Mississippi Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

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

In 1884, Phil Gilbert’s Shoe Parlor in Vicksburg (pop. 26,407) was the first to sell shoes in boxes, for a right and left foot. Prior to that, shoes fit both feet and were sold individually.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

Blues music began in the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, and is considered by many as the only music completely original to the United States. The University of Mississippi Blues Archive in Oxford (pop. 11,756) houses the world’s largest collection of blues music.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

The first football player pictured on a Wheaties box was Walter Payton of Columbia (pop. 6,603). It happened in 1986—the year before Payton retired from the Chicago Bears with an all-time NFL rushing record.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

The 26-mile portion of the Mississippi Gulf Coast from Biloxi (pop. 50,644) to Henderson Point is the longest man-made beach in the world.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

Mississippi John Hurt, legendary master of the Delta blues, was born in Carroll County (pop. 10,769) in 1892. He taught himself to play guitar “the way I thought a guitar should sound,” he once said.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The Great River Road, which follows the Mississippi River on both sides from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, is one of the nation’s oldest (legislated in 1938) and longest (more than 3,000 miles) scenic byways.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

Born in 1918 in Richland (pop. 6,027), Elmore James, known as the King of Slide Guitar, electrified the rural Delta blues and launched his recording career in 1951 with Dust My Broom.

first appeared: 12/28/2003

The nation’s most famous frog—Kermit—was born on Deer Creek in Leland (pop. 5,502), the childhood home of Muppet creator Jim Henson.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

Scenes for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, starring George Clooney, were filmed throughout the state in 1999 from the Delta region to Vicksburg (pop. 26,407).

first appeared: 12/14/2003

The 1924 Keesler Bridge, spanning the Yazoo River at Greenwood (pop. 18,425), reopened last July after a $1.5 million renovation.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

One of the state’s most decorated football players, Dulymus “Deuce” McAllister, was born in 1978 in Morton (pop. 3,482). The 2000 Heisman Trophy candidate played for the University of Mississippi.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

In 1848, John Boddie built a plantation mansion for his fiancée. When she jilted him, he stored his cotton crop in the Jackson mansion, which today is part of Tougaloo College.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

In 1874, Blanche Bruce of Floreyville became the first African-American elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

Founded in 1972 by Martin F. Jue, MFJ Enterprises in Starkville (pop. 21,869) is the world’s leading supplier of ham radio accessories.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

The “King of Motivators” Zig Ziglar has written 22 books about personal growth and leadership. He graduated in 1944 from Yazoo City (pop. 14,550) High School.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Author Eudora Welty, who won a 1973 Pulitzer Prize for The Optimist’s Daughter, was born in 1909 in Jackson.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

During the 1930s, folklorist John Lomax traveled the country making field recordings of 10,000 folk songs for the Library of Congress. Lomax was born in 1867 in Goodman (pop. 1,252).

first appeared: 10/19/2003

Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi at Oxford (pop. 11,756), is considered the nation’s leading expert on the magazine industry.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

The Crystal Springs (pop. 5,873) Memorial Tomato Museum opened last April to document the town’s late-1800s status as a leading tomato producer.

first appeared: 10/5/2003

The Chapel of Memories and Carillon Tower at Mississippi State University in Starkville (pop. 21,869) was built with brick from Old Main, the nation’s largest dormitory—four stories and 500 rooms—when it burned in 1959.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

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