Kansas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 13

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

Prairie Tumbleweed Farm in Garden City (pop. 28,451) harvests and sells tumbleweeds for decorations and movie props.

first appeared: 7/28/2002

Dr. Brewster Higley, a Smith County farmer, penned the words to Home on the Range, the state song, in 1874.

first appeared: 7/21/2002

In an ambitious promotional stunt, Hollywood stars traveled to Dodge City (pop. 25,176) for the world premiere of Dodge City on April 1, 1939. A crowd of 50,000 greeted the Warner Brothers Special train carrying stars Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, and Ann Sheridan.

first appeared: 7/14/2002

Smokey Bear’s main artist, Rudy Wendelin, was born Feb. 27, 1910, in Herndon (pop. 149).

first appeared: 7/7/2002

McPherson (pop. 13,770) is named after Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson, a Union commander sometimes called the “Forgotten Hero of the Civil War.”

first appeared: 6/30/2002

In 1901, Haddam (pop. 169) elected a female mayor and all-female council, although women weren’t allowed to vote until 1920.

first appeared: 6/23/2002

From 1938 to 1974, Valentine Manufacturing in Wichita sold 2,200 prefab portable diners, complete with stools and fixtures, which could be delivered and open for business in days.

first appeared: 6/16/2002

New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, whose 1850s editorials advised young men to “go West,” inspired the naming of Greeley County and its towns of Horace (pop. 143) and Tribune (pop. 835).

first appeared: 6/9/2002

The 10,894-acre Tallgrass Prairie National Reserve in Chase County is the only national park dedicated to preserving a rare remnant of tallgrass prairie.

first appeared: 6/2/2002

In the early 1900s, Wilbur Chapman, 10, of White Cloud (pop. 239), inspired the creation of the American piggy bank after selling his pig, Pete, to raise money for a boy with leprosy. When the generous gift captured the world’s attention, the American Leprosy Mission began making cast-iron pigs named Pete with slots in their back to be fed—not corn—but coins.

first appeared: 5/26/2002

When pioneers settled Goodland (pop. 4,948) in the late 1880s on free land provided by the Homestead Act, they used the fertile prairie soil to grow crops and build “sod” houses.

first appeared: 5/19/2002

In 1905, Frank Rose of Weir (pop. 780), a Boy Scoutmaster, nailed squares of screen wire to wooden yardsticks and called them “fly bats.” His troop presented two to each household, a deed applauded by Dr. Samuel Crumbine, head of the Kansas State Board of Health, who re-named them “flyswatters.”

first appeared: 5/12/2002

Poet and novelist Edgar Lee Masters was born in Garnett (pop. 3,368) on Aug. 23, 1869. His most famous work was Spoon River Anthology, published in 1915.

first appeared: 5/5/2002

From 1863 to 1869, hungry travelers on the Santa Fe Trail stopped at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm in Olathe, now a National Park Service site.

first appeared: 4/28/2002

Hill School in Marion (pop. 2,110) is the oldest school still used for educational purposes in Kansas. Built in 1873, the stone building is now part of Marion High School.

first appeared: 4/21/2002

James Edmiston of Shawnee caught the state record blue catfish July 14, 2000, in the Kansas River. The fish weighed 94 pounds and was 57 inches long.

first appeared: 4/14/2002

The Brookville Hotel, which opened in Brookville (pop. 259) in 1870 and grew nationally famous for its chicken dinners, now operates in Abilene (pop. 6,543) in a replica of the original hotel.

first appeared: 4/7/2002

Because Armistice Day honored only World War I veterans, Alvin King began All Veterans Day in Emporia (pop. 26,760) in 1953 to honor veterans of other wars as well. In 1954, the event officially became Veterans Day across the United States.

first appeared: 3/31/2002

A 24-by-32-foot reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, Sunflowers, was erected last year on a 80-foot-high easel in Goodland (pop. 4,948), which calls itself the Sunflower Capital of Kansas.

first appeared: 3/24/2002

Jotham Meeker published the first newspaper in Kansas—the Siwinowe Kesibwe (meaning Shawnee Sun)—on Feb. 24, 1835, in Shawnee. Published for Shawnee Indians, it was the first newspaper printed wholly in an American Indian language in North America.

first appeared: 3/17/2002

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