Fun facts about your state

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Oklahoma

1. Oklahoma produced more astronauts than any other state.
2. The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917.
3. The nation's first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935.
4. The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore in 1936.
5. During the 'Land Rush', Oklahoma City went from a vast, open prairie to a city of over 10,000 in a single day.
6. The Oklahoma State Capital is the only capital in the U.S. with working oil wells on its grounds.
7. Boise City, OK was the only city in the United States to be bombed during World War II. On Monday night, July 5,1943, at 12:30 am, a B-17 Bomber based at Dalhart Army Air Base, Texas,
dropped six practice bombs on the sleeping town, mistaking the city lights as target lights.
8. WKY Radio in Oklahoma City was the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River.
9. The nation's first 'Tornado Warning' was issued on March 25,1948 in Oklahoma City minutes before a devastating tornado. Because of the warning, no lives were lost.
10. Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any state in the U.S. It also has 234 different Indian Tribes.
11. The name 'Oklahoma' comes from two Choctaw words... Okla. meaning 'people' and humma meaning 'red'. So the name means, 'Red People.' The name was approved in 1890.
12. The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville, OK.
13. Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state.
14. Cimarron County, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, is the only county in the U.S. bordered by four separate states: TX, NM, CO & KS.
15. The nation's first traffic 'Yield' sign was erected in Tulsa on a trial basis.
16. Pensacola Dam is the longest multi-arched dam in the world at 6,565 feet.
17. The 'Port of Catoosa' (just north of Tulsa) is the largest inland port in America.
18. The aerosol can was invented in Bartlesville.
19. Per square mile, Oklahoma has more tornadoes than any other place in the world.
20. The highest wind speed ever recorded on earth was in Moore, OK on May 3rd,1999 during the Oklahoma City F-5 tornado. Wind speed was clocked at 318 mph.
21. The Will Rogers World Airport and the Wiley Post Airport are both named after two famous Oklahomans-- both killed in an airplane crash together.
22. Cushing, OK is the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World" and has the world’s largest storage of oil.
23. The song "Oklahoma" from the Broadway play of the same name is now the official state song.
24. Oklahoma is the only State to have its capital stolen and moved in the middle of the night from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.
25. Guthrie has an original Carnegie Library and the Largest Masonic Temple in the World!
26. Watonga, OK has more rattle snakes than people.


We Have A Town Named After A Number: Forty-One, OK
And A Town Whose Letters Don't Spell Anything: IXL, OK

We Even Have A City Named After Earth's Only Satellite: Moon, OK
And A City Named After Our State: Oklahoma City, OK

Other City Names In Oklahoma To Make You Smile:
Bowlegs, Oklahoma
Bugtussle, Oklahoma
Bushyhead, Oklahoma
Frogville, Oklahoma
Gotebo, Oklahoma
Hooker, Oklahoma
Loco, Oklahoma
Slapout, Oklahoma
Slaughterville, Oklahoma
Gay, Oklahoma
Straight, Oklahoma

And in case you've never been there, you could go to: Nowhere, Oklahoma
 
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Speaking of Oklahoma, about 40 years ago, when I was a graduate student in NYC, I used to work occasionally as a Japanese language interpreter to make bucks. One of my gigs was a day interpreting for Hertz rentacar for their meetings with Nippon Rentacar.

At one point we were riding around in a car, a Japanese guy, a coupla Hertz guys, and me. The Japanese guy, making small talk, asked the Hertz guy, who was driving,where he was from. The Hertz guys says Oklahoma City.

The Japanese guy, following up, asks, “What do you do for entertainment, for fun, in Oklahoma City?”

The Hertz guy considers this for a while, then says, “Well, we like to get on our horses, ride out onto the prairie, and shoot rattlesnakes with our pistols from horseback...”

The Japanese guy ponders this for a bit, then asks, bemusedly, “Why?”

I just lost it and guffawed. I thought it hilarious. Pretty soon we all were laughing. Some activities just don't translate across cultures too well.
 
Fun Facts about SC

1 Campbell's Covered Bridge built in 1909, is the only remaining covered bridge in South Carolina. Off Hwy 14 near Gowensville.

2 The salamander was given the honor of official state amphibian.

3 The walls of the American fort on Sullivan Island, in Charleston Harbor, were made of spongy Palmetto logs. This was helpful in protecting the fort because the British cannonballs bounced off the logs.

4 The City of Myrtle Beach is in the center of the Grand Strand, a 60-mile crescent of beach on the South Carolina coast. In the last 25 years, Myrtle Beach has developed into the premier resort destination on the East Coast.

5 South Carolina entered the Union on May 23, 1788 and became the 8th state.

6 David Robert Coker (1870-1938) conducted his early crop-improvement experiments on the family plantation in Hartsville. Beginning with 30 experimental cotton selections and methodically applying the latest techniques in the scientific breeding of crops, the work of Coker Experimental Farms played a great role in the agricultural revolution in the South.

