Oklahoma Trivia & Tidbits - Page 6

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

—To research Route 66, filmmakers from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios visited Dawn Welch’s restaurant, the Route 66 Rock Café in Stroud (pop. 2,758). They ordered one of everything on the menu and asked Welch to talk about her café and Route 66. Welch obviously made an impression because she became the inspiration for Sally, the blue Porsche in the movie Cars, released in June.

first appeared: 11/5/2006

Old Central, which houses the Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education, is the oldest building on the Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater (pop. 39,065). Built in 1894, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

first appeared: 11/5/2006

—The Washington Irving Trail Museum in Ripley (pop. 444) is located where the author of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow camped when traveling through central Oklahoma in 1832. Museum exhibits showcase Oklahoma’s past, including early lawmen and outlaws and Indian Territory’s first Civil War battle.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—Born in Oklahoma City in 1947, baseball player Johnny Bench grew up in Binger (pop. 708) and launched his baseball career when the Cincinnati Reds drafted him in 1965. He won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1968, and went on to earn two National League Most Valuable Player awards, 14 all-star team appearances and 10 Gold Gloves.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—Willis Granite Products in Granite (pop. 1,844) has created granite memorials, signs and countertops since 1902, including a three-story tribute to Will Rogers that stands near company headquarters. The company owns a 350-foot-tall, one-mile-long granite mountain, along with a processing plant and office building.

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—Joe Redington, born in Kingfisher (pop. 4,380), is known as the “Father of the Iditarod” and is credited with saving the sport of dog sledding. Redington, who moved to Alaska in 1948, created the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a 1,000-plus mile dog-sled race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

Twenty-three student teams from around the nation converged on Boomer Lake in Stillwater (pop. 39,065) in June to design boats made of concete. Sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the National Concrete Canoe Competition challenges students to use physics and math principles to build floatable concrete-cast canoes.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

No rod or bait is needed to catch a catfish during the Okie Noodling Tournament in Pauls Valley (pop. 6,256) each summer. During the competition, noodlers plunge their bare hands into catfish holes and wiggle their fingers like worms to entice a bite. When a fish chomps, the noodler plunges his hand down its throat and wrestles it out of its hole.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

The “Father of Bulldogging,” which also is called steer wrestling, is cowboy Bill Pickett, the first African-American cowboy inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. He worked for the 101 Ranch near Ponca City (pop. 25,919) and performed on the ranch’s Wild West Show. Pickett was raised in Taylor, Texas (pop. 13,575), and was buried in 1932 near Ponca City.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

In March, Union City (pop. 1,375) celebrated the return of Boral Bricks, the nation’s largest manufacturer of clay bricks, which reopened an updated plant at a cost of more than $30 million. The company will make about 100 million king-size bricks a year for the region and can reduce shipping costs by making the bricks locally. The original plant had closed more than a decade ago.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

The Saline District Courthouse near Rose is the only survivor of nine courthouses built in Indian Territory in the 1880s for legal proceedings under the Cherokee judicial system. The Saline courthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is being restored by the Saline Preservation Association.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

Born in Walters (pop. 2,657), actor Van Heflin (1910-1971) debuted on movie screens in 1936 opposite Katharine Hepburn in A Woman Rebels and joined Hepburn on the Broadway stage several years later in The Philadelphia Story. Heflin ended his film career with 1970's Airport. His sister, Frances Heflin Kaplan, played Mona Tyler (Erika Kane's mother) on the TV series All My Children from 1970 to 1994.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

Elk City (pop. 10,510) has a merry reminder of its 2001 centennial. Residents ponied up to build an old-fashioned wooden carousel—36 horses and two chariots strong—which revolves in Ackley Park.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

At 14, Tiffany Grant of Sperry (pop. 981) founded Prom Wishes to provide donated dresses to teenagers who cannot afford a glittery new formal for special school dances. Four years later, Grant's growing nonprofit organization has outfitted nearly 800 teens with dresses, shoes, manicures, professional hairstyles—everything but a date—for a picture-perfect prom.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

At age 9, Ann Lewis in 1968 became the youngest Barrel Racing Champion in the history of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. She died in a car accident that year and was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1981. She was born in 1958 in Sulphur (pop. 4,794).

first appeared: 8/13/2006

For 100 years, Shawnee Milling Co. has been grinding wheat flour and cornmeal. The mill is operated by a third generation of the J.L. Ford family in Shawnee (pop. 28,692).

first appeared: 7/30/2006

The Five Civilized Tribes Museum in Muskogee (pop. 38,310) displays artifacts of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribes and tells the story of the Trail of Tears. The museum, housed in the 1875 Union Indian Agency building, also hosts art competitions, lectures and workshops.

first appeared: 7/30/2006

Ruth Huffman's knitted sweaters and shawls feel like soft cashmere, are as warm as wool, and are made from buffalo down. The Wynnewood (pop. 2,367) woman operates the world's only buffalo hair processing plant and patented the technique that turns buffalo hair into luxurious yarn.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

Lake Overholser in Oklahoma City was created in 1916, when the North Canadian River was dammed to provide a water supply for the city.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

Albert E. Brumley, whose gospel songs include "I'll Fly Away," "Turn Your Radio On" and "I'll Meet You in the Morning," was born in 1905 near Spiro (pop. 2,227). His hundreds of songs have earned him a spot in the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, The Oak Ridge Boys, Boston Pops Orchestra, The Supremes and Ray Charles.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

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