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United States of America The United States of America, also known as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the USA, the U.S. of A., the States, and America, is a country in North America that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and shares land borders with Canada and Mexico.
The United States is a federal constitutional republic, with its capital in Washington, D.C.
At over 3.7 million square miles, the U.S. is the third largest country by total area.
It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 300 million people.
National Welcome Center
Interesting facts, trivia and links regarding the life, culture and history of the United States
US Facts
The Mississippi-Missouri is the longest river in the USA.
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Lake Michigan is the largest lake in the US.
640,000 years ago, a massive volcanic eruption took place in present-day Yellowstone Park (Wyoming). The caldera is seventy kilometres long and thirty kilometres wide. Yellowstone became the world's first National Park in 1872.
Colombus' voyages of discovery to the New World took place between 1492 and 1504.
The explorer Amerigo Vespucci gave his name to America.
When the first settlers arrived in America millions of buffalo roamed the plains.
The Indian princess Pocahontas (1595-1617) was a friend to the colonists of Jamestown in Virginia at a time when they were finding life difficult. During a period when she was held captive, to exchange for English prisoners, Pocahontas met and married the colonist John Rolfe.
Well remembered Native American Indian leaders include Cochise (Apache) Geronimo (Apache) and Sitting Bull (Sioux).
Famous American outlaws include Jesse James, Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy.
Oklahoma was a centre of the early cattle industry.
Over the years immigrants arrived in the USA from all over the world: China, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Spain and Vietnam.
Richmond, the capital of the state of Virginia in the USA, was named after Richmond upon Thames in the UK.
The State of Nevada's name comes from the Spanish meaning "snow-capped".
The State of Louisiana was named after the French King Louis XIV.
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Henry Wadsworth' Longfellow wrote the poem "Paul Revere's Ride". It tells the story of the ride through the country to alert people to the beginning of the American War of Independence:
"The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat."
George Washington was the first President of the United States.
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The American Colonization Society promoted resettling freed American slaves in Africa. The resettlement of freed slaves in Liberia began in 1822. ,br>
President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending the theatre with his wife. He died the following morning on 15 April 1865.
Between 1927 and 1941, Gutzon Borglum sculpted busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore.
Russia sold the State of Alaska (to the west of Canada) to the United States in 1867.
Spain ceded Guam to the US in 1898. It is one of the most important bases in the Pacific.
Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty and Gustave Eiffel its structural engineer. The statue was presented to the American people by the people of France on 4th July 1884 and shipped to the US in early 1885.
Al Capone, one of America's most famous gangsters, made his money selling alcohol during Prohibition (anti-alcohol laws).
Helen Keller was born in Alabama in 1880 and lost her sight and hearing at a very early age. Helen grew up to become a famous speaker who also helped to set up the American Foundation for the Blind.
In 1903 the Wright brothers made the first successful flight in a plane.
In 1927 Lindburgh made the first non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly the Atlantic (1931).
New York's Empire State Building, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the world's tallest buildings.
Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park on Lake Michigan is among the world's largest fountains and one of Chicago's most familiar landmarks.
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) was an American newspaper owner who is said to have inspired Orson Welles' film "Citizen Kane".
Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976), the American oil baron, set up a foundation dedicated to the visual arts and the humanities.
During the Second World War in August 1945 the USA dropped the Atom bomb on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Polaris atomic-powered submarines were launched in 1958. They were armed with nuclear warheads with a range of fifteen hundred miles.
In 1960 a US reconnaissance ("spy") plane was shot down over the USSR. Its pilot, Gary Powers, was captured but later released.
Malcolm X, the black militant leader, was shot and killed in 1965.
1968 saw the death of Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights leader, aged 38. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the US gained momentum in the late 1960s and early 1970s; the Americans withdrew from Vietnam in 1973.
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were Washington Post reporters who investigated the Watergate break-ins. President Nixon ordered a cover-up of the affair and eventually had to resign.
On 18 May 1980 the Mount St Helens volcano (Washington State) erupted. Fifty-seven people and thousands of animals perished.
In 1986 seven members of the crew of the Challenger Space Shuttle were killed when the Challenger exploded just over a minute after take-off.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 to study stars and galaxies.
On 11 September 2001 four US planes were hijacked by terrorists; two crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Around three thousand people were killed.
In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf Coast of the USA killing thousands of people, destroying homes, property and infrastructure.
President George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2005. [ ]
Prior to his Presidency, President Bush served for 6 years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation for bipartisanship and as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control.
Parks & Recreation
National Parks, National Recreational Organizations and Events
The National Park Service cares for national parks, a network of nearly 400 natural, cultural and recreational sites across the nation.
The treasures in this system were the first of its kind in the world and have been set aside by the American people to preserve, protect, and share the legacies of this land. [ ]
Beyond national parks, the National Park Service helps communities across America preserve and enhance important local heritage and close-to-home recreational opportunities.
Grants and assistance are offered to register, record and save historic places; create community parks and local recreation facilities; conserve rivers and streams, and develop trails and greenways.
The Worcester Township Community Hall was constructed in 1919 for the purpose of promoting sociability and cooperation, to advance agriculture and horticulture, to maintain a hall for public and private use, and activities that advance the interest of the community. Ownership of the Worcester Township Community Hall (previously known as the Fairview Village Assembly Hall) was transferred to the Township in 1983 and it is currently used for Township meetings.
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