7 The state dance of South Carolina is the Shag!

8 The first battle of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter.

9 South Carolina is the nation's leading peach producer and shipper east of the Mississippi River.

10 Before being known as the Palmetto State, South Carolina was known as, and had emblazoned on their license plates, the Iodine State.

11 The only major league baseball player to wear the name of his hometown on his uniform was pitcher Bill Voiselle. He wore number 96.

12 The Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame features champion thoroughbred flat racers and steeplechase horses trained in Aiken.

13 The Black River Swamp Preserve is located near Andrews. This slow-moving river is characterized by high concentrations of organic carbon, which accounts for the tea-colored water and gives rise to the diverse habitats in its widespread floodplain.

14 Batesburg-Leesville is home to the annual South Carolina Poultry Festival held in early May.

15 South Carolina's smallest county is McCormick at 360 square miles while the largest county is Horry at 1,134 square miles

16 A noble Catawba Indian who befriended early Camden settlers, King Haiglar is often called "The Patron Saint of Camden." Today, he reigns over Camden in the form of a life-sized weather vane which graces the tower of what once was the circa-1886 Opera House.

17 Chapin is known as the Capital of Lake Murray.

18 Sumter has the largest Gingko farm in the world.

19 Stretching 60 miles from Little River to Georgetown, South Carolina's Grand Strand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States.

20 The Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel was started in 1856 by a railroad company and is bored for more than a mile into the granite heart of fabled Stumphouse Mountain. The coming of the Civil War in 1859 ended the work on the project. Some years ago, Clemson University made Blue Mold Cheese in the tunnel successfully for the first time in the South.

21 Tyler Brothers Work Shoe and Boot Company in Wagener produces 8 major brands of OSHA approved safety footwear, including such famous brands as Redwing, Georgia, Northlake, and Wolverine.

22 The Board of Public Works in Gaffney built an elevated water storage tank in the shape of a peach in 1981.

23 The Edisto River Canoe & Kayak Trail covers 66 miles of the river for which it's named. The Edisto is reputed to be the world's longest free-flowing "blackwater" stream. "Blackwater" is a term that not only describes the color of the tannin-rich water, but also refers to the peaceful rate of flow that characterizes such rivers.

24 The Argent train Engine No. 7 was donated to the town of Hardeeville upon the closing of the Argent Lumber Company. This narrow gauge train is a rarity and attracts many people from across the nation.

25 The first boll weevil found in South Carolina is on display at the Pendleton District Agricultural Museum.

26 Duncan Park Baseball Stadium in Spartanburg is the oldest minor league stadium in the nation.

27 Every few years, Irmo has a sighting of some kind of water monster that inhabits Lake Murray. The monster first 'surfaced' in 1973 when residents of Irmo and Ballentine saw a cousin of the Loch Ness Monster. It was described in The Independent News in 1980 as "a cross between a snake and something prehistoric."

28 A 24-mile motorcycle trail and a 26-mile horse trail are unusual features of Parsons Mountain Park in the Sumter National Forest.

29 The Isle of Palms was originally named Hunting Island and then Long Island, it's thought to be at least 25,000 years old, and was first inhabited by the indigenous Seewee Indians.

30 Johnston is called The Hub of the Ridge because it is located at the meeting place of the three river systems which flow away from the Ridge, a fertile plateau about thirty miles long between clay hills to the north and sand hills to the south.

31 Johnston is known as the Peach Capital of the World.

32 The Lake City tobacco market was established in 1898, and has grown to become one of the two largest markets in South Carolina today.

33 Sweetgrass basket making has been a part of the Mount Pleasant community for more than 300 years. Basket making is a traditional art form that has been passed on from generation to generation.

34 Bomb Island on Lake Murray each spring and summer is the home of a very unusual event. Each year thousands of Purple Martins return to this island to roost for the summer. The island has been declared a bird sanctuary and it is quite a sight to watch these birds return to Bomb Island each day around sunset.

35 At the Riverbanks Zoological Park in Columbia more than 2000 animals thrive in recreated natural habitats with no bars or cages.

36 Little River is the Gateway to the Grand Strand. Giant moss-covered oak trees, that are centuries old, line its waterfront and many streets!

37 There is an old saying in Marion that anyone who drinks water from Catfish Creek becomes infatuated with the area and wishes to remain there.

39 In February 1852 William Burkhalter Dorn discovered the second richest vein of gold in SC history on the site of the present town of McCormick.

40 Red Spider Lilies were first planted in the US, in the Willington-Mt. Carmel area when Dr. James Morrow sent them and other plants from the Orient while he served as surgeon with Commodore Perry's expedition to open trade with Japan.

41 The introduction of tobacco in 1894 rocketed Mullins into the Tobacco Capital of South Carolina. As many as 200 tobacco barns sprang up throughout the community. Warehouses were also constructed and the first tobacco sale took place on August 28, 1895.

