Missouri Trivia & Tidbits - Page 8

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

Maurice Wood, 77, of St. Louis, has donated 37 gallons of blood to the American Red Cross in a world-record-setting 301 visits since 1950.

first appeared: 6/27/2004

The 1874 Eads Bridge in St. Louis is transformed into the “Eats Bridge” on weekends this summer to mark the centennial of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Restaurants will serve brunch and dinner on the bridge that spans the Mississippi River.

first appeared: 6/20/2004

In 1857, Gen. George Smith platted and named Sedville after his daughter Sarah, whose nickname was Sed. Friends convinced him that “ville” should be replaced with the more melodic “alia,” thus Sedville became Sedalia (pop. 20,339) in 1860.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Brownsville became Sweet Springs (pop. 1,628) in 1887 after a minister’s ailing wife drank the spring water and recuperated.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

Born into slavery in 1844 in Independence, Cathy Williams disguised herself as a man and enlisted as Pvt. William Cathay in Company A, 38th U.S. Infantry. She served with the Buffalo Soldier unit from 1866 to 1868.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

Joseph Charless published the state’s first newspaper, the Missouri Gazette, in 1808 in St. Louis.

first appeared: 5/23/2004

More than 2,000 varieties of irises bedazzle on 20 acres at Comanche Acres Iris Gardens near Gower (pop. 1,399).

first appeared: 5/16/2004

Adolphus Busch partnered with Eberhard Anheuser in 1866 to create the brewing giant—Anheuser-Busch—in St. Louis. In a previous issue, we misspelled Busch’s name. We regret the error.

first appeared: 5/16/2004

Fred Myers, who was born in 1904 in Kansas City, co-founded the National Humane Society in 1954, later renamed The Humane Society of the United States.

first appeared: 5/9/2004

When Bill Gardner needed space for a shoe factory in West Plains (pop. 10,866), he found it underfoot in a limestone cavern. Gardner Shoe Co. makes combat boots for U.S. and Israeli soldiers.

first appeared: 5/2/2004

Thespian Hall, built between 1855 and 1857 in Boonville (pop. 8,202), is the oldest theater in continuous use west of the Alleghenies.

first appeared: 4/25/2004

In 1935, Lester Dill opened Meramec Caverns in Stanton and promoted the attraction nationwide by painting barns for free in exchange for their use as billboards. Dill also reportedly wired ads for the cavern onto car bumpers, creating the first bumper stickers.

first appeared: 4/18/2004

The state’s oldest covered bridge was built in 1858 at Burfordville, west of Cape Girardeau (pop. 35,349).

first appeared: 4/11/2004

Crevice Cave in Perry County is the state’s longest cave with 28 miles of passageways.

first appeared: 4/4/2004

The Lewis & Clark Center in St. Charles is a certified site on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail. It’s along the Missouri River near the 1804 campsite of the Corps of Discovery.

first appeared: 3/28/2004

Ernest Hemingway was a reporter at the Kansas City Star for a year before going off to World War I as an ambulance driver in 1918. In a previous issue, we erroneously identified the newspaper as a Kansas paper.

first appeared: 3/21/2004

Adolphus Busch partnered with Eberhard Anheuser in 1866 to create the brewing giant in St. Louis. The pair pioneered the use of refrigerated railroad cars, and introduced pasteurized bottled beer to the world.

first appeared: 3/14/2004

The most destructive tornado on record hit Annapolis (pop. 363) on March 18, 1925, when the twister tore through town leaving a 980-foot-wide trail of demolished buildings, uprooted trees, and overturned cars. It left 823 people dead in Annapolis and other towns, and more than 2,000 injured.

first appeared: 3/7/2004

In 1969, James Fergason of Wakenda (pop. 89) discovered an improved liquid crystal display (LCD) that soon enabled digital readouts on watches and other electronic devices.

first appeared: 2/29/2004

Springfield’s new American National Fish and Wildlife Museum and Aquarium—Wonders of Wildlife—features 160 live species of animals from otters and bobcats to sharks.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

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