Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

Inventions & Innovation
The needs and wants of
consumers spawned ideas in
Oklahoma. Scientists at Phillips
Petroleum in Bartlesville invented
the aerosol can and plastic.
The idea for mud flaps to prevent
the wheels of big rigs from kicking
up mud and rocks came from
Oscar March, a truck driver at
Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest
City. Perry machine shop owner
Ed Malzahn created the Ditch Witch trenching
machine to replace the pick and shovel.
Now half the trenching machines in the world
are made at the Ditch Witch plant in Perry.
The shopping cart and the parking meter
were invented in Oklahoma City.
In 1932, Walt Disney chose Clarence Nash,
a native of Watonga, as the voice of Donald
Duck. For the next fifty years, Nash was the
voice of the famous cartoon duck.
NEXRAD (next generation weather radar)
was invented by professors at the University of
Oklahoma School of Meteorology. The National
Weather Service Forecast Center is on the OU
campus in Norman.
Clinton Riggs designed the YIELD sign and
first used it in Tulsa.
The world’s first tornado forecast was
issued by two officers at Tinker Air Force
Base in Midwest City in 1948.
Arthur Jones, a native of Seminole, invented
Nautilus exercise equipment found in most
gyms and health spas in the nation.
The first Sam’s Club warehouse shopping
store was built in Midwest City in 1983
and opened by founder, Kingfisher native
Sam Walton.
Oklahoma’s State Capitol is the only
such building located over a commercial pool
of oil.
America’s first Boy Scout troop was formed
at Pawhuska.
The first Girl Scout cookie was sold in
Muskogee in 1917.
Above: The National Weather Service
Forecast Center is in Norman.
S A M U E L M O O R E W A L T O N
Kingfisher, Oklahoma is proud to claim Sam Walton as a native son.
He was born there in 1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton,
Even though the family moved when Sam was a boy he never forgot his
Kingfisher roots and was a frequent visitor there throughout his life.
With extensive retail experience behind him, Sam Walton and a
brother opened the first Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas, calling it Walmart
Discount City. From that humble beginning, the worldwide chain now
known simply as Walmart was born. One might wonder what Sam
Walton would think of his stores today since his determination to
market American-made products and find American manufacturers,
has definitely been forgotten.
Sam’s Clubs, membership only retail warehouse stores, operated by
Walmart and named for Sam, was founded in 1983, nine years before
his death, and as of 2014 had grown to over 600 stores in forty-eight
states, 11 in Puerto Rico, 13 in Brazil, and 1 in China.
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