Mississippi - Based on the Ojibwa Indian word messipi meaning "big river"

Mississippi State Flag

 

Mississippi Facts and Trivia

• Borden's Condensed Milk was first canned in Liberty.

• In 1902 while on a hunting expedition in Sharkey County, President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt refused to shoot a captured bear. This act resulted in the creation of the world-famous teddy bear.

• The world's largest shrimp is on display at the Old Spanish Fort Museum in Pascagoula. 

• The world's largest cactus plantation is in Edwards.

• Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, on January 8, 1935. 

• In 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.  

• Blazon-Flexible Flyer, Inc. in West Point is proclaimed to make the very best snow sled in the United States, which became an American tradition. It is called The Flexible Flyer.

• Friendship Cemetery in Columbus has been called Where Flowers Healed a Nation. It was April 25, 1866, and the Civil War had been over for a year when the ladies of Columbus decided to decorate both Confederate and Union soldiers' graves with beautiful bouquets and garlands of flowers. As a direct result of this kind gesture, Americans celebrate what has come to be called Memorial Day each year, an annual observance of recognition of war dead.

• The largest Bible-binding plant in the nation is Norris Bookbinding Company in Greenwood. 

• 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. Recently, representatives of Liberia visited Lorman and placed a stone at the Captain's grave site in honor of his kindness.

• The world's largest cottonwood tree plantation is in Issaquena County.

• David Harrison of Columbus owns the patent on the Soft Toilet Seat. Over 1,000,000 are sold every year.

• The first football player on a Wheaties box was Walter Payton of Columbia.

• Greenwood is the home of Cotton Row, which is the second largest cotton exchange in the nation and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

• The International Checkers Hall of Fame is in Petal.

• 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 other city except New York City.

• Natchez now has more than 500 buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places. 

• Pine Sol was invented in 1929 by Jackson native Harry A. Cole, Sr.

• The world's largest pecan nursery is in Lumberton.

• Greenwood is called the Cotton Capital of the World.

• Belzoni is called the Catfish Capital of the World.

• Vardaman is called the Sweet Potato Capital of the World.

• Greenville is called the Towboat Capital of the World.

• Root beer was invented in Biloxi in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr.