Fun facts about the United States of America:

Little known American history facts:

1. Portland, Oregon was named as a result of a coin toss...really! Portland was initially referred to as The Clearing. The site was founded by two different pioneers from New England—Asa Lovejoy from Boston, Massachusetts and Francis Pettygrove from Portland, Maine. The two pioneers split ownership of the 640-acre area. In order to decide who would gain naming rights, Lovejoy and Pettygrove flipped a coin. If Pettygrove hadn't won the best out of three match-up, the city might've been named Boston, Oregon.

2. Washington not only our first president but fastest? The shortest inaugural address in U.S. history -- 135 words -- was given in 1793 by George Washington. The story says that his dentures hurt, and he wanted to get it over with.

3. We call our American flags that we manufacture The Real McCoy because the company president is Kerry McCoy. But where did the original "Real McCoy" come from? Elijah McCoy, an African-American man, invented a device to keep train wheels oiled while the train was running. Others tried similar devices, but his was the best – and that’s the origination of the phrase The Real McCoy.

4. Did you know that President Thomas Jefferson was able to read and write six languages? Jefferson claimed that he could both read and write Ancient Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish and of course English. After his death a number of books, dictionaries and grammar manuals in various languages were found in Jefferson's library, suggesting that he studied additional languages beyond those he spoke and wrote well. Among those books were writings in Arabic, Gaelic and Welsh.

5. During the American Revolution, slaves in Virginia were offered freedom if they fought for England by the colonial governor. John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a Scottish peer and colonial governor in the American colonies. He was named governor of Virginia and 1771. As governor, Dunmore promised Virginia slaves freedom if they fought for the British. His promise was kept after the war and about 14,000 slaves were freed.

6. The Pueblo Incident: In January 1968, in what came to be known as the Pueblo incident or the Pueblo crisis, the North Koreans boarded and captured the USS Pueblo. They claimed that it had strayed into their waters, but the US maintains that they were still in international waters. North Korea still has possession of the USS Pueblo, but is officially listed as a commissioned vessel of the US Navy. It's anchored in the Taedong River and is used as a museum.

7. During the space race between the Soviets and the United States, the Soviets tested the safety of their ships by using man's best friends. They would send dogs into space to make sure that it was safe for humans. They launched around 50 dogs into space. Most of the dogs survived although some did not due to equipment failure. One dog, Strelka, spent one day in space before returning to Earth. She went on to have six puppies. One of those puppies, Pushinka ("Fluffy") was given to John F. Kennedy's daughter, Caroline. Pushinka then had puppies with the Kennedy's dog, Charlie. JFK called these four puppies "pupniks" after the famed Russian satellite Sputnik.

8. How did a small town in Tennessee end up using more electricity than New York City during World War II? At the height of World War II, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was home to 75,000 residents, consuming more electricity than New York City. But to most of the world, the town did not exist. Thousands of civilians, many of them young women from small towns across the South, were recruited to this secret city, enticed by solid wages and the promise of war-ending work. Kept very much in the dark, few would ever guess the true nature of the tasks they performed each day in the hulking factories in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains. That is, until the end of the war, when Oak Ridge's secret was revealed. This city held several secret projects which were supposed to help with the ending of the war, including! Or as many know the name of these days...it hosted a production site for the Manhattan Project. Two years after World War II ended, Oak Ridge was shifted to civilian control, under the authority of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The Roane Anderson Company administered most community functions under a government contract. In 1959 the town was incorporated, and a city manager and City Council form of government was adopted by the community rather than direct federal control. Three of the four major facilities created for the wartime bomb production are still standing today. Currently, the Department of Energy runs a nuclear and high-tech research establishment at the site and performs national security work. Tours of parts of the original facility are available to American citizens from June through September. The tour is so popular that there is a waiting list for seats.

Learn more about our great states at 50 States.com