T Is for Texas, Tennessee, Tampa and Terre Haute Quiz

Answer: Tyler

Tyler it is!

The Caldwell Zoo originated in 1937 in the Child Development Laboratory, which was started in 1937 and was operated by the Hogg Foundation and the American Association of University Women of Tyler. Mr. and Mrs. David King Caldwell operated it, as Mr. Caldwell had first opened a Child Development Laboratory at his home. Among the initial residents of the actual zoo itself, which opened in 1953, were a lion and chimpanzee who were 'retired' from television shows.

The first Tyler Rose Festival was organized in October 1933 for the purpose of bringing attention to the importance of the economic benefits that the rose industry provided to the city of Tyler. In 1936, it was renamed the Texas Rose Festival in celebration of the Texas Centennial. The three day festival that is held in the third week of each October showcases the beauty of the city and its abundance of roses, bringing literally thousands of tourists to the city each year.

Camp Ford, near Tyler, was the largest Civil War Confederate P.O.W. camp west of the Mississippi River. While the northern captives were initially held out in the open air, that was quickly changed when 800 new prisoners threatened a mass breakout in November 1863. A military stockade was soon built to contain the prisoners and to offer a modicum of protection from the elements. The area is now managed by the Smith County Historical Society as a public park.

Thanks to all the residents of TYLER for sharing your city's name with me!

(In case you were wondering, "logcrawler" is simply derived from portions of my name; LOGan CRAWford TyLER. I know, I know. Someday I'll have to address Logan, Utah and Crawford, Texas, too!)

Answer: Tullahoma

The town of Tullahoma, Tennessee may derive its name from a Creek Indian meaning "red rock". It was founded as a work camp in 1852 as a part of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.

The name Tullahoma, which may be a corrupted form of the word 'Tulkahoma', derives its name either from a Creek Indian word meaning "red rock" or for the name of horse who in turn was named for a Creek Indian chieftain.

Tullahoma became the headquarters for the Confederate Army of Tennessee in 1863, during the War Between the States. It was during this extremely rainy spring battle campaign that an officer of the Confederacy provided a fresh insight as to how the town had received its name. Jokingly he had written: "It is from two Greek words - 'Tulla' meaning mud and 'Homa' meaning more mud".

Tullahoma celebrated its 150th anniversary on October 4, 2002.

Answer: Tucumcari

Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before its county of Quay was founded. While the town was named in 1908 after nearby Tucumcari Mountain, no one is exactly sure of the origin of that name. Some believe it to be a corruption of the Comanche word "tukamukaru", which means "to lie in wait for something to approach", while others think that a more romanticized story provides the origin of the name. The story goes that a Comanche woman and her child were captured in a battle at a place called Cuchuncari some time in the 1700s and that may have been the genesis of the name.

The heyday of the era of automobile travelers wending their way west on Route 66 found them visiting Tucumcari, New Mexico, but like many of the other towns along the route, that tourist attraction has become a past glory, with the town's population at a mere 5,989 according to the 2000 census. Unlike some other areas that have become almost ghost-towns along the old Route 66, Interstate 40 has helped to keep Tucumcari from completely disappearing. Quite a few of the vintage motels and restaurants that were built from the 1930s through the 1950s were still in business in 2013.

Answer: Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda

Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda was a survivor of a storm at sea, who afterwards lived among the Calusa Indians of Florida for 17 years. All the rest of the crew were at first rescued by the Calusas, then enslaved by them and finally sacrificed by them, but he alone somehow survived.

An archaeologist named Jerald Milanich later placed the original "Bay of Tanpa" as being located at Charlotte Harbor. A later Spanish expedition did not notice Charlotte Harbor while sailing northward up the west coast of Florida, and they thought that this locale further to the north was the area known by then as Tampa Bay that they were seeking.

There were no permanent settlements in the area (other than those of the Calusa Indians) until after 1819, when the United States acquired Florida from Spain.

While Tampa is generally known for its pleasantly warm subtropical climate, there was one occasion in which it saw massive snowfall! During February of 1899, a blizzard alternately called The Great Blizzard and The Snow King dumped incredible amounts of ocean effect snow from Fort Myers to Tampa, westward to New Orleans, and then northward up the Atlantic seaboard before finally weakening over the mid-Atlantic states.

Answer: Topeka, Kansas

A herb known as the prairie potato was an important staple in the diets of many Native American tribes, and the place name, Topeka, Kansas reflects that importance.

