Delaware

Delaware is named after the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. These, in turn, were named for Sir Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, the first colonial governor of Virginia, who traveled the river in 1610.

As governor-for-life of the Virginia Colony, De La Warr died at sea on his way to investigate claims of abuse in the colony and it is believed that he was poisoned.

The first Swedish colonists arrived in America in the Colony of Delaware in 1638. They established a Lutheran settlement at Fort Christina, named after Sweden’s Queen Christina.

In 1682 William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

Delaware is sometimes called the First State because it was the first colony to accept the new constitution in 1787.

Fort Delaware, circa 1870 by Seth Eastman (1808 - 1875).

In 1929 JC Penney opened store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 US States.

Convicted murderer Billy Bailey was the last person to be hanged in the USA. He was executed by the state of Delaware on January 25, 1996.

In Delaware, it is illegal to sell dead people for money without a license.

Chickens outnumber people in the US state of Delaware by more than 200-1.

Delaware is the only state with no scheduled air service. There are zero scheduled passenger flights to anywhere in the state, with the last one landing in 2015.

Delaware is the only original U.S. colony to never lead any branch of government in the history of America - No President, No Supreme Court Justice, No Speaker of the House, and No Senate Majority or Minority Leader has ever served from the state.

Source Mentalfloss.com/article/31100/how-all-50-states-got-their-names