Missouri Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

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

Landowner and cattleman John Hardeman Walker and his neighbors are credited with successfully lobbying Congress and territorial lawmakers to include the region known as the “bootheel” within the boundaries of the state in 1820.

first appeared: 12/22/2002

Admitted to the Union on Aug. 10, 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

first appeared: 12/15/2002

Cape Girardeau (pop. 35,349) was named after French soldier Jean B. Girardot, who was traveling through the region in the 1730s and found a rock promontory overlooking the Mississippi River. He decided it was a suitable place to station his trading post.

first appeared: 12/8/2002

Walter Williams, editor and educator, founded the world’s first School of Journalism in 1908 at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

first appeared: 12/1/2002

Known as the “Voice of the St. Louis Cardinals,” Hall of Fame announcer Jack Buck broadcast Cardinals baseball for KMOX radio from 1954 until his death June 18 at age 77.

first appeared: 11/24/2002

A full menu of water—mineral, spring, glacier, and even tap—can be ordered at the world’s longest water bar (100 feet) in the Hall of Waters Spa in Excelsior Springs (pop. 10,847), a town famous for its native mineral waters.

first appeared: 11/17/2002

In the 1840s, a clump of unusually large blackjack oak trees became a resting spot and local landmark and inspired the naming of Black Jack (pop. 6,792).

first appeared: 11/10/2002

Scuba divers take the plunge at Bonne Terre (pop. 4,039) where the world’s largest lead mine closed in 1961, flooded, and created an 80-square-mile subterranean lake.

first appeared: 11/3/2002

James Cash Penney, born Sept. 16, 1875, near Hamilton (pop. 1,813), clerked at a Hamilton dry goods store after high school graduation. In 1924, he opened his 500th J.C. Penney store in his hometown.

first appeared: 10/27/2002

California (pop. 4,005) is named after settler California Wilson, who offered locals two gallons of whiskey if they’d name the newly platted town after him in 1846.

first appeared: 10/20/2002

Victorian-era wreaths and jewelry woven from human hair adorn Leila’s Hair Museum in Independence, headquarters of the national Victorian Hairworks Society.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

Founded in 1817, Clarksville (pop. 490) is the state’s only town with a downtown business district facing the Mississippi River.

first appeared: 10/6/2002

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, was born May 8, 1884, in Lamar (pop. 4,425).

first appeared: 9/29/2002

The Cape Girardeau Capahas in Cape Girardeau (pop. 35,349) is the oldest amateur baseball team in America, playing since 1894.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

Established in 1891, the oldest excursion boat company on the Mississippi River is Gateway Arch Riverboats, with its home port in St. Louis.

first appeared: 9/15/2002

Mina Sauk Falls is the state’s tallest wet-weather waterfall, cascading 132 feet in Taum Sauk Mountain State Park near Ironton (pop. 1,471).

first appeared: 9/8/2002

College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, nicknamed “Hard Work U,” caters to students who can’t afford college. Students earn their education by working in the campus fruitcake factory, greenhouse, grist mill, and other jobs.

first appeared: 9/1/2002

The Show-Me State has about 23,400 bridges and large culverts, including 9,400 on state highways, 13,500 on county roads, and 500 on city streets.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

Poplar Bluff (pop. 16,651) derived its name from the abundant poplar trees growing on a bluff overlooking the Black River.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

In 1870, Charles Burden sued Leonidas Hornsby for shooting his beloved hound, Old Drum. In an eloquent speech, attorney George Graham Vest argued that “a man’s best friend is his dog.” The Missouri Supreme Court awarded Burden $50 for his loss and Old Drum was immortalized in the speech and a statue on the courthouse lawn in Warrensburg (pop. 16,340).

first appeared: 8/11/2002

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