Face it, our state's reputation stinks -- almost as bad as that smell emanating from the Meadowlands.

From the drunken antics of the Jersey Shore cast (GTL, anyone?) to the table-flipping drama of the Real Housewives, reality television has done a number on us.

Add to that the delicacy known as Taylor ham/pork roll that my southern relatives think is the same as Spam (the horror!) and the idea that Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi might not be pleasing to everyone's ears.

What does that leave us to feel proud of? A lot, actually.

Raise your chin up. Here are some pretty cool contributions to the world that were Jersey grown.

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1. First boardwalk

Who doesn't love strolling the boardwalk? We have a lot of them. Eighteen to be exact. But it's the one in Atlantic City that started it all.

The first boardwalk in America was built in Atlantic City in 1870. It was conceived as a way to prevent sand from being tracked into train cars and hotel lobbies. It's evolved into a place to grab a slice and take a ride on the ferris wheel. You're welcome, America.

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2. Monopoly

Speaking of Atlantic City, the streets in the board game Monopoly are actually streets in Atlantic City. Boardwalk, Connecticut and Ventor avenues and all the other streets in the game are real places. When the game was devised in the 1930s the rents corresponded with the affluence of the locations. Not all of them still do.

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File photo of a statue of a lightbulb in Edison.

3. The lightbulb

Thomas Edison toiled in a Menlo Park factory, where he invented the phonograph and lightbulb, among other things.

(If you want to know more about everything he invented here, head to the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange.)

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Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

4. Musicians

Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are the obvious ones. But not everyone realizes that Whitney Houston (Newark/East Orange), Frankie Valli (Newark) and Debbie Harry (raised in Hawthorne) are from Jersey.

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5. Anti-theft devices

The white plastic anti-theft devices found on clothing -- and on babies in hospital maternity wards -- were created in 1987 by Philip Anderson, a Ramapo College professor and a Madison resident.

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6. Buzz Aldrin

Apollo 11 astronaut and the second man to walk on the moon, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, grew up in Montclair.

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7. Submarine

John P. Holland, an Irish-born engineer and teacher at a Paterson parochial school, developed the first submarine to be commissioned by the US Navy. It was tested in the Passaic River near the Great Falls

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8. LCD

George H. Heilmeier, an employee of RCA Laboratories in Princeton, discovered electro-optic effects in liquid crystals, leading to the first LCD screens that brought the world digital watches, calculators, modern televisions and cell phone displays.

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9. Steam locomotive

John Stevens, for whom Stevens Institute of Technology was named, designed and built the first steam locomotive in 1825. It ran on a circular track at his Hoboken estate and gave way to the modern railroad industry.

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(Matt Rainy)

10. The traffic circle

Is it ironic then that the Garden State is credited with building the first roundabout in the U.S. in Pennsauken in 1925? "Airport Circle," named after the now defunct Camden Central Airport, connects routes 30, 130 and 38.

We can forever be grateful to the traffic circle for being one of the many things that makes driving in New Jersey such a unique experience.

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(Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

11. Baseball

The first recorded baseball game took place on June 19, 1846 at Elysian Fields in Hoboken -- which was located between what is now 9th and 12th Streets from Washington Street to the edge of the Hudson River.

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Greg Hatala | The Star-Ledger

12. Drive-in movie theater

The first drive-in movie theater in the world opened in June 1933 on Crescent Blvd. in Camden. The price of admission was 25 cents for the car and 25 cents per person -- but no car had to pay more than $1 total.

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Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

13. Bubble wrap

Bubble wrap was invented in a Hawthorne garage in 1957 when Swiss Engineer Marc Chvannes and Hackensack native Alfred Fielding fused together two plastic shower curtains, trapping air bubbles, in a bid to make textured wallpaper. The product finally took off in 1960 when the company pitched the material to IBM to use for packaging of its data processing system. The bubble wrap maker, Sealed Air, was headquartered in Elmwood Park until 2014 but still has a manufacturing plant in Saddle Brook.

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14. Baseball backstop

In another New Jersey first for baseball, Wellington Titus, of Hopewell, a mover by trade and a catcher for a local amateur baseball team, got tired of chasing down errant pitches and fouled-off balls during batting practice so he developed the first baseball backstop.

