American Metropolises: 20 Fascinating City Facts

1Seattle tunnels

Seattle tunnels

Downtown Seattle actually sits on top of the original city from the 1800s. It was rebuilt on top of approximately 20-foot high walled tunnels following a great fire, in order to prevent floods from high tide and sewage. You can go underground to see the original city remnants.


2Minneapolis

Minneapolis

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


3Chicago heatwave

Chicago 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.


4Detroit salt mine

Detroit 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.


5Los Angeles water supply

Los 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.


6Lexington homeless

Lexington homeless

Lexington, Kentucky accepts canned food as payment for parking fines to feed the homeless.


7Denver

Denver

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.


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8Boston sidewalks

Boston 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.


9USS Enterprise

USS 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.


10Natural swimming pool

Natural 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.

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