WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13: PARKING

Profile America — Thursday, December 13th.  It's the height of the shopping season, and people jamming the malls with their gift lists in hand are rediscovering one of the lesser aspects of the season — finding a place to park.  When the mall lots and garages end up being full, many shoppers will turn to nearby commercial lots and garages.  The first city parking garage in the U.S. opened on December 5, 1941, in Welch, West Virginia.  It could handle 232 cars and showed a profit in its first year of operation.  Today, there are more than 18,000 parking facilities across the country, generating $8.5 billion in revenue annually.  You can find current data on the country's economy by downloading the new "America's Economy" mobile application at www.census.gov/mobile.

Sources:  Kane's Famous First Facts, 5483
2007 Economic Census, NAICS 812930

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau