Ohio Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

In 1920, Youngstown candy maker Harry Burt created ice cream on a stick with his Good Humor Bar, so called because it was believed a person's "humor" or temperament was related to the humor of his palate or taste.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

Spiffy in his trademark yellow wetsuit, "Banana George" Blair celebrated his 91st birthday in January by water skiing at Cypress Gardens in Florida. The world's oldest barefoot water skier and active snowboarder was born in 1915 in Toledo.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

In the late 1940s, World War II buddies Claud Dry and Dale Orcutt began manufacturing an ultra-compact and single-cylinder King Midget car in Athens (pop. 21,342). Various models were manufactured for more than 20 years, and today's collectors gather for annual jamborees.

first appeared: 5/21/2006

In 1928, Don Casto built Grandview Avenue Shopping Center in Columbus. The center's 20-plus stores included four grocery stores and parking for 400 cars, and became a model for future shopping centers.

first appeared: 5/14/2006

The state's longest natural beach on Lake Erie is the mile-long Headlands Beach State Park in Mentor (pop. 50,278). The sandy beach is home to a lighthouse and plant species typically found along the Atlantic coast.

first appeared: 4/23/2006

Humorist Erma Bombeck’s grave at Woodland Cemetery in Dayton is marked with a 29,000-pound rock hauled from near her Arizona home to commemorate her years there. The Dayton native, whose column appeared in more than 800 newspapers, died in 1996.

first appeared: 4/9/2006

The 1868 Zoarville Station Bridge at Camp Tuscazoar in Dover (pop. 12,210) was designed by Albert Fink and is believed the last through-truss bridge of its kind. The 105-foot bridge features Phoenix columns of hollow wrought-iron tubes, known for their strength.

first appeared: 3/26/2006

Platted in 1834, Centerburg (pop. 1,432) is the geographical center of the state. The town was named for a midway tavern at the crossroads of a stage line between Columbus and Mount Vernon (pop. 14,375).

first appeared: 3/12/2006

The nation’s first presidential library—that of President Rutherford B. Hayes—opened in 1916. The 25-acre Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont (pop. 17,375) includes Hayes’ home, museum and tomb. He served in the Oval Office from 1877 to 1881.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

In 1972, Vincent Marotta of Cleveland invented Mr. Coffee, the first home drip coffeemaker, and recruited baseball legend Joe DiMaggio as pitchman to convince Americans to switch from percolated to automatic drip brewers.

first appeared: 2/12/2006

In 1938, Roy Plunkett, a Dupont chemist, unintentionally invented Teflon while working with refrigerants. The resin came into common use in the 1960s as a nonstick surface on pots and pans. Plunkett was born in 1910 in New Carlisle (pop. 5,735).

first appeared: 1/29/2006

The state’s longest natural sand beach stretches for a mile at Headlands Beach State Park along Lake Erie in Mentor (pop. 50,278). Near the beach are Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve, which features rare and unusual plants, and Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, home to diverse wildlife.

first appeared: 1/15/2006

MISS OHIO 2006—Marlia Elisha Fontaine of Massillon (pop. 31,325) has been on a crusade to raise diabetes awareness through her Diabetes: Educate to Alleviate program. The cause hits home for the University of Akron graduate—her father has diabetes, and her uncle died from its complications.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

Auctioneer Ron Kreis of Adamsville (pop. 127) talked his way to the 2005 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship last June in Tulsa, Okla. Contestants were scored on vocal clarity, bid-catching skills and the ability to keep the sale moving.

first appeared: 1/1/2006

"Boneshaker" bicycles from the 1800s, balloon-tire classics of the 1940s and ’50s and a one-of-a-kind 1936 Pedi-Plane are among bicycles from every era at the Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen (pop. 2,909).

first appeared: 12/18/2005

In 1912, Halsey Taylor of Warren (pop. 46,832) invented the public drinking fountain, Puritan Sanitary Fountain, and the still popular Double Bubbler, which shoots two streams of water that converge for a satisfying sip. In 1896, after his father died from typhoid fever caused by contaminated drinking water, Taylor dedicated himself to inventing a sanitary dispenser for water.

first appeared: 12/4/2005

The Hopalong Cassidy Museum in Cambridge (pop. 11,520) corrals memorabilia about native William Boyd (1895-1972) and the famous cowboy character he portrayed in 66 full-length feature films between 1935 and 1948.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

Balto, a sled dog who helped deliver serum to a diphtheria-stricken Nome, Alaska, in 1925, enjoyed short-lived fame and then was sold to a vaudeville show. A Cleveland businessman organized a successful fund-raising campaign to buy him, and Balto lived out his life at the Brookside Zoo, now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. His journey to Nome was the inspiration behind Alaska’s annual Iditarod dog sled race.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

Every president from Eisenhower to Reagan ordered custom glassware from Fostoria Glass Co., founded in 1887 in Fostoria (pop. 13,931). The company moved to Moundsville, W.Va. (pop. 9,998), in 1891, and after Lancaster Colony bought the business in 1983, all of its designs, except the "American" pattern, were discontinued.

first appeared: 10/23/2005

Started in 1908, the 10K (6.2 mile) Thanksgiving Day Race in Cincinnati is the Midwest’s oldest road race and a tradition that attracts thousands of runners and walkers—who can then gobble without guilt.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

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