90 Interesting Facts About New York State

Last updated on June 23rd, 2024

54. The Long Acre Square originally served as the early site for William H. Vanderbilt’s American Horse Exchange. Due to the development of the area in the subsequent years, and the use of advertising and street lights, the place became safer and more inviting to the general public. The owner and publisher of The New York Times selected a highly visible location to build Times Tower to utilize and increase the foot traffic in the area to generate profits.

55. The Wyckoff Farm is the oldest building in New York City, dating back to 1652. The house was inhabited by the Wckyoff family until 1901 and today it functions as a museum which is dedicated to the city’s Dutch heritage.

56. The iconic yellow taxis that run throughout the city were originally red and green. The first gasoline-powered cab company had red and green cars in its fleet. The yellow color for the taxi fleet was adopted in 1912 by New York City after many other states in the U.S. did so.

57. Bronx, one of the five boroughs of the city takes its name from its first European settler – Jonas Bronck. In 1639, he moved to America from Sweden.

Tourism and leisure

58. Iloveny.com is the official website for New York State tourism.

59. Central park is the largest and the most important public park in Manhattan, New York City. In 1856, the 340 acres of land for the park was acquired for a sum of $5,000,000. After almost 20 years of work on the park, the park was officially opened in 1876.

60. Central Park attracts more than 40 million visitors annually. 

61. Did you know that the first pizzeria in New York City opened in 1895? An Italian man named Filippo Milone brought the dish to Manhattan, New York City. However, the credit for bringing pizza to the city or rather the country goes to another Italian man named Gennaro Lombardi. This man who supposedly received his license to sell pizzas in the city in 1905, is still selling pizza slices on Spring Street in Lower Manhattan. The name of the original pioneer of the pizza shops in the nation was lost in history because of the fact that he did not have any children who could carry on his pizza business and the matter rested to peace after his death in 1924. Today, you can eat pizza from more than 1,600 pizza restaurants in the city.

62. There are more than 22,000 restaurants in the city.

Some fun/weird/amazing facts about New York City

63. In 1664, the city was named after the Duke of York.

64. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times are two of the three national daily newspapers with largest circulation in the United States.

65. The New York Police Department is the largest police force in the United States. The department has strength of more than 35,000 sworn officers.

66. This is a very inspiring and motivating fact about one of the greatest cities in the world. The New York City department of Education provides free meals that are available daily for any New Yorker. There are more than 400 meal hubs across the city and any New Yorker can visit one of these hubs and collect their meals. This meal service is for everyone including adults and children. There is no registration or ID required to pick up the meal. The service operates Monday through Friday.

67. Interestingly, New York City is also home of Albert Einstein’s eyeballs which were removed during an autopsy by pathologist Thomas Harvey. However, the exact location of his eyeballs is still unknown to the common man.

68. It is illegal to honk your vehicle’s horn in New York City. Seriously! But this law is clearly not enforced.

69. Now if you are an avid book reader like me, you would want to visit the New York City Library if anytime you are in the town. Because it is the third largest library in the world with a collection of more than 50 million books. That’s too much for a life time, isn’t it!

70. The Empire State building has its own zip code – 10118.

71. New York City is a pet heaven. The residents own an estimated 1 million pets including some 600,000 dogs. Now that’s roughly the population of Louisville or Baltimore.

72. Did you know that a taxi medallion in New York City at one time peaked at over one million dollars? A taxi medallion is a permit that allows taxicab drivers to operate in the city. The system keeps in check the number of taxis available in the city to avoid congestion and ensures better earning opportunities for the cab owners or drivers. At one time, it was the best investment in America. However, due to the introduction/evolution of peer-to-peer ride sharing and app based car services, the price of medallions has dropped substantially.

73. Another amazing fact about New York City is that nearly 380,000 pedestrians enter the heart of Times Square each day.

74. Until WWII, anyone moving apartments in New York City had to move on May 1.

75. The world’s largest deposit of monetary gold can be found in the vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The gold is worth an estimated $200 billion. However, very little of it belongs to the U.S government. According to some estimate, the United States has about 5% of its gold stored there. The vault is home to about 25% of the world’s gold reserves.

76. PONY stands for Product of New York.

77. Hart Island located in northeastern Bronx in New York City is the place where unidentified dead bodies are buried. The island is not open to the public. The island is approximately 1.6 km long and 0.53 km wide.

New York City – Quick facts and statistics