Did You Know?
by Debbie Knepke
- West Park Zoo began in 1892 with a small bird and mammal exhibit. By 1906, the
renamed Washington Park Zoo had 75 animals and was open until 1963. - About 76 percent of American workers drive alone to work, but only 0.6 percent ride a bicycle, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Leaving your car at home just two days a week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by an average of two tons per year.
- An Aldi supermarket is being planned on Miller Parkway. It will replace a vacant industrial building that formerly housed Deutsch & Sons Company.
- Lightning strikes across the continental United States an average of 20 million times each year with most of these strikes coming in the months of June, July and August.
- A family of four spends $1,500 a year on food they don’t eat.
- The average meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to plate.
- Clean and dry milk, juice and soup cartons can be recycled, but not frozen food boxes.
- The Times Theatre opened in 1935 with Roberta starring Fred Astaire.
- Nearly 95 percent of Washington Heights homes were built between 1910 and 1930.
- Mount Olive was the first English-speaking Lutheran church in the city. Until then German was the accepted language for preaching in the city’s Lutheran churches.
- Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4 – John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn’t added until five years later.
- Most boat owners name their boats. The most popular boat name requested is Obsession.
- If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter ‘A’?
- One thousand.
- The amount of energy required to make 14 plastic shopping bags could drive a car for a mile.
- The U.S. has more than 300 million people.
- Patti LaBelle, 72 years old, will perform at the Wisconsin State Fair with En Vogue.
Be sure to like our page at www.facebook.com/WHNA.Milwaukee I am looking for fun and interesting tidbits about our neighborhood for this quarterly column. If you have something to share, email it to me at debbiek83@aol.com.
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