Kansas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

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

Artist Stan Herd has created a living portrait of aviator Amelia Earhart on a field near her hometown of Atchison (pop. 10,000). Fittingly, the one-acre work of art, made of grasses, plants, and natural materials, is best viewed from the air.

first appeared: 1/14/2001

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Museum in Hutchinson (pop. 39,561) houses aviation and space artifacts, restores space artifacts, and creates replicas for museums and motion pictures such as Apollo 13.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Liberal (pop. 17, 551) was named after the generous (or liberal) practice of S.S. Rogers, a local pioneer who allowed travelers to drink from his well and water their livestock free of charge in the 1880s.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Barton County is the only Kansas county named for a woman—Clara Barton, the famous Civil War nurse and founder of the American Red Cross.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Almon Strowger, an undertaker from El Dorado (pop. 12,809), received a patent for the dial telephone in 1891 after discovering that a telephone operator was forwarding business calls to a competitor.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

The 1858 Hollenberg Pony Express Station east of Hanover (pop. 592) is believed to be the last relay station on the mail route from St. Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif., preserved in its original state.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

Smith County in north-central Kansas is the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

WaKeeney (pop. 2,004) is called the Christmas City of the High Plains for its 40-foot Christmas tree adorned with handmade ornaments and more than 6,000 lights.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

The Hugoton Gas Field is the largest natural gas field in the nation. It lies under parts of southwestern Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas—almost 8,500 square miles.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

Bob Dole, long-time Kansas senator and the GOP's 1996 presidential nominee, was born in Russell (pop. 4,597) on July 22, 1923. He got involved in politics in 1951, inspired by soon-to-be President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a fellow Kansan and World War II commander in chief.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

The Oh Henry! candy bar was invented in 1919 by Tom Henry in Arkansas City (12,694). Originally called the Tom Henry, the candy bar’s name was changed when Henry sold the rights to his creation to the Curtis Candy Co. Today, Nestlé makes the Oh! Henry.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

In 1835, the first newspaper in Kansas—the Shawnee Sun—was printed entirely in the native Shawnee language at Shawnee Indian Mission in what is now Fairway (pop. 4,178).

first appeared: 10/22/2000

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, grew up in Abilene (pop. 6,520), where he excelled in high school sports. He was born in Denison, Texas, on Oct. 14, 1890, the third of seven sons.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

Emmett Kelly Jr.—the famous sad-faced circus clown—was born in Sedan (pop. 1,286) in 1898. The town honors Kelly at the Emmett Kelly Museum, which features a collection of memorabilia from his career.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

The Rock Island Bridge south of Ashland is the longest railroad bridge of its kind in the world. The structure, called “The Sampson of the Cimarron,” when it was built in 1939, is 1,200 feet long and 100 feet above the Cimarron River.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

The Sunflower State was named after the American Indian tribe that the Sioux called the Konza, meaning “people of the south wind.” Fifty-four different spellings exist for the word.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

The first woman mayor in the United States, Susan Madora Salter, was elected in Argonia (pop. 515 today) in 1887.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

In 1890, an entire English village called Runnymede was established in Harper, complete with estate-style houses, clipped hedges, a church, polo grounds, and shops for the sons of wealthy English families sent to study American farm methods. The project failed after five years, and wheat fields cover the site today.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

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