Texas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 21

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

The residents of Corsicana (pop. 24,485) got a pleasant surprise in 1894 while drilling for fresh water—they struck oil instead. The discovery prompted an oil boom in the community and resulted in the construction of one of the first oil refineries in Texas in 1897.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

Visitors to Balmorhea State Park near Balmorhea (pop. 527) can swim in an immense pool fed by the San Solomon Springs. Water in the 1.75-acre pool stays at 72 to 75 degrees and is so clear that fish can be seen from the surface.

first appeared: 11/4/2001

Maple trees are rare in Texas but can be found in abundance near Leakey (pop. 399) at the Lost Maples State Natural Area. High canyon walls surrounding the area have made it a natural refuge for the maples. The area is also home to several rare species of birds, including the golden-cheeked warbler and green kingfisher.

first appeared: 10/28/2001

Texas is the country’s leading producer of wool. In 1999, the state produced almost 8 million pounds of it.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

The reputation of Crystal City (pop. 7,190) as a major shipping point for fresh vegetables—particularly spinach—in the 1920s and 1930s earned it the nickname “Spinach Capital of the World.” A painted statue of the spinach-eating cartoon strongman Popeye is on display near the community’s police station.

first appeared: 10/21/2001

The original plaster sculpture for the World War II Memorial showing the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima is on display at the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen. The plaster was used to cast the bronze memorial for Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

first appeared: 10/14/2001

A replica of France’s famous Lourdes Shrine can be found in Rio Grande City (pop. 11,923). The replica, built in 1928, is a grotto with a 90-foot-high ceiling and contains a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

The E.H. Danner Museum of Telephony in San Angelo traces development of the telephone and contains a switchboard from 1910 and one of Alexander Graham Bell’s original telephones.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

Texas was a state for 46 years before a native Texan took the helm as governor. James Stephen Hogg, who was born near Rusk (pop. 5,085), became the state’s 19th governor in 1891, serving until 1895.

first appeared: 9/30/2001

The first museum in Texas to document the contributions of African-Americans to the state’s history was the George Washington Carver Museum in Austin—housed in what had been the Carver branch of the Austin Public Library. Since 1977, it has housed artifacts documenting the history of African-Americans in Texas and the United States.

first appeared: 9/23/2001

Excavations at the Lubbock Lake Landmark State Historical Park have revealed artifacts such as spear points believed to be 10,000 years old. Other items found at the site include the fossilized remains of mammoths, giant armadillos, and giant bison believed to date as far back as 12,000 B.C.

first appeared: 9/16/2001

Ever wonder where those really big scientific research balloons come from? The National Scientific Balloon Facility, near Palestine (pop. 17,598), inflates, launches, tracks, and retrieves the huge balloons that generally carry scientific instruments high into the atmosphere. In the last 25 years, the facility associated with NASA has launched more than 1,700 research balloons for universities, research agencies, and foreign agencies.

first appeared: 9/16/2001

Two species of endangered felines live at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near Rio Hondo (pop. 1,942). Both the ocelot and the jaguarundi can be found at the 45,000-acre refuge, along with more than 390 species of migratory birds.

first appeared: 9/9/2001

Anahuac (pop. 2,210) is the official Alligator Capital of Texas. The honor was bestowed on the town by the Texas Legislature in 1989 because alligators in the town outnumber people.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

Fort Stockton (pop. 7,846) says it has the world’s largest roadrunner. The fiberglass statue—dubbed “Paisano Pete”—is 20 feet long, 11 feet high, and weighs 800 pounds.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

A 55-foot stainless steel replica of a helium molecule marks the fact that Amarillo sits atop the world’s largest known reserves of that gas. The Amarillo area today provides 90 percent of the world’s helium.

first appeared: 8/26/2001

The San Jacinto Monument, near Houston, is the world’s tallest stone memorial. The 570-foot monument, marking the spot of the final battle for Texas’ independence from Mexico, is 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

first appeared: 8/19/2001

What some call one of the most beautiful “living” caverns in Texas has no name. Nature is creating new geologic formations all the time in “The Cave Without A Name” near Boerne (pop. 6,704). It features formations such as cave drapery, soda straws, and rimstone dams. A contest was held in 1939 to name the cavern, but a small boy said, “This cave is too pretty to name,” resulting in its non-name.

first appeared: 8/12/2001

There’s a little bit of China in Katy, Texas (pop. 11,775). Hong Kong native and businessman Ira Poon’s “Forbidden Gardens” is a replica of the tomb of Third Century Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who is credited with creating the nation of China. The 40-acre display includes one-third scale Plexiglas models of the 6,000 terra-cotta soldiers in Qin’s tomb and a scale replica of the Forbidden City, the complex of palaces in Beijing where China’s royalty lived for hundreds of years.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

Amarillo, founded in 1887, gets its name from the yellow color of the subsoil of a nearby creek. Amarillo is the Spanish word for yellow. In the city’s early days, most residents painted their homes yellow in honor of the city’s name.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

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