Missouri Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

A ship-shaped Titanic museum opened in March in Branson (pop. 6,050) and includes 400 artifacts from the 1912 shipwreck, including a menu worth $100,000. Boarding visitors are given the identity of an actual passenger during tours of the unusual interactive museum.

first appeared: 7/2/2006

The Butler (pop. 4,209) Public Library is endowed by pioneering science fiction writer Robert Heinlein (1907-1988), who was born in Butler, and his wife, Virginia (1916-2003). The library houses many autographed and first editions of Heinlein's books, including Strangers in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

A self-guided walking trail and outdoor exhibits at Osage Village State Historic Site in Vernon County (pop. 20,454) help visitors imagine the lives of Osage Indians who lived and hunted in the area between 1700 and 1775.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

Childhood treasures can be revisited at the Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City, a restored mansion brimming with antique dolls, dollhouses, cast-iron toys, trains, scale miniatures and one of the world's largest antique-marble collections.

first appeared: 5/21/2006

In 1956, auctioneer and country singer Leroy Van Dyke recorded "The Auctioneer," which sold a million copies within weeks. Called the world's most famous auctioneer, Van Dyke of Smithton (pop. 510) is still going, going . . . after 50 years.

first appeared: 5/14/2006

Researchers at Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg (pop. 16,340) last year discovered the largest known prime number, which is 9.1 million digits long. A prime number can be divided evenly only by itself and the number one.

first appeared: 4/23/2006

In 1983, Lebanon (pop. 12,155) hooked the official title of "Aluminum Fishing Boat Capital of the World" for its many boat manufacturers, including Tracker Marine Corp., Lowe Boats, G3 Boats and Landau Manufacturing Co.

first appeared: 4/9/2006

The Black World History Museum in St. Louis documents the lives of ordinary and famous African-Americans, including scientist George Washington Carver and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Artifacts from an archaeological excavation of a slave’s cabin are showcased.

first appeared: 3/26/2006

Osage Catfisheries in Osage Beach (pop. 3,662) has the only federal permit to sell paddlefish flesh, caviar and live eggs in the United States and overseas. Paddlefish are valued and in demand for their black caviar eggs.

first appeared: 3/12/2006

Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Sara Teasdale was born in St. Louis in 1884. She won the 1918 Columbia University Poetry Society Prize, forerunner to the Pulitzer Prize, for Love Songs.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

Thomas Benoist, of St. Louis, built the Benoist Model 14 seaplane used in 1914 by the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line in Florida, the world’s first scheduled commercial airline. Passengers enjoyed a breezy spray while flying about 5 feet above water.

first appeared: 2/12/2006

Opened on Armistice Day 1926, the Liberty Memorial Museum in Kansas City was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge and honors Americans who served during World War I. The memorial’s 217-foot tower is a downtown landmark.

first appeared: 1/29/2006

Harriet Mendenhall Snider of Savannah (pop. 4,762) designed the 49-star flag, used for one year in 1959 after Alaska became a state. Snider entered the design in a newspaper contest and won. In 1960 another star was added for Hawaii.

first appeared: 1/15/2006

MISS MONTANA 2006—Sophia Steinbeisser is pursuing a degree in business administration at the University of Nebraska. She also serves on a student advisory board and is president of an ambassador program for out-of-state students. But the Sidney (pop. 4,774) native’s enthusiasm isn’t limited to academic interests. A sports buff since age 11, Steinbeisser is committed to personal health and fitness, and she created the Get Up, Get Going, Take Charge! program.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

MISS MISSOURI 2006—Stacie Cooley’s a fitness nut—and proud of it. A graduate of Truman State University, she’s a spokesperson for Shape-Up Missouri, the governor’s initiative to help Missourians get fit. She also designed BeneFIT, a program for the state’s schools.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

In 1899, ragtime composer Scott Joplin published "Maple Leaf Rag" with music publisher John Stark in Sedalia (pop. 20,339) and received a 1-cent royalty on each sale. By 1909, he had sold a half-million copies.

first appeared: 1/1/2006

In 1816, pioneer James Hart Stark settled in Louisiana (pop. 3,863) and planted the seeds of his world-famous Stark Bro’s Nurseries and Orchards Co. Noted horticulturist Luther Burbank selected Stark to carry on his work and willed him 750 plant varieties.

first appeared: 12/18/2005

Artist Fred Harman (1902-1982), born in St. Joseph and raised in Pagosa Springs, Colo., worked in Kansas City for a time in the early 1920s with another cartoonist—Walt Disney. Harman introduced cowboy Red Ryder and his horse Thunder in the Chicago Sun in 1938. The characters were an immediate hit in cartoons and movies, and the strip continued in 750 newspapers until 1963.

first appeared: 12/4/2005

The first angler to be featured on a box of Wheaties cereal was bass fisherman Denny Brauer of Camdenton (pop. 2,779) in 1998. The "breakfast of champions" began featuring athletes on its box in 1934 when it starred baseball great Lou Gehrig.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

Dubbed the "Fulton Flash" after her hometown of Fulton (pop. 12,128), Helen Stephens won Olympic gold medals in 1936 for her 11.5-second 100-meter dash (a world record that stood for 24 years) and the 400-meter relay. She was the first woman to own and manage a semiprofessional basketball team.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

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