Kansas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

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

A 35-foot-tall sculpture of an American Indian carved from a burr oak log in 1978 by artist Peter Toth is displayed on the Doniphan County Courthouse lawn in Troy (pop. 1,024).

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Born in Garden City (pop. 25,043) Oct. 31, 1928, Roy Romer went on to serve three terms as governor of Colorado.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

About 20 miles southeast of Quinter (pop. 728) is Castle Rock, a 70-million-year-old tower of chalk that stands 70 feet tall.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

The Columbian Theater in Wamego (pop. 4,233), has six 16-by-11-foot murals that are one of the few remaining sets of decorative art from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

In 1541, a Spanish expedition led by Francisco Vasquez de Coronado found the Arkansas River near present-day Dodge City (pop. 22,869). Three centuries later, Cheyenne and Kiowa Indians still had metal armor traded by the explorers.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

Each August, residents of Cawker City (pop. 577) hold a Twine-A-Thon, adding to a giant ball of twine started by Frank Stoeber in 1953. The ball is more than 40 feet in diameter and weighs more than 17,000 pounds.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

Big Brutus, one of the world’s largest earth-moving machines, once was used to unearth coal near West Mineral (pop. 253). The machine, which weighs 11 million pounds, was retired in 1974 and now is a tourist attraction.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

Unaware that pranksters had put her name on an election ballot, Susanna Salter, 27-year-old leader of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, was the nation’s first female elected mayor. She received two-thirds of the votes cast on April 4, 1887, in Argonia (pop. 521).

first appeared: 4/15/2001

Kansans spent $59.9 million operating their 374 public libraries in 1997.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

The 8,616-acre Konza Prairie near Manhattan (pop. 42,117) is the largest tall grass prairie in the United States. Kansas State University maintains a herd of nearly 200 bison there.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

In 1949, several meteorites were discovered in a farm field near Greensburg (pop. 1,470). The largest, named “Space Wanderer,” weighed 1,000 pounds and is on display at the Big Well Museum. It is the largest meteorite made of stone and iron known to exist on Earth.

first appeared: 3/25/2001

With nine plants separating helium from natural gas, Kansas leads the nation in production of the colorless, odorless gas used by the nation’s space, defense, and energy programs, as well as to inflate countless balloons.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

Writer, poet, movie-maker, and photographer Gordon Parks wrote about his experiences as an African-American youth growing up in Fort Scott (pop. 8,114) in the 1920s in the books The Learning Tree and A Choice of Weapons. He also wrote and directed the movies Shaft and The Super Cops.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

An average wind speed of 14 mph makes Dodge City (pop. 22,869) one of the windiest places in the United States.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

The world record flathead catfish was caught at Elk City Reservoir near Independence (pop. 9,532) on May 14, 1998, by Ken Paulie. It weighed 123 pounds, 9 ounces.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

In the 1830s, almost everyone traveling west on the Santa Fe Trail stocked up on supplies at the Last Chance Store in Council Grove (pop. 2,288). The next settlement of any size was 575 miles away in what is now New Mexico.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

Dale Carnegie, who wrote the 1936 best seller How to Win Friends and Influence People, was born in Marysville (pop. 2,892) in 1888. His last name originally was Carnagey, but he changed it because so many people misspelled it.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

—Built in 1834, the post headquarters at Fort Leavenworth was the governor’s residence in 1854 and is now the state’s oldest continually occupied house.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

Buzz Off, considered the grand dame of greyhounds for producing 79 pups in 11 litters , was inducted into the Greyhound Hall of Fame in Abilene (pop. 6,660) in 1998.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Frannie’s in Yates Center (pop. 1,717) offers a modern day miracle in delicious food: a blue-plate special and a slice of pie for $2, plus tax, on the honor system. Customers put the money in the cash register on the way out.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

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