Oklahoma is celebrating its 100th anniversary of statehood this
year. Because most people think of the stage play "Oklahoma"
when they hear the state's name mentioned, citizens are attempting
to update the state's image by sharing interesting state facts
with others as we celebrate our Centennial.
Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt Eller from
"Oklahoma" but of the parking meter (invented in OKC) and the
shopping cart (invented in Ardmore).
The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by a Beggs
musician named Bob Dunn. The first "Yield" sign was installed
in Tulsa.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes Oklahoma
as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation.
The state, according to EPA, boasts 11 distinct eco-regions.
The state has more man-made lakes than any other state, which
give them more than a million surface-acres of water and 2,000
more miles of shoreline than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.
The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any other
state in the union. Owen Garriott is an Enid boy, of course,
while Tom Stafford is from Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from
Oklahoma City, William Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon
Cooper from Shawnee.
Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Association and Hall
of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4 and F5 tornadoes
than any other state.
Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in the nation
and ranks fourth in the production of wheat, cattle and calves,
fifth in the production of pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth
in peaches.
The state's colors are neither OU's crimson and cream nor the
orange and black of OSU but green and white.
Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is the
Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600 church and more
than 960,000 members.
Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester Gould is
a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the
original voice of Walt Disney's Donald, grew up in Watonga).
Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of killer
tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building and various oil booms and busts. Oklahoma is
populated by people who are caring, giving, hard-working,
patriotic and fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to
live, work and play.
The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make the rest
of America aware of what Oklahoma has to offer, besides "beautiful
mornings," "fringe-laden surreys" and "a girl who cain't say no."
The official statehood celebration will be in November. In the
meantime, individual cities are restaging various events associated
with statehood and the settling of Indian Territory which eventually
became our state. It's a great time to be an Oklahoman
and I wanted to share this with you!
Well, an old roofer told me once, "the best thing that ever come out of Oklahoma was Highway 60-70." Or wait a minute...was that Texas he was talking about?
Oklahoma Centennial 
