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Updated August 25, 2022 10.9K votes 2.5K voters 189.3K views
Over 2.5K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 15 Surprising Historical Lasts By US State
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Vote up the historical lasts that would make for truly unique license plate mottos.
It's not always easy to determine the first time or last time something happens. First and lasts are often clear when it comes to historical rulers and momentous events, but there are beginnings and endings taking place around us every day.
In the US, individual states often take pride in being the "first" at something. North Carolina's license plate says "First in Flight" (sorry, Ohio), but no state advertises its lasts.
From political and legal actions to retail chains finally opening a branch in every state, there's a "last time" - whether the state is proud of it or not.
License plate material? Maybe. Take a look and decide for yourself.
With a reputation for gambling and untold acts of hedonism, Nevada has only 10 counties within its borders where prostitution is still legal; however, even there, selling sex is heavily regulated.
Brothels have a long tradition in the state, but selling sex is relegated to very specific locations and scenarios. Brothels must be licensed, can only be in areas with fewer than 700,000 people, and can't advertise "in any public theater, on the public streets of any city or town, or on any public highway."
As recently as 2019, efforts to ban prostitution by the Nevada state legislature failed.
As of 2019, the Blockbuster video store in Bend, OR, became the last one of its kind. The Blockbuster Corporation had filed for bankruptcy nearly a decade earlier, after the massive decline of video rentals and sales brought on by the rise of streaming services. Slowly, over time, only one Blockbuster was left standing.
Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time, but within its boundaries, the Navajo Nation does. As a sovereign entity within Arizona, the Navajo Nation can make that decision for itself.
Parts of Indiana don't observe DST, but the only state in the US without any DST at all is Hawaii. The last time the Aloha State observed the time standard was in 1945, before it became a state. When the Uniform Time Act passed in 1966, it set up DST throughout the US. Hawaii was given its own time zone (with the Aleutian Islands), but opted out of DST.
The 13th Amendment was proposed in 1864 and passed by Congress in January 1865. As the amendment that abolished slavery, it took months for the requisite number of states to adopt it and allow for nationwide ratification.
When Georgia agreed to ratify the amendment in December 1865, the act finally had the support it needed to become law. Mississippi was among the numerous states that rejected the 13th amendment, and didn't pass it until 1995. Even then, the US archivist wasn't notified that Mississippi had done so - and wasn't until 2013.
The only reason Mississippi even became aware of the error was the release of Lincoln in 2013. After professor Ranjan Batra saw the movie, research into what became of the amendment revealed Mississippi's ratification wasn't on the books. Dick Molpus, who served as Secretary of State for Mississippi in 1995, couldn't add clarity about the oversight, but commented, "What an amendment to have an error in filing."
When the hand-cranked telephone at Elden Hathaway's home in Bryant Pond, ME, was disconnected in 1983, manual telephone service in the US officially came to an end.
Hathaway had run the local telephone company out of his home for years - complete with a switchboard in his living room - but retired in 1981. After that, the company moved to dial phones.
On the day his phone went offline, Hathaway said he "almost cried for a little bit." Fellow residents of Bryant Pond like Annie Crockett lamented the end of the era, noting, "That was the only drawing card in Bryant Pond - to have the old crank."
Kevin Mills, another local, was happy to make the change, stating, "as long as they take it out, I don't care. I ain't got no use for it."
The Homestead Act of 1862 came into effect to incentivize settlement in the American West. Citizens received public land in exchange for agreeing to live on it - and improve it.
Millions of acres of land were given to citizens and future citizens of the US, and until 1976, the Homestead Act remained in effect in all but one state. In Alaska, homesteading was legal until 1986, although the last homesteader in Alaska didn't get his deed until 1988.
Ken Deardorff met the requirements for homesteading in 1979 and received 80 acres near Alaska's Stony River. It's not clear why it took another nine years for him to get the paperwork for his land.
