Education

Florida attained statehood in 1845, yet not until a pair of railroad barons built lines down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the late 1800s and early 1900s did the state take off, spurring the phenomenal growth of what’s now the third-most populous state.

Henry Flagler arrived aboard the first train to Key West, southernmost point of the U.S., in 1912, marking completion of his Florida East Coast Railway linking the East Coast from north to south. In his path, he left grand hotels – the Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, and the Breakers and Royal Poinciana in what became known as Palm Beach. Another Henry – businessman and steamship owner Henry Plant – pushed rail lines down Florida's West Coast.

With millions of visitors each year to its beaches, major amusement parks centered around Orlando and cruise ships departing from ports on both coasts, tourism is a major contributor to Florida's gross domestic product. The state’s agriculture industry is also robust, with Florida groves producing many of the country's oranges and a winter vegetable industry that makes agriculture a year-round enterprise.

Tourism, which pays a sizable share of the state’s sales tax, also has enabled Florida to remain among the states without a personal income tax – adding a lure as the nation’s leading retirement haven.

The state has 1,197 miles of coastline and a land mass of 53,630 square miles. It’s 792 miles by land from Pensacola in the far northwestern Panhandle to Key West at the end of the archipelago that stretches south of Miami, and along the way there is no natural elevation higher than 345 feet – on a ridge of the Panhandle. No state has a lower peak.

With several large cities, the state also has a sizable system of state universities and community colleges. The University of Florida in Gainesville and Florida State University in Tallahassee have been rivaled in enrollment by the University of South Florida in Tampa, University of Central Florida in Orlando, and Florida International University in Miami. Among the best known private institutions: University of Miami.

The home of native musical legends such as Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston, New Jersey is known for more than producing popular hit-makers. It has world-class universities, leading technology and biological science firms and one fast turnpike.

Named for the island of Jersey in the English Channel, New Jersey was among the original 13 colonies. It officially joined the Union in December 1787 and became an important manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution and both World Wars. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean and between New York City and Philadelphia, the state served as a prime defense hub during the Cold War.

The New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1951, allowing for speedy car travel between North Jersey, leading into New York, and South Jersey, leading into Philadelphia. Two light rails introduced in the early 2000s – the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail and the River Line – contributed to urban revitalization in the 21st century, particularly in North Jersey.

Many information and technology companies are based in New Jersey, and the state is also a leader in the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industries, with pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Merck both headquartered in the state.

New Jersey’s tourism industry is also a significant driver of its economy, with Atlantic City – the East Coast’s answer to mega-casino hub Las Vegas – and the rest of the Jersey Shore attracting millions of visitors every year.

Separatists fleeing religious persecution in England arrived aboard the Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor in 1620. Another colony called the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a group of English Puritans, later arrived and eventually absorbed Plymouth to form one royal colony.

In 1770, the colonists began defying Great Britain’s rule, resulting in the Boston Massacre, when British soldiers fired on a crowd of civilians outside the Boston Customs House. In 1773, the resistance reached new heights when colonists dressed as Native Americans threw chests of tea into Boston Harbor, in an outcry against British taxation. This Boston Tea Party sparked the American Revolution, and Massachusetts’ John Hancock was the first founding father to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Massachusetts, the second of the 13 original colonies, became the sixth state in the Union in February 1788.

Today, the fields of education and health services employ the most people in Massachusetts. Another top industry is manufacturing, especially computer and electronic products. Massachusetts’ technology sector has flourished in recent years and is among the most concentrated in the nation. With a balance of historical destinations and picturesque beaches at Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, the tourism industry also is a major economic powerhouse.

Legislatively, Massachusetts has paved the way for other states: It led the way in universal health care coverage, with a plan enacted in 2006 that inspired former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. It was also the first state to legalize gay marriage and the second to pass discrimination laws for individuals who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Colorado is the eighth-largest state in terms of landmass. While its geographic diversity and natural resources have been an economic boon as well as a draw for tourism, the state's government has made efforts to diversify the economy over the past decades. Its admission as the 38th state, in 1876, the same year as the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, earned its nickname the Centennial State.

