50 Years of 50 States: Oklahoma
Nickname: Sooner State
Date Ratified: November 16, 1907 (46th)
Capital: Oklahoma City
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- Oklahoma's first newspaper was the Cherokee Advocate. First published in 1844, it was available in both English and Cherokee.
- Anadarko is home to the only authentic Indian city in the United States.
- Okmulgee holds the world records for largest pecan pie, pecan cookie, pecan brownie, and biggest ice cream and cookie party.
- The nation's only lighter museum is in Gurhie, where there are over 20000 lighters on display.
- Clinton Riggs designed the yield sign, and it was first tried out in Tulsa.
- Homesteading was first permitted on April 22, 1889. More than 50,000 people swarmed into the area, those who tried to beat the noon starting gun were called Sooners, hence the state's nickname.
- Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any state in the U.S., and is the tribal headquarters for 39 tribes. Oklahoma was the original location of the Indian territory, where 5 tribes from the southeastern U.S. were located in the 1830s and 1840s.
- The first flag of Oklahoma, adopted 4 years after achieving statehood, was a red flag with a large white star with the number "46" in it. The Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored a contest to redesign the flag in 1924 because red flags were considered a symbol of communism. The winning design was adopted in 1925, and the words Oklahoma were added to it in 1941. As for the symbolism:
The Osage shield is covered by two symbols of peace: the peace pipe or calumet representing Native Americans, and the olive branch representing European Americans. Six golden brown crosses, Native American symbols for stars, are spaced on the shield. The blue field represents the first official flag flown by any Native American Nation, the Choctaw flag of the American Civil War (from Wikipedia).
