11Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska was named after Abraham Lincoln as a ploy to keep Nebraska's capital as Omaha. Many people in Nebraska had been sympathetic to the Confederate cause and it was assumed that the legislature would not change the capital if the new capital were named after Abraham Lincoln.
12Natural swimming pool

Webber Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota has an all-natural swimming pool. It is a self-contained swimming vessel that uses plants and natural microbes from a nearby regeneration pond to clarify and purify the water instead of chemicals for sterilization or disinfection.
13USS Enterprise

Las Vegas almost built a full-scale replica of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek. The project had funding but was blocked by the CEO of Paramount.
14Boston sidewalks

Boston has hidden poems on its sidewalks that are only visible when wet. When it rains, pedestrians are treated to the work of Langston Hughes and others.
15Denver

The city of Denver was originally awarded the honor of hosting the 1976 Winter Olympics. The people of Colorado, however, voted against funding the games, and Innsbruck (Austria) ended up hosting them. This is the only time in history that a city has been awarded the games but rejected them later.
16Lexington homeless

Lexington, Kentucky accepts canned food as payment for parking fines to feed the homeless.
17Los Angeles water supply

A major reason Los Angeles grew to be so huge was because the city controlled the entire area's water supply. The only way surrounding towns could get water was to annex themselves to Los Angeles.
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18Detroit salt mine

The city of Detroit sits on top of a working salt mine. This mine has provided road salt for most of North America since 1910.
19Chicago heatwave

Chicago had a huge heatwave in 1995 that killed hundreds, and the bodies of 41 victims were never claimed. They were buried in a mass grave in Homewood, Illinois.
20Minneapolis

94% of the people who live in Minneapolis are within a 10-minute walk to a park.



