Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, is a holiday celebrated in the United States every year on July 4th. It marks the day in 1776 when the country declared independence from Great Britain. In 1941, Congress established the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, as a national holiday. Today, it is a time when families and friends gather and we celebrate our nation’s history and the freedoms we enjoy because of those who have gone before us.
Here are some fun facts that many people do not know about the Fourth of July:
• Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag in May or June of 1776, after 3 members (George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross) of a secret committee from the Continental Congress met with her in her home.
• In 1776, there were 2.5 million people living in the new nation. Today there are over 340 million.
• Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe all died on the July 4. Adams and Jefferson died on the same day within hours of each other in 1826.
• Approximately 150 million hotdogs are consumed on the Fourth of July.
• Around $675 million dollars will be spent by consumers for fireworks on the Fourth of July.
The library will be closed on Wednesday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day. We will reopen on Monday, July 7th.
NEW BOOKS: “The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau” by Kristin Harmel, “I Will Blossom Anyway” by Disha Bose, “Fortunate Harbor” by Davis Bunn, “Some Die Young” by William W. Johnstone, “Fever Beach” by Carl Hiaasen, “The Maid’s Secret” by Nita Prose, and “The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner.
BOOK BLURB: “The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau” by Kristin Harmel, released June 2025.
Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, Annabel: take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.
But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine – but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.
The library is located at 301 E. 10th St., across from Mutz Ballpark. Library staff may be reached at ferrislibrary@ferristexas.gov or (972) 544-2110, Option 9.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.