Nebraska Trivia & Tidbits - Page 2

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

—Auctioneer Matt Lowery of Burwell (pop. 1,130) talked his way to the top and the title of 2008 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. His prizes included $5,000, use of a 2008 Chevrolet truck for a year, a bronze sculpture, a buckle, and the world champion gold and diamond ring.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

—A mural, “Wild Horses By Moonlight,” painted in 1940 by artist Philip von Saltza adorns the Schuyler (pop. 5,371) Post Office as part of a New Deal mural project. Schuyler entered the design for an Arizona post office, but when it was approved for Schuyler, he changed the cacti to poplar trees.

first appeared: 12/29/2008

—“Nebraska marble” was the name jokingly given to the sturdy slabs of compacted sod used to build many pioneer homes, which were called “soddies.”

first appeared: 11/30/2008

—Billed as the world’s largest milkweed supplier, Natural Fibers Corp. in Ogallala (pop. 4,930) was founded in 1987 by Herb Knudsen and harvests the airy milkweed fibers for hypoallergenic bedding and other uses.

first appeared: 11/16/2008

—From observation decks at the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center in North Platte (pop. 23,878), railroad enthusiasts can watch Union Pacific Railroad’s Bailey Yard, the world’s largest rail freight classification yard. Each day, more than 10,000 rail cars pass through the yard.

first appeared: 11/2/2008

—In 1938, Mildred Brown founded The Omaha Star, the state’s largest black newspaper, which is published today by Brown’s niece, Marguerita Washington.

first appeared: 10/19/2008

—At the Sandhills Motel and Glidden Canoe Rental in Mullen (pop. 491), visitors can float the Middle Loup River in 7- to 9-foot livestock water tanks, which seat up to eight people and are practically unsinkable.

first appeared: 10/5/2008

—Robidoux Trading Post near Gering (pop. 7,751), which was built in the 1850s in a secluded canyon near the Oregon Trail, has been reconstructed with hand-hewn logs. Supplies and blacksmithing were available at the trading post for westward-bound travelers.

first appeared: 9/21/2008

—Legend has it that the American West begins at the intersection of 13th and O streets in Lincoln. A large brick star marks the spot.

first appeared: 9/7/2008

—Frontier doctor Georgia Arbuckle Fix was the first female graduate of the Omaha Medical School. In 1881, she enrolled in the first class along with eight male students.

first appeared: 8/24/2008

—Opened in March in a new $12 million building, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln preserves, studies and displays the world’s largest publicly held collection of quilts. More than 2,300 quilts from 24 countries are housed in the museum.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

—Identical twins Brian and Ross DeVol, 18, are a perfect match genetically and academically. The seniors at Bellevue East High School in Bellevue (pop. 44,382) earned perfect ACT scores of 36. About one of every 4,000 students makes a perfect score on the college entrance exam.

first appeared: 7/27/2008

—The state’s largest private landowner reportedly is media mogul Ted Turner, founder of Cable News Network (CNN). His land holdings in the state include five ranches near Gordon (pop. 1,756), Oshkosh (pop. 887) and Mullen (pop. 491) that cover 425,221 acres.

first appeared: 7/13/2008

—For more than 50 years, Thurl Ravenscroft (1914-2005) had a “grrrrreat” career as the voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes. Ravenscroft was born in Norfolk (pop. 23,516).

first appeared: 6/29/2008

—Established as the state cemetery in 1869, Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln features a “park design” with curving roads, extensive plantings, a pond and statuary art.

first appeared: 6/15/2008

—Wymore (pop. 1,656) is the “Welsh Capital of the Great Plains” and home of the Welsh Heritage Center. Legend has it that Welsh settlers were attracted to the region because the rolling hills and nearby Blue River reminded them of home.

first appeared: 6/1/2008

—At 100, Mildred Heath may the nation’s oldest working journalist. She’s on the job full time gathering news for The Beacon-Observer in Overton (pop. 646) and began her newspaper career in 1923 on a Linotype machine.

first appeared: 5/18/2008

—In 1975, Harold Davisson of Seward (pop. 6,319) filled a 20-by-8-by-6-foot concrete vault with some 5,000 relics, remembrances and reminders from his lifetime. Billed as the world’s largest time capsule, the vault will be opened in 2025.

first appeared: 5/4/2008

—The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 brought prosperity and traffic to Sidney (pop. 6,282) as the city served as the railhead for equipment and supplies bound for mining camps in the Dakota Territory.

first appeared: 3/9/2008

—Thousands of fourth-graders have experienced a day of school, 1888-style, at Flowerfield School in Harrisburg (pop. 75). Students visiting the pioneer log school read from McGuffey’s Readers, work on penmanship and do arithmetic on individual slate boards.

first appeared: 2/24/2008

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