What are the most common facts about U.S landmarks?

12 comments

1. There will be a question about the Statue of Liberty. I am guessing they will ask about which country gave it to us (France), and the material it was made out of (Copper).

   They might ask about the Golden Gate Bridge, I am guessing they will ask you where it is located (California)

2. – The Golden Gate Bridge is actually called that because they built some of the cabling out of old farmstead gates from just after the Gold Rush

   – The Statue of Liberty actually used to be blue in color, but diesel oil from the ships that carried the pieces over from France wound up staining some of the wood green-ish. They decided to do the rest that way too so that it would match, except on Bastille Day in 1945 when it was temporarily painted Red, White, and Blue to celebrate the liberation of France from Nazi Germany

   – Mount Rushmore was originally going to have Herbert Hoover on it, but he unexpectedly lost the 1932 election while it was being built and they had to pivot. Roosevelt was considered too divisive at the time, so they omitted the current president entirely.

   – The Bass Pro Shop pyramid actually has an authentic Egyptian mummy in the basement, directly beneath the spire. It was purchased from the Natural History Museum in London in 1988 as a hobby purchase by architect Rosser Fabrap, to complete the theme.

   – Chicago is home to the world’s first skyscraper, if you measure it from ground height to architectural pinnacle – the standard of the World Society of Architects and Engineers. But if instead you go by the North American Builder’s Association standard (which states that to be considered a skyscraper the building must interfere with prevailing wind patterns at a height 50 feet above the nearest prominent hill) the first skyscraper is actually Madison Tower in Cambridge, MA.

   – The Grand Ole Opry is actually a scale replica of the Theatre d’Opry in Paris, built at a 1:1.25 scale. The original was destroyed in fire in 1918, so the Grand Ole Opry is actually on the list of French heritage landmarks in its place as a result – the only such building outside of the borders of metropolitan France.

   – The Space Needle in Seattle is actually built from a mounted experimental disc-craft prototype that Boeing had developed during the early years of the Cold War. It was deemed too unstable for its high-altitude reconnaissance mission due to information not previously known about the jet stream.

3. Nicolas Cage made a series of documentaries about some well known US landmarks you should watch them. National Treasure was the name and there are a lot of surprising facts to learn.

4. Grand Canyon was carved by the Colorado River.

   Rushmore has Jefferson, Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

5. If they ask you who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb…technically it’s no one. It is the final resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia Grant, but their sarcophagi are above ground so not exactly buried.

6. Mount Rushmore was carved into the Black Hills which is sacred land to the Lakota Sioux

7. The first national monument, devils tower is in Wyoming. We also have the first national park, Yellowstone.

8. The groundbreaking dedication of the Liberty Memorial, now called the National WWI Museum and Memorial, was the only time in history the WWI Allied military commanders were all in the same place at the same time.

   Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, General of the Armies John J. Pershing of the United States were all in attendance.

   Also present was local KC busineman, WWI vet and future president Harry S Truman. He was chosen to present flags to each of the allied commanders.

   The memorial was the result of a group of local businessmen wishing to build a monument to the local boys who died or were wounded. A donation drive was started, and over $2.5 million (in 1919 money) was raised in less than two weeks.

9. The color of the Golden Gate Bridge is International Orange.

   I feel like that fact in particular has come up on multiple occasions when I’ve played bar trivia.

10. The Mammoth Cave system in Kentucky is the world’s longest cave system. They’re still not done exploring it.

11. Only thing I know off the top of my head is that Detroit has an 11 foot statue of RoboCop that took 11 years to finish.

12. The height & width of the Gateway Arch are identical: 630 feet.