I realize this is one of those questions that should be too easy to have to ask, but does any one know the origins of New York State's nickname as "the Empire State." If there is a precise orignator and date, that would be great, but mostly I am curious as to what somebody meant by the term. The explanations I have come across are more in the lines of "New York lives up to its nickname of..." but I am wondering why anyone started calling it that. Thanks. Nancy Robertson LaGuardia and Wagner Archives [log in to unmask]