Boise City, Oklahoma, Mayor Duane Ferguson retreats to a safe distance.

Bomb in the Sidewalk

Boise City, Oklahoma

In 1943 Boise City was mistakenly bombed by a training mission from an air base in Texas. The only thing destroyed was a garage -- doubly embarrassing for the military, since the bombs were aimed at the courthouse. Most towns would try to forget this kind of thing, but not Boise City. In 1993, on the 50th anniversary of the mishap, the town made a tiny replica bomb crater -- less than two feet deep -- out of concrete in front of its chamber of commerce office, which is an old caboose. One of the bombs that fell jutted out of the crater, and in front stood a plaque: "Boise City -- Still Booming."

The crater, plaque, and bomb disappeared in 2019 during a street repair project, and we feared that they were gone for good. In early 2023 the plaque had returned and so had the bomb, now embedded nose-first in a flat sidewalk. The crater was gone, but it was so ridiculously small that it may not be missed.