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Star-Ledger file photo

15. The vacuum cleaner

A plumber from Plainfield, David T. Kenney, is credited with the first vacuum cleaner installation in 1902 in a building in Pittsburgh. By 1906, his company claimed to have installed electronic cleaning systems in the White House, the Times and elsewhere.

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Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

16. M&M's

The colorful candy-coated chocolates were first made in Newark in 1941 and were available exclusively to U.S. military members fighting World War II. Their "melts in your mouth, not in your hand" durability made them resistant to heat. Nearly half of the M&Ms sold in the United States today are made in a factory in Hackettstown. The candy giant who makes them, Mars Wrigley Confectionary, plans to move its U.S. headquarters back to Newark by 2020.

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17. Bosco

Bosco, the chocolate milk additive that promised "extra energy" and "faster energy," was invented in 1928 by a Camden physician. It's still made by Bosco Products in Montville.

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18. Condensed soup

A chemist at Camden-based Campbell's Soup Company, invented condensed soup in 1897 to reduce shipping costs allowing the company to undercut its competition.

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19. Pork Roll

There are opposing stories of how it originated, but one thing is clear: pork roll or Taylor ham is definitely Jersey born.

One story is that John Taylor, of Hamilton Township, invented it in 1856. But a pamphlet from Taylor Provisions of Trenton pegs the minced ham as being introduced during the Revolutionary War. Either way, the breakfast sandwich staple is largely produced by three Mercer County companies.

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20. Valium

Diazepam, marketed as Valium, was invented by Leo Sternbach in 1963 while working for Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley. The "mother's little helper" was the most prescribed drug in America between 1969 and 1982.

It is still very common and used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety. Adverse effects of the drug can include dependence and abuse.

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21. Air conditioning

Willis Carrier designed the world's first modern air conditioning system that included humidity control. He was granted a patent in 1906. Carrier Engineering Corporation was based out of Newark.

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Allison Pries

22. Band-Aid

Earle Dickson, a Highland Park resident and cotton buyer at the Johnson & Johnson company, developed the Band-Aid in 1920 because his wife, Josephine Knight, frequently cut herself while cooking and doing other housework. They began being mass produced in 1924.

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(John Munson/The Star-Ledger)

23. President Grover Cleveland

Grover Cleveland, who was born in Caldwell, was the only president in history to serve two non-consecutive terms. He was the 22nd and 24th president of the U.S.

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World Telegram & Sun photo by Robert Higgins via Library of Congress

24. Antibiotics

Rutgers professor, Selman Abraham Waksman, headed a team whose research into the decomposition of organisms in soil led to the discovery of streptomycin and more than 15 other antibiotics. Streptomycin was first isolated in 1943 by Albert Schatz, of Passaic, a graduate research assistant in Waksman's lab.

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Shaq in a visit to Newark (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

25. Athletes

Just a few of our greats:

Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal (Newark)

Two-time FIFA Women's World Player of the Year Carli Lloyd (Delran Township)

NFL Hall of Fame center and linebacker Alex Wojciechowicz (South River)

Hall of Fame Pitcher Orel Hershiser (raised in Cherry Hill)

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Danny DeVito in a 2010 photo (Tim Farrell | The Star-Ledger)

26. Actors

There are lots of famous actors who were born in New Jersey. Among them:

Meryl Streep (Summit)

John Travolta (Englewood)

Tom Cruise (grew up in Glen Ridge)

Danny DeVito (Neptune City)

Michael Douglas (New Brunswick)

Christopher Reeve (Princeton)

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(John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

27. Other notable people

Other New Jerseyans who have become well-known:

Martha Stewart (Nutley)

Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner (Livingston)

TV Personality Kelly Ripa (Berlin)

Late TV chef Anthony Bourdain (grew up in Leonia)

Former FBI Director James Comey (grew up in Allendale)

And here are some famous people who weren't born here but found their way to New Jersey:

Thomas Edison (Newark/West Orange)

Albert Einstein (Princeton)

Richard Nixon (Saddle River)

Stevie Wonder (Alpine)

Phil Simms (Franklin Lakes)

Yogi Berra (Montclair).

(I could go on and on. If you want to know more, check out this list).

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Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.