NYNew York Fun Facts

Adirondack Park covers roughly six million acres of northern New York, more ground than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined. The state most people picture as wall-to-wall concrete is about 60 percent forest.

Facts most people get wrong

• New York City is not the capital. Albany has held that job since 1797. The city was the national capital from 1785 to 1790, and Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street on April 30, 1789.
• The Empire State nickname has nothing to do with skyscrapers. It was in common use in the early 1800s, more than a century before the Empire State Building opened in 1931.
• Manhattan was not bought for $24. The 1626 transaction was recorded as trade goods worth 60 Dutch guilders. The $24 figure is a 19th century currency conversion, and the Lenape did not share the Dutch idea of permanent land sale.
• Times Square is not named for time. It was Longacre Square until The New York Times moved in during 1904 and the city renamed it for the paper.
• Liberty Island is New York, not New Jersey, despite sitting in New Jersey waters. The Supreme Court split neighboring Ellis Island in 1998: the original island stayed New York, the landfill added around it went to New Jersey.
• Upstate is farm country. New York ranks second in the nation in both apple production and maple syrup, behind Washington and Vermont.

Records and firsts

• The subway has 472 stations, more than any other rapid transit system on earth, and it runs 24 hours a day.
• Grand Central Terminal has 44 platforms, more than any railway station in the world.
• The Erie Canal opened in 1825, running 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo and collapsing the cost of moving freight between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes.
• Hip-hop is dated to August 11, 1973, a back-to-school party thrown by DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.
• Lombardi's on Spring Street was licensed in 1905 and is generally credited as the first pizzeria in the United States.
• New York ratified the Constitution on July 26, 1788 as the 11th state and holds 28 electoral votes today.

Geography that surprises

• New York borders Canada, touching Ontario and Quebec, with saltwater coast on the Atlantic and freshwater coast on Lakes Erie and Ontario.
• Buffalo is closer to Cleveland, roughly 190 miles, than to New York City at roughly 370 miles.
• Long Island is the largest island in the contiguous United States, about 118 miles from the East River to Montauk Point.
• Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks tops out at 5,344 feet, and the Appalachian Trail clips the southeastern corner of the state.

Where the name comes from

The name arrived with a change of ownership. The Dutch founded New Amsterdam on Manhattan in 1625, and in 1664 an English fleet took the colony without a fight. Charles II handed the territory to his younger brother James, Duke of York and Albany, and the colony and its upriver capital were renamed for his two titles. That is why the state is New York and the seat of government is Albany. The dukedom itself comes from the English city of York, which passed through Old Norse Jórvík from the Roman name Eboracum.

Quick stats

• Capital: Albany, since 1797 · Largest city: New York City
• Admitted: July 26, 1788, the 11th state
• Area rank: 27th of 50 · Time zone: Eastern
• Nickname: Empire State
• Motto: Excelsior, Latin for "ever upward"
• Bird: eastern bluebird · Flower: rose · Tree: sugar maple

Common questions

What is New York known for?

Wall Street, the 472-station subway, Broadway theater, the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, Adirondack Park, and the birth of hip-hop in 1973.

Is New York City the capital of New York?

No. Albany has been the state capital since 1797. New York City was capital of the United States from 1785 to 1790, which is where much of the confusion starts.

Why is New York called the Empire State?

The nickname circulated in the early 1800s, long before the Empire State Building opened in 1931. It is popularly traced to George Washington describing New York as a seat of empire.

Does the Statue of Liberty belong to New York or New Jersey?

Liberty Island is New York territory even though it sits in New Jersey waters. In 1998 the Supreme Court divided nearby Ellis Island instead: the original island remains New York, the landfill added later is New Jersey.

How big is Adirondack Park?

About six million acres, larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Great Smoky Mountains national parks put together. It is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States.

Bordering states

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