Oklahoma Trivia & Tidbits - Page 22

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

Cyrus Avery, a resident of Tulsa, was the architect of the “Main Street of America”—Route 66.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

Many African-American soldiers who fought in the U.S. Army during the Civil War stayed in the service after the war. Some accounts say the American Indians gave black soldiers the nickname Buffalo soldiers because of their tightly curled hair.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

A group known as the Mound Builders lived in eastern Oklahoma from 850 A.D. to 1450 A.D. Pottery and other artifacts left in ceremonial burial site “mounds” show they were skilled artisans.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

The grocery shopping cart was invented in 1937 in Oklahoma City by Sylvan N. Goldman, who wanted his customers to be able to buy more in one store visit. The first carts were made of wood.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

Belle Starr, one of the West’s most famous women outlaws, is buried southwest of Porum, Okla., (pop. 873) near the Eufuala Dam. Starr, born Myra Bell Shirley, was convicted of horse-stealing and briefly imprisoned in 1883.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

Okmulgee (pop. 13,561) claims the world record for largest pecan pie, pecan brownie, pecan cookie, and biggest ice cream and cookie party. It’s also home each June to the Pecan Festival.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

The state’s nickname, “The Sooner State,” is derived from the first day that homesteading was permitted. On that day, April 22, 1889, some 50,000 people swarmed into the area to stake a claim. But some tried to jump the noon starting gun and were labeled Sooners. Hence the state’s nickname.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

Oklahoma lays claim to the world’s first parking meter. It was installed in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935. Carl C. Magee, who filed for a patent on May 13, 1935, for a “coin-controlled parking meter,” is generally credited with inventing it.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

—Oklahoma has more manmade lakes than any other state, with more than one million surface acres of water.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Humorist Will Rogers, a syndicated newspaper columnist, broadcaster, and star of Broadway and movies, was born in 1879 on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation near what is now Oologah (pop. 941).

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Oklahoma is one of only two states whose capital city’s name—Oklahoma City—includes the state name. (The other is Indianapolis).

first appeared: 1/21/2001

Oklahoma has the largest Native American population in the country—some 250,000 Native Americans live there—and is tribal headquarters for 39 tribes.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

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