Fun Facts about the State of Mississippi brought to you by the American Local History Network.

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• Friendship Cemetery in Columbus, has been called "Where Flowers Healed A Nation"? On April 25, 1866 the ladies of Columbus, Mississippi decided to decorate both Confederate and Union soldiers' graves with garlands and bouquets of beautiful flowers. As A direct result of this kind gesture, Americans celebrate what has come to be called MEMORIAL DAY each year?
  
  
• The Teddy Bear was created as a direct result of President Theodore ("Teddy" Roosevelt's refusal to shoot a captured bear in 1902, while on a hunting expedition in Sharkey County, Mississippi. (Use link to see Mal Martin's essay on the Teddy Bear.)
  
  
• The oldest book in America, an ancient Biblical manuscript, is located at the University of Mississippi.
  
  
• World Color, a printer in Corinth, Mississippi prints National Geographic.
  
  
• Alcorn State University is the nation's oldest African American land-grant college.
  
  
• In 1834, Captain Isaac Ross, whose plantation was in Lorman, freed his slaves and arranged for them to be sent to Africa, where they founded the country of Liberia. Representatives of Liberia visited Lorman and placed a stone at the Captain's grave site in honor of his kindness.
  
  
• Oliver Pollock, the largest individual financial contributor to the American War of Independence, is buried near Pinckneyville, but is best known as the man who invented the $ sign.
  
  
• After the Civil War, famed hat-maker John B. Stetson learned and practiced his trade at Dunn's Falls near Meridian.
  
  
• The University of Southern Mississippi houses the world's largest collection of original manuscripts and illustrations of children's literature.
  
  
• The University of Mississippi Blues Archive in Oxford contains the world's largest collection of Blues music.
  
  
• The official world's record for keeping a plane aloft is held by Al and Fred Key of Meridian. They refueled in the air and kept their plane aloft for 653 hours and 34 minutes (27 days, 5 hours, and 34 minutes) in 1935.
  
  
• The Old Spanish Fort Museum in Pascagoula, Mississippi has the honor of displaying the world's largest shrimp.
  
  
• Lumberton, Mississippi, is the home of the world's largest pecan nursery (Bass Pecans).
  
  
• Issaquena County, Mississippi is the home of the world's largest cottonwood tree.
  
  
• The world's largest manufacturer of furniture wood products is in Eupora, Mississippi.
  
  
• Edwards, Mississippi is the home of the world's largest cactus plantation.
  
  
• Belzoni, Mississippi, is called the "Catfish Capital of the World."
  
  
• Greenwood, Mississippi, is called the "Cotton Capital of the World."
  
  
• Vardaman, Mississippi, is called the "Sweet Potato Capital of the World."
  
  
• Greenville, Mississippi, is called the "Towboat Capital of the World."
  
  
• Root Beer was invented in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr.
  
  
• The rarest of North American cranes lives in Mississippi in the grassy savannas of Jackson County. The Mississippi Sandhill Crane stands about 44 inches tall and has an eight-foot wing span.
  
  
• Mississippi's Petrified Forest near Flora is the only such site in the eastern United States.
  
  
• The world's largest headboard manufacturing plant is the Masonite Company in Laurel, Mississippi.
  
  
• Mississippi native Harry A. Cole, Sr, invented Pine Sol was invented in 1929.
  
  
• The world's oldest Holiday Inn is located in Clarksdale.
  
  
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, the world's largest hydraulic research laboratory, is in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  
  
• The Space Shuttle's main engines are test-fired at the Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.
  
  
• Jackson is headquarters for Vickers Aerospace, Marine Defense where components are designed and manufactured for virtually every aircraft flown in the world.
  
  
• Mississippi has more churches per capita than any other state.
  
  
• The U.S. Navy's most sophisticated ships are built at the Ingalls Shipyard, a division of Litton Industries, right here in Mississippi (Pascagoula).
  
  
• Guy Bush of Tupelo, was one of the most valuable players with the Chicago Cubs. He was on the 1929 World series team and Babe Ruth hit his last home run off a ball pitched by Bush.
  
  
• The largest Bible binding plant in the nation is the Norris Bookbinding company in Greenwood.
  
  
• Casey Jones, the famous railroad engineer, died in a crash at Vaughan, Mississippi, while trying to make up for lost time.
  
  
• S. B. "Sam" Vick of Oakland, played for the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. He was the only man ever to pinch hit for baseball great Babe Ruth.
  
  
• The University of Mississippi Medical Center in 1963 performed the world's first human lung transplant and, on January 23, 1964, Dr. James D. Hardy performed the world's first heart transplant surgery.
  

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