Page 147 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2017

DID YOU KNOW?
Mississippi Facts
compiled by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster 1884
the concept of selling shoes in boxes in pairs (right foot and left foot) occurred in Vicksburg at Phil Gilbert’s Shoe Parlor on Washington Street.
1902
On a hunting expedition in Sharkey County, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to
shoot a captured bear, an act which resulted in the creation of the Teddy bear.
1914
Mrs. Mamie Thomas was the first female rural mail carrier in the United States, using a buggy to deliver mail to the area southeast of Vicksburg
1929
H.T. Merrill from Iuka performed the world’s first round trip trans- oceanic flight.
1929
Pine Sol was invented by Jackson native Harry A. Cole, Sr.
1963
the University of Mississippi Medical Center accomplished the world’s first human lung transplant and, on January 23, 1964, Dr. James D. Hardy performed the world’s first heart transplant surgery.
Jackson is one of only four cities of the world sanctioned by The International Theater- Dance Committee to host the International Ballet Competition. The other three cities are Moscow, Russia, Varna, Bulgaria and Helsinki, Finland.
Burnita Shelton Mathews of Hazlehurst was the first woman federal judge in the United States and served in Washington, D.C.
The first nuclear submarine built in the South was produced in Mississippi.
Over 1,000,000 soft toilet seats are sold every year,
thanks to a patent owned by Columbus native David Harrison.
The oldest game in America is stickball. The Choctaw Indians of Mississippi play the game and demonstrations can be seen every July at the Choctaw Indian Fair in Philadelphia.
Natchez was settled by the French in 1716 and is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi River. Natchez once had 500 millionaires, more than any American city except New York City.
Mississippi suffered the largest percentage of people who died in the Civil War of any Confederate State. 78,000 Mississippians entered the Confederate military. By the end of the war 59,000 were either dead or wounded.
Coca-Cola was created in Atlanta, but at first was only available as a fountain drink. It wasn’t bottled until 1894 in Vicksburg.
Around 60 percent of the country’s farm-raised catfish comes straight from Mississippi. Belzoni even has a Catfish Museum to honor the whiskered unofficial state hero.
Mississippi was the first state to develop a planned system of junior colleges (now called community colleges).
The oldest book in America is an ancient Biblical manuscript at the University of Mississippi.
Famed hat maker John B. Stetson learned and practiced his craft at Dunn’s Falls near Meridian after the Civil War, and forever changed the hat-wearing game.
The Mississippi River is the largest river in the United States and is the nation’s chief waterway. Its nickname is Old Man River.
Dr. Emmette F. Izard of Hazlehurst developed the first fibers of rayon. They became known as the first real synthetics.
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