Colorado is home to some of the country's tallest mountains, and has the highest mean elevation of any U.S. state. Whether tourists come to the state as skiers, outdoor enthusiasts or fans of the rapidly developing pot tourism industry, the state's investments have paid off in the form of billions of tourism dollars per year.

Historically, the state has been rich in agriculture, livestock and mineral extraction. In addition to tourism, the state's economy is bolstered by a developing technology scene and a presence from the military, including the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Colorado is bordered by Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Utah. The state's Southwest corner is known as one of the "Four Corners" and is the point where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.

Utah was dubbed "Deseret" by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who settled this remote western realm in the mid-1800s, fleeing religious discrimination in the East.

With the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, several hundred members formed what became known as the Mormon Battalion, which marched from Kansas to San Diego from 1846 to 1847, forging a wagon route across the deep Southwest.

They moved to Mexico until the war’s end, returning in 1848 to the place they hoped to make the state of Deseret, a name drawing on the symbol of community found in a honey beehive in the Book of Mormon. By 1850, with a population of more than 11,000, church leaders chose members to head their settlements, and through 1900, the Mormons founded 500 communities in Utah and neighboring states.

On May 10, 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was established at Promontory Summit in the Utah territory, where the Union and Central Pacific Railroads met. As gold and silver were discovered in the mountains, Congress named the territory Utah after local Native Americans. The Utah territory was carved up, with some forming Nevada, some added to Colorado and some to Wyoming. Utah became the 45th state in 1896.

Utah’s mountains, high plateaus and deserts – containing the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, at the state capital of Salt Lake City – are bordered by Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona at right angles. The “Four Corners” area marks the only such arrangement in the U.S.

The state is known for its skiing, with the mountains near Salt Lake City collecting abundant snowfall, as well as for the Sundance Film Festival, one of the world’s premiere independent film festivals, staged each January in Park City.

Wisconsin, admitted to the union in 1848 as the 30th state, traces its history to French explorers arriving in the early 1600s. Samuel de Champlain, governor of what was then New France and now Canada, dispatched Etienne Brule and Jean Nicolet to determine whether a water route to the Pacific Ocean existed. There was none, but there was much fur to be traded. From 1650 to 1850, the region's economy was built around fur trading with Indian tribes.

The French and British went to war over rights to the fur trade, and when peace was declared in 1763, the British prevailed. As European immigrants poured into the state in the 19th century, many settled on farms, and some worked in lumbering and mining. The state earned its Badger State nickname from itinerant miners who burrowed into hills for shelter rather than building homes.

Old-line manufacturing has accounted for much of the state's industry over the past century. Among the state’s 35 largest enterprises, many are in manufacturing.

In addition, dairy is a major driver of Wisconsin's economy, generating billions of dollars every year. Cheese-making, cranberries, snap beans and corn for silage are major agricultural products in the state.

The state also has a rich political history: At a meeting convened in Ripon, Wisconsin, to create a new political party committed to preventing the expansion of slavery, the Republican Party was established there in 1854.

Later in the 19th century, a progressive movement was born in Wisconsin, led by "Fighting Bob" La Follette. Progressive Republicans’ most significant legislation was enacted in 1911, instituting one of the nation's first programs of worker's compensation, regulating factory safety, encouraging worker cooperatives and starting a state income tax.

Nebraska is a major agricultural state, and its many cattle ranches provide for the state’s trademark corn-fed beef.

The Cornhusker State counts corn production as a leading crop, and its “Golden Triangle” of corn, livestock and ethanol production drives its industry.

A major urban center in the state is Omaha, home to Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men. Stock in his Berkshire Hathaway holding company, managing a wide array of companies, has made many Americans wealthy over 50 years.

Before its admission to the Union as the 37th state in 1867, the Nebraska Territory had been sparsely settled. As railroads pushed west, waves of homesteaders started arriving in 1860. Omaha had been the territorial capital, but the seat of government was moved to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

The state’s name is derived from Oto Indian words translated as “flat water,” referring to the Platte River that flows through the state. The Oto had immigrated to the Central Plains from the East just ahead of the first European settlers. The principal Siouan people in the territory during the first half of the 1700s were the Omaha and Ponca in the northeast and Oto in the lower Platte Valley.