Topeka has had its role in racially motivated politics defined from its inception as a state, providing a warring-ground of sorts for both pro-slavery sentiments and abolitionist beliefs.

In 1951, Topeka became the focal point of the nation when a young black girl named Linda Brown was the named plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education. The eventual outcome of this case was the elimination of the standard of "separate but equal" status for blacks in formal education, and it began the long road towards racial integration in all of American public schools.

The largest employer in Topeka, the state's capital, is the state of Kansas, with one out of every five workers employed by the state (2012 data).

Topeka is often referred to as the home of Pentecostalism, since it was here in 1901 that the term "glossolalia" or "speaking in tongues" was first claimed by Charles Fox Parham to be evidence of a spiritual experience that was defined by baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Answer: Tybee Island

Tybee (pronounced Tie-bee) Island is the name of Georgia's easternmost town. The original inhabitants, the Euchi, had existed in the area prior to the Spanish, French and English migrations to the New World. The Euchi had migrated from what is today known as Tennessee in their effort to escape the Cherokee tribe. This group of Native Americans live mostly in Oklahoma, after their removal from their eastern homelands. Some integrated into the Florida Seminole tribe, while others found their way into the Muscogee/Creek tribe. Their name for Tybee Island meant "salt"; as in salty waters.

On the 5th of February in 1958, two airplanes from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida collided. One of those planes was carrying a hydrogen bomb, and jettisoned it just offshore of Tybee Island. The lost bomb, known locally as the Tybee Bomb, has caused years of concern, from Jacksonville, Florida all the way up the coast to Charleston, S.C., even though the U.S. Air Force maintains that the weapon was not armed with a nuclear capsule and does not pose a grave danger. Oh, okay. Then I feel compelled to ask an obviously sarcastic question. What was it doing on the plane in the FIRST place; were they just checking its weight to see if it could make the flight?

Answer: Creek

Yes, those ubiquitous Creek Indians, who had been forced-marched out of their homelands in the Deep South and had been re-settled into "Indian Territory" in what was later to become Oklahoma, named the town "Tallasi", meaning "old town". This was later corrupted into "Tulsa".

Tulsa was known as the Oil Capital of the World for most of the 20th century, and profits from oil contributed greatly in helping the area's residents weather the storm of the Great Depression better than most other locations in the U.S. during those lean years.

Answer: Terre Haute

Terre Haute boasts many fine venues including The Children's Museum, which is a hands-on science and technology museum which serves 22 counties in Indiana and Illinois. It hosts traveling exhibits on weather and space related technologies that serve the school districts in the Wabash Valley.

Eva Mozes Kor, a native-born Romanian, founded the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. Kor herself is a survivor of the Holocaust who, along with her twin sister Miriam, were "experimented" on by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz Concentration camp during WW2. Both of her parents and two of her sisters were killed at Auschwitz; only she and her twin survived. In 1984, she founded the organization CANDLES, which is an acronym for "Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors".

Answer: no one is really certain

Tacoma/Tahoma was the name of Mount Rainier originally, and the first settlers of the town simply borrowed its name. Little Tahoma Peak is a satellite peak of Mount Rainier.
Or try this explanation: the mountain took its name from the city.
Or maybe this one: the Native Americans called it that.
Or how about - the railroads were responsible for the name?
Or, perhaps, money was involved in the nomenclature of both the mountain AND the city.

Confused yet? So was I when I began researching the origins of the name Tacoma/Tahoma/Tahoba, etc. I'll simply let this one go by, as there is a multitude of possibilities, with all sides claiming to be the "right one" while openly disputing all other explanations.

Let it suffice to say that Tacoma was the third-largest city in the state of Washington in 2013, and that in the 1990s Tacoma took steps to revitalize itself successfully after several decades of decline. By 2013 Tacoma had a thriving liberal arts community, with several city parks and walking area green spaces and has been rated among the 30 best cities in America in which to live, according to "Partners For Livable Communities".

Answer: Troy

In addition to those ratings, according to "CNN Money", in 2008 Troy, Michigan was ranked as 22nd as one of the "Best Places to Live" in the United States. That same year, it was also ranked as the fourth most affordable U.S. city. This Detroit suburb is home to several major companies and has long been a thriving business center.

Troy high schools have an almost unbelievable success story to tell. They have enjoyed a 99% graduation rate, with 95% of those students going on to higher education and 2% going into some branch of the military. (2011 statistics).

Hmm. Maybe it's time for me to consider moving northward to Troy...