Kansas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

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

Built in 1856, Constitution Hall in Lecompton (pop. 608) is one of the oldest wood-frame buildings in the state and served as the first land office in Kansas Territory. It now is preserved as a state historic site.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

The first railroad track in the state was laid near Elwood (pop. 1,145) on March 20, 1860. The following April, the first locomotive was brought across the Missouri River on ferry from St. Joseph, Mo., and placed on the new track.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

On the popular Prairie Drifter Sunset Tour in Cottonwood Falls (pop. 966), riders can see the Flint Hills from the back of a 1958 wheat truck.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

The world’s longest grain elevator stretches more than one-half mile in Hutchinson.

first appeared: 11/24/2002

Walter Anderson, a short-order cook, and Edgar “Billy” Ingram, an insurance agent, founded White Castle, the nation’s oldest hamburger chain, in 1921 in Wichita.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

Since 1941, residents have gathered for the annual Grant County Home Products Dinner in Ulysses (pop. 5,960) where every menu item is county-grown: beef, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, wheat rolls, strawberry jam, pinto beans, and a local favorite—milo doughnuts.

first appeared: 11/10/2002

McPherson (pop. 13,770) enjoys one of the lowest electric rates in the nation at 4.7 cents a kilowatt-hour, as compared to a national average of 7.9 cents. Electric service is provided by a local utilities board.

first appeared: 11/3/2002

First published in White Cloud (pop. 239) in 1857, the Kansas Chief relocated in 1872 to Troy (pop. 1,054) and is the state’s oldest weekly newspaper.

first appeared: 10/27/2002

Trees representing all 50 states and 35 countries grow in the International Forest of Friendship in Atchison (pop. 10,232) as a tribute to aviation and native aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

first appeared: 10/20/2002

Six basketball players, including team captain Joe Fortenberry, with the Globe Oilers in McPherson (pop. 13,770) won the first U.S. Olympic basketball gold medal in 1936 in Berlin.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

The worst earthquake in state history struck April 24, 1867, near Manhattan and Wamego (pop. 4,246), toppling chimneys, cracking walls, and registering 5.5 on today’s Richter scale.

first appeared: 10/6/2002

In 1892, Zenda (pop. 123) was named by a Santa Fe Railroad conductor’s wife who had read The Prisoner of Zenda and liked the name.

first appeared: 9/29/2002

Seeing the flat, treeless land of her new home in 1872, Mary Jane Collingwood exclaimed, “My, what a pretty prairie!” and she chose Pretty Prairie (pop. 615) for the town name.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

The state’s first free public library opened in 1874 in Peabody (pop. 1,384). F.H. Peabody, vice president of the Santa Fe Railroad, gave the town a library building, furniture, 2,000 books—and his name.

first appeared: 9/15/2002

A life-size silhouette of a cattle drive, called Ghost Riders of the Chisholm Trail, stretches along U.S. Highway 81 near Caldwell (pop. 1,284), commemorating the cattle drives of the 1860s to 1880s.

first appeared: 9/8/2002

A hailstone weighing 1.67 pounds and measuring 17.5 inches in circumference fell in Coffeyville (pop. 11,021) on Sept. 3, 1970.

first appeared: 9/1/2002

In 2000, Kansas ranked first among the states in beef processing and second in red meat production.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

The restored 1885 Frisco Railroad wooden water tower in Beaumont, in Butler County, once provided water for steam locomotives.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

About 1,000 motorcyclists traditionally show up for breakfast at the Cassoday Cafe in Cassoday (pop. 130) the first Sunday of each month, March through November, before taking a ride through the nearby Flint Hills.

first appeared: 8/11/2002

Entrepreneur Fred Harvey, whose restaurants catered to railroad travelers, opened his first Harvey House with sleeping accommodations in 1876 in Florence (pop. 671).

first appeared: 8/4/2002

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