

What motto is on the seal and flag of the state's second-largest city, home to Journal Square?

It refers to the city's 19th-century boundary fight with New York, which was not settled until New York ceded the waterfront in the Treaty of 1834.

Roughly what share of Jersey City residents were born outside the US, per the 2020 census?

More than 40 languages are spoken in over half of the city's households, which is why it is often called the most ethnically diverse city in the country.

The Landmark theatre in Journal Square is the only one of which group of 1920s movie palaces built outside NYC?

Volunteers have been restoring it for decades while it screens classic films and hosts live shows.

How many counties does New Jersey have?

Thirteen date from the colonial era; the newest, Union County, was created in 1857, and every one is classed as urban by the Census Bureau.

What were New Jersey's elected county officials uniquely called until a 2020 law renamed them?

Governor Murphy signed the bill on August 8, 2020, making them county commissioners, as in the rest of the country.

Who became New Jersey's first lieutenant governor when the post was created in January 2010?

Before a 2005 constitutional amendment, a vacant governorship was filled by the president of the state Senate as acting governor.

Which Bergen County municipality holds the top retail ZIP code in the United States, 07652?

Its malls generate more than US$6 billion in annual retail sales; the state also hosts 24 Fortune 500 headquarters.

What is the elevation of High Point, New Jersey's highest spot, in Sussex County?

The state's most prominent peak is actually Kitty Ann Mountain in Morris County, which rises 892 feet above its surroundings.