Thought I'd start this thread for amazing, underpublicized or forgotten fascinating facts about Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

Did you know that Penn Square Bank was one of the nation's most powerful banks?

Braniff was once based in Oklahoma City before relocating to Dallas and going bankrupt?

A brewery in the 1960's by the name of Progress Brewing Company made bottles of Progress beer, before being bought out by a brewing company in San Antonio and having its name changed to Lone Star beer.

Disney wanted to build an entertainment park in Pauls Valley in 1986, then considered Shawnee in the 1990's.

David Spade hung out with a friend in Oklahoma City and regularly went to the Samurai Saki House to play pool. He visited Jokers Comedy club when the club was open on May and 59th.

Edmond was the world's tallest water tower near I-35. It was constructed in 1987 and holds a capacity of 200,000 gallons, I believe.

Oklahoma, "Buckle of the Bible Belt", has changed more laws than most states across the country. Other states changed gradually overtime, but in less than 5 years, Oklahoma overhauled its auto-registraion fees, banned cockfighting, allowed local wineries to sell directly to a licensed retail liquor store and in festivals, legalized the lottery, Class III tribal gaming, cut state income tax rates, became a right-to-work state, will soon legalize tattooing, raise teachers' salaries and banned Sudafed due to widespread meth labs.

Oklahoma City was the No. 2 destination in the 1950's for conventions because of the central location.

Oklahoma City was the first city in the nation to use the Brifen cable barrier along the Lake Hefner Parkway.

Oklahoma City was the first city in the nation to host a publcized sit-in by the African-American community at Katz drug store.

The term "going postal" was actually coined after the murder of 16 post office employees including himself.

Frontier City was going to be razed and turned into a shopping plaza along I-35 until Gary Story took over.

Anybody have anything interesting to add to this thread? This is how an ambassaor of Oklahoma City and a citizen with pride master the shortcomings of a community, by throwing fascinating facts into the tour. That raises the excitement for visitors.