As Europeans arrived, they forged trading alliances, exchanging beaver and other skins for merchandise. Eventually, the Oto were forced along with Missouria tribe members to accept a reservation in Gage County, in 1854. By 1881, settlers acquired that land too and moved the indigenous settlers to Oklahoma.

One of the original 13 colonies, Connecticut played a prominent role in the development of the U.S. The Hartford Courant, the nation's oldest continuously operating newspaper, was an influential voice for the rebel cause during the American Revolution and President Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party in the 1860s.

In 1636, Thomas Hooker, a minister who fled England to freely practice his Puritan beliefs, headed south from Boston with about 100 members of his congregation to found Hartford, Connecticut. In 1662, Governor John Winthrop Jr. obtained a royal charter from the king to combine the Connecticut, New Haven and Saybrook settlements.

Even before the American Revolution, Connecticut was strongly against British loyalism, and it became the fifth state in 1788 to grant its approval of the Constitution.

The Constitution State was one of the first to introduce railroads, and today Amtrak connects Boston and Washington, D.C., with part of the original main line of the New Haven, the most prominent railway service of the 1800s.

The emergence of digital media has had a huge impact on Connecticut's economy, with sports media giant ESPN located in the state, among others. Other top industries include advanced manufacturing, insurance and financial services.

There are about two dozen colleges and universities in Connecticut, including the prestigious Yale University, Fairfield University, the University of Connecticut, Wesleyan University and the United States Coast Guard Academy.

The European settlement of what would become New York was led by the Dutch, settling along the Hudson River in 1624. They established the colony of New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan. When the British took control of the area in 1664, they renamed it New York, and it became one of the original 13 colonies. New York achieved statehood in 1788, with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, and New York City served as the new nation’s first capital. George Washington was sworn in as president there, at Federal Hall on Wall Street, in 1789.

From the late 1800s to the mid-20th century, millions of immigrants arrived at New York Harbor, where Ellis Island became their gateway to U.S. citizenship. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was erected on what became Liberty Island in 1886. It's estimated that as many as four in 10 Americans can trace at least one ancestor to this migration, with 14 million arriving there through 1924.

With 47,000 square miles statewide, New York state offers vast regions of wilderness. Most notable are the Adirondack Mountains, home to hiking at the state's highest peaks and family-oriented ski resorts. The Adirondack Park encompasses 6 million acres, with 30,000 rivers and streams, as well as 3,000 lakes and ponds. Mount Marcy, at 5,343 feet, is the state’s tallest mountain. The 1980 Winter Olympics were staged at Lake Placid, where the ski jump areas and ice skating rink continue to draw tourists.

The industry for which New York City is best known – the financial world of Wall Street – dates to the era of the American Revolution. The New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange, was founded in 1792 when 24 stockbrokers signed an agreement beneath a Buttonwood tree on Wall Street at the south end of Manhattan, near the Battery.

Washington, the only state named after a U.S. president, gained its statehood in 1889.

The Evergreen State is an outdoor enthusiast’s dream with its geological diversity, including mountains, deserts, rainforests and a Pacific coastline. It offers the Olympic Mountains, the San Juan Islands and Mount Rainier, one of the nation’s highest peaks in the Lower 48.

In addition to its scenic treasures, Washington is known as the birthplace of Starbucks coffee, The Boeing Co. and Microsoft Corp. Because of its coastal location, Washington is a key exporter for the U.S., particularly for transportation equipment. Additionally, Washington is crucial to the nation’s food and agriculture industry, producing many of the country’s apples, and is also a leader in milk, potato and cattle production.

The aerospace industry and the military and defense sector are major economic drivers in the state. Seattle – marked by its iconic Space Needle, which rests high above the rest of the city and lights up the night sky – is by far the state’s most populous city. Despite its reputation for rainy weather, Seattle has an average of 152 days of measurable rain per year.