Mississippi Trivia & Tidbits - Page 8

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

In 1721, France sent a group of girls, nicknamed the “Cassette Girls” because they carried small cases or cassettes, to Biloxi (pop. 50,644) to marry and help populate the colony.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

The state’s only whitewater rapids can be navigated on the Okatoma River in Covington County (pop. 19,407).

first appeared: 6/20/2004

The state’s oldest television station, WJTV in Jackson, signed on the air Jan. 20, 1953, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s inauguration.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Hall of Fame baseball player James “Cool Papa” Bell combined speed and daring to earn his nickname and rank among the best in the Negro leagues from 1922 to 1950. He was born in 1903 in Starkville (pop. 21,869).

first appeared: 6/6/2004

Encompassing 136,000 acres, Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg (pop. 44,779) is the nation’s largest state-owned military training site.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

During the Civil War, a camel named Douglas served as mascot for the 43rd Mississippi Infantry. Douglas was killed during the siege of Vicksburg (pop. 26,407).

first appeared: 5/23/2004

In 1937, Jesse R. Nichols became the first African-American hired as a professional clerical staff member for the U.S. Senate. He was born in 1909 in Clarksdale (pop. 20,645).

first appeared: 5/16/2004

For his 10th birthday, Elvis Presley hankered for the .22-caliber rifle at Tupelo Hardware in Tupelo (pop. 34,211), but his mother talked him into the $7.75 guitar.

first appeared: 5/9/2004

Over the last several years, brothers Frank and Eddie Thomas of Iuka (pop. 3,059) recorded 65 songs along U.S. Highway 61 in railroad cars, seed warehouses, and other sites where the original jazz and blues artists were inspired. In 2003, they completed Angels on the Backroads, a four-CD boxed set.

first appeared: 5/2/2004

Mound Bayou (pop. 2,102) is one of America’s oldest towns founded by former slaves. Isaiah Montgomery and Benjamin Green established the all-black town in 1887.

first appeared: 4/25/2004

Pushmataha, once called the greatest of all Choctaw Indian chiefs, negotiated several treaties with the United States in the early 1800s and led his tribe in support of Americans during the War of 1812. In April 2001, a portrait of him was unveiled to hang in the Hall of Fame of the State of Mississippi in Jackson.

first appeared: 4/18/2004

The Dr. A. H. McCoy Federal Building in Jackson was the first federal building in the nation to be named for an African-American. McCoy was a prominent local dentist and business leader.

first appeared: 4/11/2004

Boxer Henry Armstrong of Columbus (pop. 25,944) held the World Champion Featherweight title in 1937, the World Lightweight title in 1938, and the World Welterweight title from 1938 to 1940.

first appeared: 4/4/2004

The Center for the Study of Southern Culture is housed in a restored antebellum building at the University of Mississippi in Oxford (pop. 11,756). It is open to the public.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

The 8,800-square mile Pascagoula River basin is considered one of the healthiest river ecosystems in the southeastern United States.

first appeared: 3/21/2004

One of the rarest cranes in North American, the Mississippi sandhill crane, lives in the grassy savannas of Jackson County. The crane stands about 4 feet tall and can have a 7-foot wingspan.

first appeared: 3/14/2004

The historic 1857 Curlee House in Corinth (pop. 11,820) provides a glimpse of the community’s beginnings. It was once a local showplace and is now a museum.

first appeared: 3/7/2004

The state’s tourism website, www.visitmississippi.org, uses the slogan, “Around here, weekends are never long enough.”

first appeared: 2/29/2004

The riverboat, Mississippi Queen, has a record 44 whistles in its musical calliope (ca-LIE-o-pee).

first appeared: 2/22/2004

The state’s largest alligator gar was caught in the Mississippi River near Natchez (pop. 18,464) in May 2003. It weighed 215 pounds.

first appeared: 2/15/2004

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