Missouri Trivia

Editors Note: Marcia Napier with the Grain Valley Historical Society will share Missouri trivia regularly as the state looks forward to celebrating its bicentennial in 2021.
 

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society    
 

​     There’s only one corn cob pipe factory left in the world and it’s right here in Missouri This Midwestern commodity was born out of circumstance in 1869 when a Missouri farmer whittled a smoking pipe out of a dried out corn cob. Henry Tibbe, a woodworker from Washington, MO, was commissioned to make a few more corn cob pipes.
     The pipes sold so well that Tibbe left woodworking behind and started producing the pipes full-time. In 1907, the company was re-named the Missouri Meerschaum Company and they’re still going strong today!