Texas Trivia & Tidbits - Page 6

In 1932, Elmer Doolin walked into a San Antonio café for a sandwich and ordered a side of corn chips. He enjoyed the chips so much that he bought the recipe, some manufacturing equipment and the café’s sales accounts for $100. That year, he started Frito Co., which in 1961 merged with the H.W. Lay Co., based in Nashville, Tenn., to become Frito-Lay.

––Tranquility Park in downtown Houston commemorates the Apollo 11 moon landing of July 1969. Opened on the 10th anniversary of the lunar landing, astronaut Neil Armstrong’s words from the moon, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed,” are written in many languages on plaques at the park’s entrance. Mounds and depressions on the park’s surface mimic the moon’s cratered surface, and steel cylinder fountains are designed to resemble rocket boosters.

Founded in 1899 as John Tarleton College, Tarleton State University in Stephenville (pop. 14,921) is the nation’s largest non-land grant agriculture university and became part of the Texas A&M University system in 1917.

—In 1958, Jack Kilby invented an integrated circuit, or microchip, while working for Texas Instruments in Dallas. The tiny creation ushered in the Information Age and is in widespread use today in phones, microwave ovens, toasters, cameras and, of course, computers. Kilby also invented the pocket calculator and received the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000.

A sushi bar and panini sandwiches at Wal-Mart? Those are among the many upscale items being offered to customers of the retail giant’s new store in Plano. The store also features fine jewelry, hundreds of types of wine, an expanded selection of organic food and high-end electronics. Customers can sip a cappuccino or latte while they shop, and there are even flowers decorating the women’s restroom.

—Steve Spalding of Dallas caught a record 116 grapes in his mouth in three minutes last November. He also broke his own speed grape-catching record by snagging 1,203 grapes thrown from a distance of 15 feet in 30 minutes. Spalding performed his feats in Sydney, Australia, to help usher in the start of the grape season.

The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco serves up history, nostalgia and a lesson on free enterprise. Opened in 1991, the museum re-creates the soda fountain where in 1885 Charles Alderton first mixed the flavors that make up Dr Pepper and features displays of historic soft drink bottles and manufacturing equipment.

—The Armstrong Browning Library on the Baylor University campus in Waco contains the largest collection of love poetry and literary works of Victorian British poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The library also shines with stained-glass windows that illustrate passages from the Brownings’ poetry.

—Grammy Award winner Freddie Fender, whose country and Hispanic-flavored music crossed ethnic lines, was born in 1937 in the Texas border town of San Benito (pop. 23,444). His string of hits included “Before the Next Teardrop Falls,” “You’ll Lose a Good Thing” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.” He also starred in the 1988 film The Milagro Beanfield War. Fender died in October at his home in Corpus Christi.

When Camp Verde General Store was established in 1857 as the Williams Community Store, it was open for business only on Army paydays to quench the thirst of soldiers from Camp Verde. Today, the store’s antique bins and cabinets display a variety of mercantile goods, jewelry, soaps, scented candles, snacks, and local arts & crafts. The popular tourist stop near Kerrville (pop. 20,425) will celebrate its 150th anniversary in June.

—The London Museum in New London (pop. 987) is a memorial to the more than 300 people who died when the New London School exploded in 1937. The tragic explosion happened when a spark from the school’s machine shop ignited natural gas trapped in the basement. Mollie Ward, who left school early that day and survived, was instrumental in creating the museum, which continues to try to get an accurate death toll. It is believed that many migrant oilfield workers took the bodies of their children and returned home to bury them.

Built in 1878, Gruene Hall is the oldest continuously operating dance hall in the state and is located in Gruene, now within the city limits of New Braunfels (pop. 36,494). Among artists who have performed there are Jerry Jeff Walker, George Strait, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. The dance scene for the 1996 movie Michael, starring John Travolta, was filmed in the hall as well.

The Texas Camel Corps offers camel treks through the rugged Big Bend National Park and the Monahans Sandhills State Park. Owner Doug Baum of Valley Mills (pop. 1,123) named the business as a tribute to the U.S. Army, which in 1856 imported camels to Texas at the urging of then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, who later became president of the Confederacy. The U.S. military used camels to carry supplies through the arid Southwest, but after the Civil War, the animals were sold. Texas native Byron Nelson set a record never matched by another golfer: 11 consecutive Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) tournament wins and 18 total wins in 1945, which has been called the greatest year in the history of golf. Nelson’s grace on the course and his courtly manner earned him the nickname “Lord Byron.” He was born in Waxahachie (pop. 21,426) and died in September at his ranch home in Roanoke (pop. 2,810).

—Marene Johnson-Johnson, postmistress from 1955 to 1968 in Eastland (pop. 3,769), spent seven years and $15,000 creating a mural with 11,217 postage stamps. The 6-by-10-foot mural, housed in the town’s post office, features a map of Texas and portraits of Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and Martha Washington. Visitors to the Gaston Museum in Joinerville can step back to the East Texas Oil Field boom of the 1930s. Exhibits include an oil field “tent house” and a 1930s Dixie Service Station.

—Jack Teagarden, considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time, was born in 1905 in Vernon (pop. 11,660). He first played professionally at age 16 at the Horn Palace in San Antonio and later joined the Paul Whiteman Band. Teagarden recorded with jazz legends Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong, among others.

—Wyler Aerial Tramway in the Franklin Mountains State Park of El Paso climbs 940 feet to Ranger Peak, where visitors can get bird’s-eye views that span 7,000 square miles and include Texas, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

—The Pirate and Smuggling Museum on Padre Island (pop. 2,422) is a treasure chest of swords, grappling hooks, cannonballs and buccaneer booty. Curator John Dowling’s father started the museum 32 years ago in England. When his father died in 2003, Dowling moved the swashbuckling collection to the Gulf Coast where pirates were known to roam.

Two graduate students at the University of Texas at Dallas created the likeness of a U.S. flag so small it would take more than 10 to span the width of a human hair. Electrical engineering students Jang-Bae Jeon and Carlo Foresca used a nanotechnology manipulator from Zyvex Corp. in Richardson to build the image of the flag—complete with all 50 stars and 13 stripes.

It’s not a mirage and it’s not a Prada store, either, but a work of art called Prada Marfa, which adds a hint of haute couture and a heap of whimsy to a desolate stretch of U.S. Highway 90 near Valentine (pop. 187). Created by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, the adobe building is stocked with Prada shoes and purses. Sorry, but it’s sealed like a time capsule. The artwork is about 30 miles from Marfa (pop. 2,121), an artists’ community.

—Colin Braun, a 17-year-old driver from Ovalo, became the youngest winner in Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series history in June, taking the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway.