Nebraska Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

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

—Each spring, thousands of sandhill cranes visit the Platte River Valley for a respite on their northward migration.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

The Great Platte River Road Archway on Interstate 80 near Kearney (pop. 27,314) marks the spot where three major paths of westward migration converge—the California Trail, Oregon Trail, and Mormon Trail.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

Ogallala, (pop. 5,072) once the end of the trail where longhorns from Texas were put on trains for eastern markets, still has its original “Boot Hill” cemetery.

first appeared: 1/14/2001

In Harrison (pop. 282), Sioux Sundries makes what it claims is the nation’s largest hamburger—the 30-ounce Coffeeburger, named after a local rancher who wanted big burgers for his ranch hands.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

At 5,424 feet, Panorama Point, 33 miles southwest of Kimball, is the highest point in Nebraska.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

In 1921, 20-year-old Vilhelm Petersen, a Danish immigrant, invented the first locking pliers in his blacksmith shop in DeWitt (pop. 586).

first appeared: 12/24/2000

The Cornhusker State is both the nation’s largest producer and user of center pivot irrigation, a way of watering crops in circular fields.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral, or single-body, legislature (adopted by popular vote in 1934). All other state legislatures have two bodies.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

Fred Astaire, perhaps the best-known dancer in the history of film, was born Frederick Austerlitz on May 10, 1899, in Omaha. His mother enrolled him in dancing school as a boy, then took him to New York for professional training in 1906.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Former Gov. Kay A. Orr, who served the state from 1987 to 1991, was the nation’s first Republican woman governor.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

In 1927, Edwin E. Perkins of Hastings (pop. 22,008) decided to change his popular "Fruit Smack" from a bottled soft drink syrup to a dry powder, which he packaged in envelopes and shipped at a lower price. He named the product Kool-Aid.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

The world's largest porch swing is in a city park in Hebron (pop. 1,674) in southeast Nebraska. Twenty-five adults can sit in it at one time.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

Seventy-five percent of Nebraska’s landmass is prairie, which is defined as an extensive area of flat or rolling grassland. A “plain” is generally treeless, but may or may not be grassy.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

Sidney (pop. 6,128) is home of Cabela’s, one of the nation’s largest sporting goods outfitters. Cabela’s has more than 500 stuffed and mounted wildlife specimens from around the world and an 8,000-gallon aquarium stocked with native fish.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

Daniel Freeman was reportedly the first person in the United States to acquire land under the Homestead Act of 1862. Freeman supposedly filed his claim on a tract of land near Beatrice, 10 minutes after midnight at the Land Office in Brownville, on Jan. 1, 1863—the first day the act went into effect.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

The lied jungle in Omaha is the world’s largest indoor rain forest. The 1.5-acre exhibit at Henry Doorly Zoo re-creates Asian, African, and South American rain forests.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

Boys Town has helped thousands of children since Father Flanagan purchased Overlook Farm as a refuge for troubled and homeless boys in 1921. Today, the Omaha village operates its own post office, fire department, police department, credit union, schools, and churches.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

The state’s vast plains inspired J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City to originate the idea for Arbor Day in 1872. He proposed a tree-planting holiday during a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture. It’s estimated that more than 1 million trees were planted on the first Arbor Day.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

Chimney Rock, south of Bayard (pop. 1,166), was the most frequently mentioned landmark in the journals of travelers on the Oregon Trail.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

The world’s first rodeo was held in North Platte on July 4, 1882. Its originator and star was William (Buffalo Bill) Cody.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

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