Arkansas Trivia & Tidbits

Looking for Arkansas trivia? Try our list Arkansas little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

"Old Mike" is the name given to a traveling salesman who died in 1911 in Prescott (pop. 3,686). He was embalmed, taken to Cornish Funeral Home and displayed for more than 60 years in hopes that someone could identify him. In 1975, the state ordered his burial.

first appeared: 10/18/2009

Author and editor Helen Gurley Brown, born in 1922 in Green Forest (pop. 2,717), wrote the bestselling Sex and the Single Girl in 1962 and served as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1965 to 1997.

first appeared: 10/4/2009

One of the most famous resettlement communities for poor farmers during the Great Depression was Dyess (pop. 515) Colony, incorporated in 1936. Among the first settlers were Ray and Carrie Cash, parents of singer Johnny Cash. Johnny graduated in 1950 from Dyess High School.

first appeared: 9/20/2009

Saddle maker John Gray, owner of Gray's Custom Saddlery and Western Store in Horseshoe Bend (pop. 2,278), helps put disabled riders back in the saddle. Gray builds customized saddles to accommodate each rider's impairment.

first appeared: 9/6/2009

Incorporated in 1899 on the banks of the Petit Jean River, Danville (pop. 2,392) is named after a steamship that once plied the river.

first appeared: 8/23/2009

Built in 1888 from red brick made on site, the Powhatan (pop. 50) Courthouse is restored as a museum and the centerpiece of Powhatan Historic State Park.

first appeared: 8/9/2009

The state's tallest building, completed in 1986, is the 40-floor Metropolitan Tower in Little Rock.

first appeared: 7/26/2009

—When a down-and-out traveler couldn't pay his lodging bill at Alex and Gladys McClards' tourist court in Hot Springs (pop. 35,750) in the 1920s, he gave the couple a recipe for "the world's greatest barbecue sauce." Since 1928, the McClards and succeeding generations have used the recipe at McClard's Bar-B-Q Restaurant and built a loyal following, which includes former President Bill Clinton.

first appeared: 7/12/2009

—A stretch of U.S. Highway 67 in northeastern Arkansas is named "Rock 'n' Roll Highway 67" to honor the region's musical history. Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino are among the legendary musicians who played at clubs along the highway in Jackson (pop. 18,418), Lawrence (pop. 17,774) and Randolph (pop. 18,195) counties.

first appeared: 6/28/2009

—In 2006, the state became the first to ban smoking in a car carrying children. The law prohibits smoking in vehicles carrying a child under age 6 or a child who is required to use a safety seat.

first appeared: 6/14/2009

—The "Mother of Father's Day" is Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, born in 1882 in Jenny Lind in Sebastian County. In 1910, Dodd asked the ministerial association in Spokane, Wash., where she lived, to hold a celebration, similar to Mother's Day, to honor fathers. Her widowed father, William Jackson Smart, raised six children.

first appeared: 5/31/2009

—College anglers Bodie Drake and Kazuki Kitajima, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (pop. 58,047), hooked the 2008 National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. Their five-bass limit weighed 17.37 pounds.

first appeared: 5/17/2009

—In 2002, the state became the first in the U.S. to pass a law mandating that each public school student's body mass index be measured and reported to parents. The law is aimed at fighting childhood obesity.

first appeared: 5/3/2009

–At the time of his capture near Hope (pop. 10,616) in 1952, 13–foot–long "Big Arkie" was the biggest alligator in captivity in the western hemisphere. He lived at the Little Rock Zoo until his death in 1970.

first appeared: 4/19/2009

—A popular rock-climbing area is Sam's Throne in the Ozark National Forest near Mt. Judea in Newton County (pop. 8,608). The spot is named for buffalo hunter Sam Davis, who preached fiery sermons atop the sandstone rocks in the 1820s.

first appeared: 4/5/2009

—The oldest law firm west of the Mississippi River is Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, formed in 1820, before Arkansas statehood, by Robert Crittenden and Chester Ashley. The firm gets its name from Uriah M. Rose, who joined in 1865.

first appeared: 3/22/2009

—In 1926, Sulphur Rock (pop. 421) was the last U.S. city with an operating horsecar, a streetcar drawn by horses or mules. The horsecar was depicted on a 1983 U.S. postage stamp.

first appeared: 3/8/2009

—The Joe Hogan State Fish Hatchery near Lonoke (pop. 4,287) produces fish for stocking the state’s lakes and streams, and is one of the nation’s largest state-owned warm-water hatcheries.

first appeared: 2/22/2009

—Lurch, an African Watusi steer, lives at Rocky Ridge Refuge in Gassville (pop. 1,706) and sports the largest circumference horns—38 inches—of any animal in the world. His horns measure more than 7 feet from tip to tip.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

—John Rogers of North Little Rock (pop. 60,433) paid $1.62 million for a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card in near mint condition at a memorabilia auction in Chicago in August.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

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