As part of our ongoing series on the 50 states, this POST will cover the state of New York, which was the 11th state to formally ratify the United States constitution, following Virginia and just ahead of North Carolina.
New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes region of the Northeastern United States. It was one of the original thirteen colonies forming the United States. With a total area of 54,555 square miles. New York is the 27th largest state. Its population of more than 19 million as of 2019 makes it the fourth most populous. Sometimes referred to as New York State, it is the home of New York City.
The “Statue of Liberty” is in New York. The statue is a symbol of the United States and its ideals of opportunity, democracy, and freedom. Did you know that the “Statue of Liberty” was a gift to the United States from France ? Did you know that the seven spikes on the crown of the Statue of Liberty represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world, indicating the universal concept of liberty? In 1886, it was the tallest iron structure ever built.
New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. French colonists and Jesuit missionaries arrived southward from Montreal for trade and proselytizing. In 1609, the region was visited by Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch East India Company.
Niagara Falls, one of the most famous waterfalls in the world is located on the border of Ontario, Canada, and New York, United States.
The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ both call the city their home. And mind you, these are the world’s two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization of their listed companies. Big Board is a nickname for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Some additional FUN FACTS about the state of New York:
- Toilet paper was invented by Joseph Gayetty of New York City.
- The first American chess tournament was held in New York in 1843.
- The New York State Canal System consists of four canals – the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal, the Cayuga–Seneca Canal, and the Champlain Canal. The system which is 525 miles long is located in 17 counties in upstate New York (excluding New York City). The system sees very less commercial vessels and is primarily used for recreational and flood control purposes.
- There is a secret train station (known as Track 61) below the Waldorf Astoria, which is the most famous historic hotel in New York City. During the 1930s the train station was built for the secret entrance of former US president Franklin Roosevelt to the hotel
- New York City also houses the world’s largest railway station – the Grand Central Terminal. Its construction was completed in 1913. The station has 44 platforms, situated on two underground levels. The station covers 48 acres of land.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States and also one of the most visited art museums in the world.
- Did you know that the Hudson River flows two ways? Because of the low and hide tides, which the river usually experiences twice every 24 hours, the direction of its flow reverses. A rising tide causes the river to flow towards Troy (northwards) and a falling tide causes the river to flow seaward (southwards).
- New York is the only state that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.
Feel free to add any comments you have about New York, especially any personal stories you have about New York, or any additional Fun Facts.
Regards, Kevin N1KL
You think of New York City when you hear New York. Where I live we have more cows than pigeons. We have the Erie Canal, not a subway. The three closest large cities are Pittsburg, Cleveland, and Toronto, then Buffalo. I get as many TV stations from Canada as I do the US.
I was 45 before I ever visited NYC!
As a slight contrast to Al, I grew up in NYC from 1950-1968. My parents were in show business, so we lived in midtown Manhattan for the first 18 years of my life, close enough to the Broadway theater disrict so that my father, a musician who was not able to drive, could walk to work.
I was first licensed in 1964 and having an antenna in NYC is always a challenge, particularly with apartment building rules that there may be no {visible} antennas on any apartment building roof.
I later returned to live in NYC from 1975-1990. It was in 1978 that “the wonder of 57th street” HF antennas were born, which essentially was two 1/4 wave 80m slopers tied end to end with fish line and ran from my apartment window on the 3rd floor of an 8-story apartment building on the north side of 57th street to a ham neighbor’s apartment window on the 19th floor of a 19-story building on the south side of 57th street and directly across from mine.
57th street is a very large 2-way east-west street in NYC and for some reason, I was blessed with it being an “RF alley” rather than an “RF hole”. Using the ground plane on its side that the entire steel outside wall of my apartment building provided behind the brick facade, my “compromised” antenna performed incredibly well on 80m-10m for a grand total of about 6 years, after which I had to take it down for the last time.
Having never had the ability to work 80m before, I was like a kid in a candy store and soon after we first raised the antenna in its “final form” in November 1978, I discovered the Geratol Net less than a month later. It was love at first sight!
I always had a good signal on the Net and many other Geratolers used to ask me, “How is this possible if you live in the middle of Manhattan”. It was this that ultimately led to some Geratolers calling me, the “Manhattan Flash”, which I ended up using as my moniker in the byline I wrote as the first Geratol Net newsletter editor.
They were really fun days!
Al and Barry, EXCELLENT updates on the New York State POST. Al, I recall upstate New York, as my sister married a New Yorker, and their area around Tunnel, NY was amazingly beautiful and rural.
Barry, I also recall NYC vividly, as my younger son attended college in NYC, Marymount Manhattan College. He got a degree from MMC and an education living in NYC !! Great stuff guys, thanks for sharing your stories !!!
New York City is a wonderful, exciting place that I’ve only visited a few times and didn’t have a lot of time for sightseeing when I did.
The state has an abundance of diversity both in terrain and in it’s people.