May, 1833; John Forsyth, June, 1834; Daniel Webster, March, 1841; Hugh S. Legaré, May, 1843; Abel F. Upshur, July, 1843; John Nelson, February, 1844; John C. Calhoun, March, 1844; James Buchanan, March, 1845; John M. Clayton, March, 1849; Daniel Webster, July, 1850; Edward Everett, November, 1852; William L. Marcy, March, 1853; Lewis Cass, March, 1857; Jeremiah S. Black, December, 1860; William H. Seward, March, 1861; Elihu B. Washburne, March, 1869; Hamilton Fish, March, 1869; William M. Evarts, March, 1877; James G. Blaine, March, 1881; Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, December, 1881; Thomas F. Bayard, March, 1885; James G. Blaine, March, 1889; John W. Foster, June, 1892; Walter Q. Gresham, March, 1893; Richard Olney, June, 1895; John Sherman, March, 1897; William R. Day, April 1898; John Hay, September, 1898. Consult: History of the Department of State (Washington, 1901); Schuyler, American Diplomacy (New York, 1886).
STATEN (stăt′en) ISLAND. An island of New York constituting Richmond County, and since 1898 the Borough of Richmond, New York City (q.v.). It is distant a little more than five miles from the southern extremity of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Long Island on the east by the Narrows, which connect the Upper New York Bay with the Lower Bay.
STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL. A model institution at Coldwater, Mich., for the education and support of dependent and ill-treated children of the State. It was established by an act of the State Legislature in 1871, but was not formally opened until 1874. It is the object of this institution to receive, care for, educate, and place whenever possible in family homes all the dependent children of the State of sound mind and body between the ages of two and twelve. The board of control, however, has the discretionary power vested in it of admitting children under two, where circumstances warrant such an exception. Since its foundation it has received over 5000 children, and in 1902 there were in the school 155 inmates. The school is located on a farm of 160 acres, covered partly by orchards, ornamental trees, and gardens. The buildings consist of an administration building, schoolhouse proper, and nine cottages among which the inmates are distributed. This system of cottages, under the superintendence of matrons who are specially qualified for that work, has the tendency to foster a love for home life. The State of Michigan was first in establishing this type of school. Similar institutions have since been established in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Montana, Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, Nebraska, Alabama, Rhode Island, and Nevada.
STATES, Popular Names of.
Badger State. Wisconsin, from the animal.
Bay, or Old Bay, State. Massachusetts. The name Massachusetts Bay, though later used in a more extended sense, was originally restricted to Boston Harbor, and as early as 1622 persons from Plymouth spoke of ‘the Bay.’ Under the first charter, the government was called the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay; and under the second charter, the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. Hence the nicknames Bay Colony, Bay Province, and Bay, or Old Bay, State.
Bayou State. Mississippi, from the number of its bayous, a word derived from the Indian bayouc(k), meaning a rivulet.
Bear State. Arkansas, from the animal.
Blackwater State. Nebraska, from the dark color of its rivers, owing to the black vegetable mold which covers large areas.
Blizzard State. South Dakota. The word ‘blizzard,’ of obscure origin, was used as early as 1829 in the sense of a blow or a discharge from a gun. In its present sense the word was recorded in 1876, and is said to have been current in Dakota for a decade previous.
Blue Grass State. Kentucky, from its celebrated blue grass.
Blue Hen State. Delaware. The term is said to have originated in the Revolutionary War, when an officer in a Delaware regiment raised famous gamecocks from a breed of blue hens; hence the members of his regiment were called ‘Blue Hen's Chickens,’ and so the name came to be applied to the State; but the story lacks proof.
Blue Law State. Connecticut. See Blue Laws.
Bread and Butter State. Minnesota, from its wheat and dairy products.
Buckeye State. Ohio, because of the horse-chestnut, which grows there in great profusion and which for more than a century has been popularly called buckeye.
Bullion State. Missouri, from the sobriquet ‘Old Bullion,’ applied to Senator Thomas Hart Benton of that State on account of his advocacy of gold and silver currency.
Centennial State. Colorado, because it was admitted into the Union in the Centennial year, 1876.
Central State. Kansas, from its location with reference to the other States of the Union.
Corn Cracker State. Kentucky, perhaps because the poor whites subsist chiefly on corn.
Cotton State. Alabama, because it is the central State of the cotton belt.
Cracker State. Georgia, from the poor whites, who for more than a century have been called Crackers.
Creole State. Louisiana, from its many inhabitants descended from the French and Spanish settlers.
Dark and Bloody Ground. Kentucky, because in its early days it was the scene of frequent Indian wars. The name has been known for more than a century.
Diamond State. Delaware, from its diminutive size.
Dominion, Ancient or Old. Virginia. In early documents we read of ‘the Colony’ or ‘the Plantation’ or ‘the Colony and Plantation’ of Virginia; while later, about 1674, there are allusions to ‘the Colony and Dominion’ of Virginia, about 1682 to ‘the Dominion’ of Virginia, and about 1697 to ‘the Ancient Colony and Dominion’ of Virginia. Hence, in time, came the nicknames Ancient Dominion and Old Dominion merely. According to some, the name is due to Virginia's lovalty to the Stuarts during the Civil War.
Egypt. Southern Illinois, either from its alleged intellectual darkness or from the fertility of its soil.
El Dorado. California. El Dorado (q.v.) was the name of a fictitious region or city, abounding in gold, supposed to exist in South America. Hence it was sometimes, after the discovery of gold in California in 1849, applied to that State.
