NC Firsts

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NORTH CAROLINA FIRSTS

The first state art museum in the country is located in Raleigh.
The University of North Carolina was the first public university in the United States to open its doors.
Babe Ruth hit his first professional home run in Fayetteville on March 7, 1914.
The first English colony in America was located on Roanoke Island.
The first outdoor drama in America, The Lost Colony, is staged every year in Manteo, North Carolina.
The first x-ray photograph was made on January 12, 1896 , by Dr. Henry Louis Smith of Greensboro.
Cabarrus County, North Carolina was the site of America's first gold rush.
North Carolina established the first state-supported symphony orchestra in the nation in 1946.
The nation's first black textile mill was owned and operated by Warren C. Coleman of Concord, North Carolina.
Harriet Abigail Morrison Irwin of Mecklenburg County was the first American woman to receive a patent for architectural innovation.
In 1969, North Carolina chartered the first totally natural habitat zoo in the United States.
In 1942, Thomas Oxendine of Pembroke became the first Native American to graduate from the United States Naval Flight School.
In 1992, Eva Clayton became the first woman in North Carolina history elected to Congress.
The first Pepsi was created and served in New Bern, North Carolina in 1898.

Source: www.cumberland.lib.nc.us/PDF/NCFirsts.pdf
(pdf, 162kb)