Missouri Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

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

The state’s oldest covered bridge was built in 1858 at Burfordville near Cape Girardeau (pop. 35,345).

first appeared: 10/5/2003

Artist Mary Engelbreit of St. Louis, dubbed a modern Norman Rockwell, began producing her own line of greeting cards in 1983. Retail sales for the “Queen of Cute” today top $100 million annually.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

The Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum in Branson (pop. 6,050) corrals mementos of the singing cowboy stars, including their beloved stuffed horses, Trigger and Buttermilk.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

Founded in 1839, the University of Missouri at Columbia was the first public university west of the Mississippi River.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

In 1945, Ralph Hammons began buying black walnuts in his Stockton (pop. 1,960) grocery store and today Hammons Products Co. is the world’s leading processor and supplier of black walnuts.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

Fifty thousand Vietnamese refugees reunite each August in Carthage (pop. 12,668) during the Marian Days festival at the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, an order of Catholic Vietnamese priests and brothers.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

The world’s largest mosaic collection is at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. Begun in 1907 and completed in 1988, the 41.5-million-piece mosaics cover 83,000 square feet and depict scriptural scenes and saints.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

The 1889 rotary jail in Gallatin (pop. 1,789) is the state’s lone revolving jail and is believed to be the only one in the nation with an attached sheriff’s quarters. The jail closed in 1975.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

In 1839, valuable bee trees along the Missouri-Iowa state line sparked the Honey War when a Missourian cut them. After Iowa fined him, both sides mustered a ragtag militia, but a truce was called before the dispute got any stickier.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

Between 1870 and 1900, the state led the nation in mule breeding. In 1889, 34,500 mules were foaled in Missouri out of 117,000 nationwide.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

In 1889, the nation’s first ready-mix food, Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix, was created by Chris Rutt and Charles Underwood and sold to R.T. Davis Milling Co. in St. Joseph.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

Since 1929, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard has served motorists along old Route 66 in St. Louis. Its specialty “concrete” shake is so thick that you can flip it upside down and it stays in the cup.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

World War I veterans conceived the idea for the American Legion in Paris, but adopted the organization’s name and constitution on May 9, 1919, in St. Louis.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

It took 103 years, but researchers have mapped all 44.6 million acres of the state’s soil. Begun in 1899 and completed in April 2002 in Jefferson City (pop. 39,636), more than 5,000 types of soil were identified.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Actor Chris Cooper, who was born in 1951 in Kansas City, won the 2003 Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Adaptation.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

Held annually since 1866, the Moniteau County Fair in California (pop. 4,005) is believed to be the oldest continuous fair west of the Mississippi.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

George Hale, Kansas City fire chief from 1882 to 1902, invented the firehouse sliding pole.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

The state’s biggest trees, including seven state champs, thrive at Big Oak Tree State Park near East Prairie (pop. 3,227).

first appeared: 6/8/2003

Hogs, cows, and soybeans can be bartered for college tuition at Lindenwood University in St. Charles (pop. 60,321).

first appeared: 6/1/2003

To promote the joy of reading, Ron Hornbaker of Kansas City launched BookCrossing.com in April 2001. Book lovers have left almost 265,000 free books in public places for other readers to find, then tracked the books’ journeys through the website.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

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