Texas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

—Since the early 1950s, hundreds of wagons and riders have participated in the annual Salt Grass Trail Ride, a re-enactment of trail rides made by pioneer cattlemen through the rich salt grass pastures of the Gulf Coast. The February ride starts in Cat Spring and ends in Houston for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo parade.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

At 6 months old in 1913, Mary Elizabeth Hopkins was given her first Santa figurine. Her collection has grown and today the Mary Elizabeth Hopkins Santa Claus Museum in Columbus (pop. 3,916) showcases more than 2,000 Santas made of different materials, including celluloid and a Santa crafted from a Reader’s Digest.

first appeared: 9/9/2007

—The state’s oldest continuous bakery, Naegelin’s Bakery, has been satisfying New Braunfels’ (pop. 36,494) sweet tooth with strudels, kolaches and other pastries since 1868. The bakery offers German, French and Danish breads and pastries.

first appeared: 8/26/2007

—During his football career at Sugar Land High School from 1950 to 1953, Ken Hall rushed for 11,232 yards, a national record that stands today. Known as the “Sugar Land Express,” Hall, of Fredericksburg (pop. 8,911), was a 1983 National High School Hall of Fame inductee. Wichita Falls is said to have the world’s “Littlest Skyscraper.” The four-story, one-room-wide “skyscraper” was built in 1919 during the town’s oil boom, when space for office buildings was at a premium.

first appeared: 8/12/2007

—Visitors to the Monastery of St. Clare near Brenham (pop. 13,507) are invited to pet miniature horses that resident nuns raise and sell to support themselves. The Franciscan Poor Clare Nuns have at various times raised birds, and Himalayan and Persian cats for the pet market, but the miniature horses have proved more lucrative.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

A Rio Grande cottonwood tree at Fort Davis (pop. 1,050) has been listed on the American Forests’ National Register of Big Trees since 1971 as the nation’s biggest of that species. The tree has a trunk 30.6 feet around, stands 92 feet high and has an average crown spread of 92 feet.

first appeared: 7/29/2007

—At 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, the Old West comes alive in Fort Worth when cowboys drive longhorn cattle down Exchange Avenue through the Stockyards. From saddles and chaps to hats and boots, every detail of the cattle drive is historically accurate.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

Round Rock is the official Daffodil Capital of Texas, a title bestowed by the state Legislature in 2003. Every spring, blooms brighten major routes and people participate in the Daffodil Festival, during which vendors sell bulbs and the town’s senior center offers food, crafts and games.

first appeared: 7/15/2007

—Preserving the history of black baseball in the United States is the work of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research in Carrollton. Founded in 1990, the center interviews former Negro League baseball players to document their playing careers, collects artifacts relating to the history of black baseball, and conducts reunions, museum exhibits and educational programs about the league formed in the 1920s.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

A Houston lawyer, John O’Quinn, counts among his collection of 600 cars the 1975 Ford Escort GL once owned by Pope John Paul II. O’Quinn bought the car at a Las Vegas auction in 2005 for $690,000. He hopes to put all of his collectible cars on display in a museum he plans to open in honor of his father.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

Although he loves his 35mm camera, photographer Robb Kendrick’s true passion is the tintype, a 19th-century method of taking pictures. Kendrick, a native of Spur (pop. 1,088), used the old-fashioned technique to photograph working Lone Star cowboys and cowgirls for a book, Revealing Character: Texas Tintypes. Kendrick’s work regularly appears in National Geographic.

first appeared: 7/1/2007

—Two stretches of rural West Texas highways now have the highest posted speed limits in the nation. Last year, state officials boosted the limit from 75 mph to 80 mph for a 432-mile stretch of Interstate 10 between El Paso and Kerrville (pop. 20,425), and 89 miles of Interstate 20 from Monahans (pop. 6,821) to the I-10 interchange.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

The Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State University in San Marcos (pop. 34,733) preserves and exhibits the artistic culture of the Southwest in literature, film and music. The collection includes manuscripts, notebooks and other materials of J. Frank Dobie, Kathryn Anne Porter, John Graves, Sam Shepard and Willie Nelson.

first appeared: 6/17/2007

—Inmates in the Mason County Jail in Mason (pop. 2,134) wear pink jumpsuits, sit in pink cells and sleep under pink sheets. It’s all part of Sheriff Clint Low’s campaign to discourage offenders from coming back. The sheriff says the pink decor has worked; the re-offense rate in the county is down 70 percent.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

Legends of the Game Baseball Museum at Ameriquest Field in Arlington showcases the bats, gloves, jerseys and trophies of famous players such as Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. The home-field Texas Rangers scored an exhibit, of course.

first appeared: 6/3/2007

—“Santa Claus” Buster Bramall of Waxahachie (pop. 21,426) has a gift for hearing-impaired children. He knows sign language and can listen directly to the children’s wish lists. Bramall, 53, whose parents were deaf, understands the joy of hearing-impaired children being able to communicate without an interpreter and has portrayed Santa Claus for more than 30 years.

first appeared: 5/28/2007

Retired drama professor Raymond Carver didn’t let the lack of a theater in Salado (pop. 3,475) stop the show from going on. Shortly after moving to town in 1996, Carver founded The Living Room Theatre of Salado, which brings together neighbors who perform drama productions in their living rooms. The group includes actors ranging from ages 6 to 95 from all walks of life.

first appeared: 5/28/2007

—Farmers in the Plains Cotton Cooperative Association not only grow cotton, they also own the factory that turns the fiber into denim. Based in Lubbock, the cooperative owns a denim mill in Littlefield (pop. 6,507) and is one of the largest cotton handlers in the world with 29,000 members in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

Since 1949, Miami (pop. 588) has hosted the National Cow Calling Contest in which participants demonstrate hollers that bring the herd home. The competition is a lively part of the town’s pioneer reunion each June.

first appeared: 5/6/2007

—Bob Knight, head coach of the men’s basketball team at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, became the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history on Jan. 1. The Red Raiders defeated New Mexico 70-68, giving Knight his 880th game victory.

first appeared: 4/22/2007

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