1. The world’s largest Lego tower was built in Wilmington, standing 11 stories tall and made of more than 500,000 bricks. This 112 foot masterpiece beat out the previous 106 foot champion in Prague.
2. Delaware is home to the “Punkin Chunkin” world championship, a sport in which people use a variety of devices to hurl pumpkins as far as they can. With over 100 teams competing, the record is 5,545 feet, that’s more than a mile.
3. “Buff” is a state color of Delaware. It’s the same color as the desert and complements Delaware’s other color “blue” quite well.
4. Delaware was the first to fly the first Betty Ross U.S. flag in 1777.
5. Most major banks keep their headquarters in Delaware because it has a reputation of being as lenient as the Cayman Islands.
6. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver, was born in Wilmington.
7. Delaware was also the first state accepted into the Union.
8. A frying pan with a 10 foot diameter was used during the Delmarva Chicken Festival of 1950, able to hold 180 gallons of oil and capable of cooking 800 chicken quarters.
9. Say hello to tax-free shopping. If it says .99 cents on the tag, in Delaware that’s what you’ll pay.
10. There’s a disc golf course in every Delaware State Park.
11. The world’s longest continuous poker tournament was held in Delaware Park, lasting 36 hours and 34 minutes.
12. Delaware has only one sister state, Miyagi Prefecture in Japan.
13. The Ladybug is the official “state bug” of Delaware.
14. The blue hen chicken, Delaware’s state bird, isn’t actually recognized as a specific breed of chicken.
15. Dr. Oz started his road to success at Tower Hill School in Wilmington.
16. Before he was famous, Bob Marley was a plant worker for Chrysler in Newark, Dela.
17. The width of Delaware is very narrow, ranging from 9 to 35 miles wide.
18. Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco Is a Delawarean
19. Everyone’s favorite No. 2, Joe Biden is from Delaware.
20. It took 11 years after the first settlers arrived in America for them to build a town on Delaware soil.
21. Every pugilist’s favorite flick, “Fight Club,” is set in Wilmington, Dela. with Easter eggs like the Zip code on a business card and his apartment building’s motto, “A Place To Be Somebody,” giving away the setting.
22. The many horseshoe crabs that frequent the Delaware coastline can survive up to a year without eating.
23. It’s illegal to fly over a body of water in Delaware, unless there are adequate supplies of food and drinks for every passenger on the plane.
24. The nickname “the Diamond State” originated when Thomas Jefferson said Delaware was a “jewel” among the rest of the country.
25. The Delaware Breakwater was the first set of breakwaters built in the Western Hemisphere.
26. Delawarean Oliver Evans built the first automobile in America, though it would be hardly recognizable as an automobile by today’s standards.
27. In certain parts of Delaware, it’s illegal to serve alcohol in an establishment if there’s dancing going on at the same time.
28. It’s against the law to trick-or-treat in Rehoboth Beach on a Sunday.
29. The concrete observation towers on the coastline date back to World War II, as they were an effort to spot and stop German U-boats.
30. DuPont was originally founded in 1802 near Wilmington as a gunpowder mill.
31. It’s illegal to change your clothes in your car or in a public restroom in Rehoboth Beach.
32. Even though Delawarean Thomas Garrett lost his entire fortune fighting slavery, he helped roughly 2,000 slaves escape on Delaware’s Underground Railroad.
33. Delaware is home to the first log cabins in America, dating back to the 1600s. One is still on display in Dover at the Delaware Agricultural Museum.
34. Hold up Georgia, you’ve got some competition. Delaware is sometimes referred to as the peach state because its state flower is the peach blossom.
35. Delaware is home to the nation’s first scheduled railroad, starting in New Castle in 1831.
36. Fisher’s popcorn is shipped all around the world, including places like Vietnam and Indonesia.
37. Delaware has a small population, ranking 45th among the states, but an even smaller land size, coming in at 49th.
38. Delaware has the highest percentage of Ph. D.s in the country.
39. The very first John Greene tractor sits in Harrington’s Messick Agriculture Museum.
40. Delaware is the only state not to have a national park.
41. Rehoboth Beach is one the list for most gay and lesbian friendly shorelines.
42. Milton is home to a “steampunk” tree house, 40 feet tall and made out of recycled steel plates.
43. The free jazz festival in Wilmington, the Clifford Brown Jazz Festival, is the largest of its type on the East Coast.
44. The Methodist Church of America first organized in Barratt’s Chapel in 1784, located in Frederica.
45. Over 300,000 people attend the Delaware state fair annually.
46. The 87 foot tall lighthouse on Fenwick Island only cost $5 to build in 1880.
47. Delaware has fewer counties than any state, only three: New Castle, Kent, and Sussex.
48. In 1923, The University of Delaware sent students to study in France by boat, becoming the first American college to have a study abroad program.
49. Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton produces 175,000 barrels of beer every year. That’s almost 700 million bottles of beer, enough for everyone in Delaware to have two beers every day for a year.
50. Delaware is the only state that has never placed in the Miss USA contest.
51. Thomas Edison was a judge in the first Miss United States beauty pageant (which is different than Miss USA). It was held on Rehoboth Beach.
Asides from being the first state to join the Union, there are a ton of reasons that every Delawarean should be bragging about where they live.
What’s your favorite fun fact about Delaware? Tell us in the comments below!
