Missouri Trivia & Tidbits - Page 3

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

—Dan Storper, who majored in Latin American studies at Washington University in St. Louis, founded Putumayo World Music in 1993. The independent label chronicles “feel good” music from around the world and distributes its CDs in more than 100 countries.

first appeared: 2/10/2008

—The Missouri River 340 is the world’s longest nonstop canoe and kayak river race. Paddlers are allowed 100 hours to complete the 340-mile course from Kansas City to St. Charles (pop. 60,321).

first appeared: 1/27/2008

—In the 1940s, when Mel Bay developed a guitar instruction method but couldn’t interest a New York music publisher, he founded Mel Bay Publications in Pacific (pop. 5,482). Millions of his Modern Guitar Method books, along with other music books, have been sold. His son, William Bay, runs the music company today.

first appeared: 1/13/2008

—Corkball originated in the streets and alleys of St. Louis in the 1900s and the city still has corkball leagues. A corkball measures 6.5 inches in circumference and weighs 1.6 ounces, compared with a standard baseball that has a 9-inch circumference and weighs 5 ounces.

first appeared: 12/30/2007

—The state’s official mineral is galena, adopted in 1967. Galena is the major source of lead ore and Missouri is the nation’s top producer of lead. Galena is dark gray in color and breaks into small cubes.

first appeared: 12/2/2007

—In 1925, the famous Radio City Rockettes first kicked to life as the Missouri Rockets in St. Louis. The dancers performed at the 1932 opening of Radio City Music Hall in New York City and were an instant sensation.

first appeared: 11/18/2007

—The state has an official dinosaur, Hypsibema missouriense, which was a duck-billed herbivore with more than 1,000 teeth. Hypsibema was discovered in 1942 in Bollinger County (pop. 12,029).

first appeared: 11/4/2007

—The Lambert Drury family, who supplemented their farm income with work as plasterers, opened the first Drury Inn in 1973 in Sikeston (pop. 16,992) with a room rate of $10.88 a night. Today, the Drury family owns and operates more than 100 Drury Inns in 17 states.

first appeared: 10/21/2007

—The official state invertebrate is the crayfish, also called crawfish or crawdad. Fifth-grade students in Reeds Spring (pop. 465) championed the crayfish and attended the Capitol ceremony this year as sixth-graders to see the legislative result of their work.

first appeared: 10/7/2007

—In the 1970s, Bob Chandler added bigger axles to his Ford F-250 and created the first monster truck, Bigfoot, in his St. Louis garage to showcase his four-wheel drive products. Bigfoot began making appearances at car crushes, in which Chandler drove the giant truck over junk cars. The 1980s spawned monster truck competitions.

first appeared: 9/30/2007

—Galena is the official state mineral, adopted in 1967, and the major source of lead ore. Galena is dark gray in color and breaks into small cubes.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—Encompassing more than 3,500 acres, Prairie State Park in Barton County (pop. 12,541) is the state’s largest tract of remaining tallgrass prairie and is home to bison and prairie chickens. The park is especially popular with hikers and birders.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—In 1910, President-to-be Harry S. Truman returned a cake plate for his aunt to the Wallace family in Independence and kicked off a nine-year courtship with Bess Wallace. After marrying in 1919, the couple lived at the Wallace family home, which became the “summer White House” during his administration from 1945 to 1953.

first appeared: 8/19/2007

—Thousands of toys from the 1800s to the present day, including tin windups, trains, planes, bicycles and lunch boxes, are displayed at the World’s Largest Toy Museum, in Branson (pop. 6,050).

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—The Sally Rand Museum in St. Joseph is dedicated to the legendary silent film actress and entertainer who became famous for dancing with fans made of ostrich feathers. Rand was born in 1904 in Hickory County (pop. 8,940).

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—With about 650 known caves, Perry County (pop. 18,132) has more caves than any other county in Missouri, which is nicknamed “The Cave State.”

first appeared: 7/1/2007

—The most famous pinup girl during World War II was Betty Grable, born in 1916 in St. Louis. Millions of picture postcards bearing Grable’s famous 1943 swimsuit pose, with the actress looking over her shoulder, adorned soldiers’ barracks.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

—Despite losing his right arm in a childhood truck accident, Pete Gray played major league baseball in 1945 with the St. Louis Browns. The one-armed outfielder used a thinly padded glove, which could be slipped on and off quickly.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

—Dave “Cannonball” Smith, 64, of Halfway (pop. 176) launched his career as a human cannonball in 1975 and enjoys the smiles inspired by his precision performances as he blasts from his self-built cannon 60 feet into the air before landing in a net.

first appeared: 5/28/2007

—In 1954, brothers Henry and Richard Bloch planned to scrap their sideline tax service, but first ran a newspaper ad featuring a man behind an eight ball with the message: “Taxes, $5.” The promotion attracted so many customers that the Blochs dropped their other bookkeeping services and began offering only tax preparation. H&R Block was launched in 1955 in Kansas City.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

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