42 Housed in a 100-year-old freight depot, the Cowpens museum is a showplace for relics belonging to the crew of the USS Cowpens, a famous World War II aircraft carrier.

43 Orangeburg is known as the "Garden City" because of its beautiful Edisto Memorial Gardens. The Edisto Memorial Gardens displays past and current award winning roses from the All-American Rose Selections.

44 The Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport was the first airport in South Carolina opening in October 1927.

45 Summerville's beauty is mirrored in her motto, "The Flower Town in the Pines." Since the early 1900's day tourists have flocked to the town during early spring to enjoy millions of spring blossoms, particularly azaleas, in private and public gardens, including the mid-town Azalea Park.

46 Fountain Inn is proud of the town's most famous native son. Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates lost his leg in a cotton gin accident at the age of 12; he overcame his tragedy to become a famous dancer. His signature step was the "Imitation American Jet Plane," in which he would jump five feet in the air and land on his peg leg, with his good leg sticking out straight behind him. During his career, Bates performed more than 20 different times on the Ed Sullivan television show more than any other artist.

47 The Upper Whitewater Falls is the highest cascade in eastern America; it descends for nearly 411 feet.

48 On Nov 2, 1954 Strom Thurmond became the first US senator elected by write-in vote. Thurmond received 139,106 write-in votes to win his seat. He defeated Democratic nominee Edgar Brown, who received only 80,956 votes.

49 Beginning Labor Day and running through the following weekend, the South Carolina Apple Festival celebrates the beginning of apple harvest season in Oconee County, the largest apple-producing area in the state.

50 The Columbia City Ballet, South Carolina's oldest dance company, has developed into one of the most broadly supported performing arts organizations in the state.

I honestly don't think very many of our facts are 'fun',but here are some extras.

Angel Oak

Folly Beach USA - Angel Oak

The 'Lizardman' in Bishopville, SC.

South Carolina's Lizard Man may have been captured in new images | Daily Mail Online

Home of the C.S.S. Hunley

HL Hunley Submarine – North Charleston, South Carolina
- Atlas Obscura


World's biggest Peach

Gaffney Peachoid – Gaffney, South Carolina
- Gastro Obscura


Fort Sumter, first shots of the Civil War.

Fort Sumter Tours | Charleston Area CVB
 
For Oklahoma, wky was actually the 3rd west of the Mississippi. Wew in st louis and kgu in Honolulu came before it.
Illinois is home to the worlds largest ketchup bottle.... and a horseradish festival, I'm sure there are a good few more interesting facts, but those are off the top of my head.
 
Farmer17: An interesting post; thank you. The tornado facts aren't real fun, but what can we say?

Regards,
Andy
 
In 1936, the people of the state thought the legislative house (of the state house and senate) was such a waste, they abolished the house and went with just (what was supposed to be) a non-partisan senate.

Lately i’ve been thinking we should try that with the feds.
 
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Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable.

Maine produces 99% of all the blueberries in the country.

90% of the country's toothpick supply is produced in Maine.

Eastport is the most eastern city in the United States. The city is considered the first place in the United States to receive the rays of the morning sun.

Maine is the only state that shares its border with only one other state.

Maine has 3478 miles of coastline.
 
Couple of Rooster Cogburn related bits about Missouri

He lost his eye in a "Little Scrap Outside Lone Jack" which is just outside of KC

His cat General Sterling Price was named after the former Governor of Missouri, who when the War of Northern Aggression started took the Missouri National Guard and joined the Confederacy.

BTW Oklahoma has more miles of shoreline than any other state.
 
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the most important Oklahoma facts!

1. They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee.
2. They don't take trips on LSD.
3. They don't burn their draft cards down on Main Street.
4. They don't make a party out of lovin'.
5. They don't let their hair grow long and shaggy.
6. It’s a place where even squares can have a ball.
7. They still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse.
8. White lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all.
9. Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear.
10. Beads and Roman sandals won't be seen.
11. Football's still the roughest thing on campus.
12. The kids here still respect the college dean.
 
Funny place names in SC

1) Bucklick

2) Burns Down

3) Wide Awake (That's my voting district)

4) Dog Bluff

5) Fair Play

6) Fingerville

7) No Mans Land

8) Happy Bottom

9) Happytown

10) Coosawatchie

11) Hurl Rocks

12) Quarantine

13) Ketchuptown

14) Mayo

15) Climax

16) Ninety Six

. I’m still looking forward to joking about Ding Dong, Texas and Booger Hole, West Virginia!
 
We have a swallowtail flag.

So there.

Yes, it is technically a Burgee ( a pennant with a swallow tail) and is the only state flag that is not rectangular.

The great state of Ohio also

is the Mother of Presidents ( 7)

fought a war with Michigan and won Toledo

Big in Aerospace firsts. Wright Brothers, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and more
 
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