Why is New York Known as “The Empire State?”

New York has been known as many things throughout the years. The Nation's Capital, "The Big Apple," "The Place You Move From to Go to Florida," and many other. Probably one of the most prominent names it has received over the years has been "The Empire State."

New York State is The Empire State

The term "Empire State" just brings to mind a feeling grandeur, doesn't it? There is the Empire State Building, the Empire State Trail, Empire State has been written on licenses and license plates throughout the years, and the term has even been adopted into famous songs! But where does the term actually come from?

How Did New York Get the Nickname of "The Empire State?"

See, the truth of how it was officially coined is hard to pin down. There have been many accounts throughout the centuries where the term had risen to popularity.

Sure, The Empire State Building was opened in 1931, and 1940's Guide to the Empire State helped cement the term into the cultural zeitgeist, but the term was used well before then.

Historian Alexander Flick claimed that the title was used as early as 1819, coinciding with New York surpassing Virginia in population and was "universally acknowledged and accepted" by 1825.

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Historian Milton M. Klein proposed that the name may have accompanied the success of the Black Ball Line in 1818 "because of the signal advantage the regularity of shipping gave to New York's merchants over those in other coastal cities." He claims that, by 1820, it was clear that "Empire State" was in wide use, though he is doubtful that a clear origin of the term will ever be determined.

One of the earliest accounts of the term actually comes from our nation's first president! George Washington in a 1785 letter to James Duane, New York City Mayor, called New York "the Seat of the Empire". Washington is said to have used the phrase "Pathway to Empire" when referring to the state in conversation with George Clinton, the New York Governor in the 1790s.