Kansas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

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

The public swimming pool at Finnup Park in Garden City (pop. 28,451) occupies half a city block and is billed as the world’s largest free concrete municipal swimming pool.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

Kansas won an award for the most beautiful license plate for its wheat plate design issued in 1981.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

A ball of twine in Cawker City (pop. 521) measures 40 feet around and weighs more than 8 tons. It was started by a farmer in 1953 and townspeople keep adding to it annually.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

A record hailstone, measuring 5.7 inches across, was found in Coffeyville (pop. 11,021) on Sept. 3, 1970. Nebraska broke that record last year, however.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

The state capital has been Topeka since Kansas became a state in 1861. Prior to that, the capital had many homes, including Leavenworth (pop. 35,420), Minneola (pop. 717) and Lawrence.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The state’s name has American Indian ties, originating from the Sioux word for “south wind people.”

first appeared: 1/4/2004

Playwright William Inge, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for Picnic, was born in 1913 in Independence (pop. 9,846).

first appeared: 12/28/2003

Students at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City operate the JayDoc Free Clinic for Wyandotte County residents who lack adequate health insurance. Students are supervised by volunteer physicians.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

In 1923, Jim Cummings of Morrowville (pop. 168) watched an oil pipeline being built and decided to find an easier way to backfill a ditch than using men with shovels. He patented the nation’s first bulldozer.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

The Mennonite Heritage Museum in Goessel (pop. 565) honors the Russian immigrants who settled the area in 1874 and brought seeds of Turkey Red wheat, which helped grow the state’s wheat industry.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

In 1871, settlers with scholarly hopes for their town named it Oxford (pop. 1,173) after Oxford, England, home of the University of Oxford.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

No fast food for Bill Bunyan of Dodge City (pop. 25,176), who spent three years eating a hamburger in each of the state’s 105 counties. He celebrated last August with a hamburger at Paddy’s Restaurant in Sterling (pop. 2,642).

first appeared: 11/23/2003

“Free” public library means exactly that at Greeley County Library in Tribune (pop. 835), where there are no fines for overdue books.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

On April 1, 1938, electricity was switched on for the Brown-Atchison Rural Electric Cooperative at Horton (pop. 1,967), the state’s first Rural Electric Administration-financed line.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

The first Angus bulls were brought to the United States from Scotland in 1873 by George Grant, a rancher in Victoria (pop. 1,208).

first appeared: 11/2/2003

The Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum, open since August in Benton (pop. 827), corrals the world’s largest collection of memorabilia associated with the movie cowboy.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

In 1914, W.C. Coleman in Wichita introduced the gasoline lantern that made him famous. The government distributed 70,000 Coleman lanterns during World War I.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

Established in 1866, Tonganoxie (pop. 2,728) is named after Chief Tonganoxie, the last lineal chief of the Delawares.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

In a 1913 exhibition game, the Chicago White Sox played the New York Giants in Blue Rapids (pop. 1,088).

first appeared: 10/5/2003

In 1998, residents of Wilmore (pop. 57) raised $175,000 and built a community center, which hosts a free Opry show once a month.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

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