Oklahoma Trivia & Tidbits - Page 2

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

—Built in 1924 as a Gulf Oil station, the Blue Dome in Tulsa was the first gas station in the state to have hot water, pressurized air and a car wash. Today, the Blue Dome entertainment district has sprouted around the art deco station.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

Organized in 1871, the Riverside Indian School near Anadarko (pop. 6,645) is the oldest federally run boarding school for American Indians in continuous operation.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

—Tony Randall, best known for his role as the fastidious Felix Unger in the 1970s sitcom The Odd Couple, was born in 1920 in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Central High School.

first appeared: 1/11/2009

—The Choctaw Chief’s House, an 1830s dogtrot-style log cabin in Swink (pop. 83), is believed to be the oldest house in the state on its original site.

first appeared: 12/29/2008

The state’s official country and western song is “Faded Love,” an early fiddle tune familiar to settlers and popularized by the musical Wills family. Billy Jack Wills wrote the lyrics, and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys popularized the words and music. The song was adopted in 1988.

first appeared: 12/29/2008

—The 70-mile Osage Nation Heritage Trail Byway between Bartlesville (pop. 34,748) and Ponca City (pop. 25,919) courses through the Osage Indian Reservation and Pawhuska (pop. 3,629), the capital of the Osage Nation. Byway highlights include the Osage Tribal Museum, the Cathedral of the Osage, the Constantine Theatre, and the Million Dollar Elm Memorial, a tribute to the tree that provided shade for oil barons, such as Frank Phillips, Harry Sinclair and Jean Paul Getty, as they negotiated oil-lease sales in the 1920s.

first appeared: 11/30/2008

Jack Bender of Tulsa is only the third cartoonist to draw Alley Oop, created in 1933 by V.T. Hamlin, about an upbeat time-traveling caveman from Moo. Carole Bender, his wife, writes the comic strip.

first appeared: 11/30/2008

—Founded in the late 1800s by Col. George Washington Miller, the 101 Ranch near Ponca City (pop. 25,919) at one time comprised 110,000 acres and was among the most diversified ranches in the nation. The ranch included a school, general store, cafe and hotel, and once featured a Wild West show, which performed across the United States and Europe. Today, remnants of the ranch are preserved by the 101 Ranch Old Timers Association.

first appeared: 11/16/2008

The first black woman to be elected judge in the United States was Juanita Kidd Stout, who was elected to the Philadelphia (Pa.) Municipal Court in 1959. Stout, who was born in 1919 in Wewoka (pop. 3,562), also served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

first appeared: 11/16/2008

—GadgetTrees in the Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City features a two-story tree house, the largest oak tree west of the Mississippi River, and is said to have the nation’s tallest spiral slide. The exhibit aims to integrate science, history and creativity. Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was born in Wynnewood (pop. 2,367) in 1945, and grew up in Midland, Texas, where he attended the same high school as first lady Laura Bush.

first appeared: 11/2/2008

—Ponca City (pop. 25,919) pays tribute to American Indians with a 22-foot statue of Indian civil-rights leader Ponca Chief Standing Bear. The statue, built by sculptor Oreland C. Joe, is south of town in the 63-acre Standing Bear Native American Memorial Park.

first appeared: 10/19/2008

Born in Tulsa in 1956, Robert Stemmons is a professional whistler who has puckered up for recordings of music as varied as The Andy Griffith Show theme song to “Amazing Grace.” He performs as the Loyal Whistler in Cirque du Soleil’s touring production of Corteo.

first appeared: 10/19/2008

—One of the youngest mayors in the nation is John Tyler Hammons, 19, a University of Oklahoma freshman in Muskogee (pop. 38,310). Hammons won the post in May with 70 percent of the vote.

first appeared: 10/5/2008

—The nation’s premier producer of bombs and its largest munitions storage and shipping center is the McAlester (pop. 17,783) Army Ammunition Plant. The site, comprising about 45,000 acres, was chosen during World War II for its isolation from German threats, and began making bombs in 1943.

first appeared: 9/21/2008

Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, was born in 1918 in Kingfisher (pop. 4,380). He died in 1992.

first appeared: 9/21/2008

—Carry Nation, the hatchet-wielding prohibitionist, homesteaded a farm with her husband west of Seiling (pop. 875) in Dewey County (pop. 4,743) in the 1890s. While there, she started a ladies benevolent society, Workers for Christ, to help the poor.

first appeared: 9/7/2008

—Louise Fluke, who entered a contest sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution, designed the state’s flag in 1925 with an American Indian shield with a peace pipe, olive branch and eagle feathers against a blue background. Fluke, who died in 1986, had lived in Shawnee (pop. 28,692), Oklahoma City and Ponca City (pop. 25,919). In celebration of the state’s centennial last year, Shawnee placed a monument at its Centennial Park to honor Fluke, and Ponca City dedicated the Louise Fluke Oklahoma Flag Plaza at Standing Bear Park.

first appeared: 8/24/2008

—Stillwater (pop. 39,065) is the fastest growing city in the state, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, which says that the city gained 11,741 residents from 2000 to 2007 for a population increase of 17 percent. A fountain and three bronze statues welcome visitors to the Oklahoma City University campus in Oklahoma City. The statues are tributes to three of the school’s former students who have been crowned Miss America: Jane Jayroe Gamble in 1967, Susan Powell in 1981, and Shawntel Smith Wuerch in 1996.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

Country music artist Vince Gill returned to his elementary school, Cleveland Elementary Arts & Science Specialty School in Oklahoma City, in March for a benefit concert to raise $100,000 to refurbish the school’s auditorium. The school named the auditorium after him.

first appeared: 8/10/2008

—The Beckham County Courthouse in Sayre (pop. 4,114) is famous not only for its impressive architecture, but also for its brief appearance in the 1940 John Ford movie, The Grapes of Wrath. Built in 1911, the building is a blend of neoclassical and second Renaissance Revival styles.

first appeared: 7/27/2008

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