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50 free Philadelphia trivia questions with answers. Philadelphia trivia for natives, transplants and anyone planning a visit. This quiz covers the whole city: William Penn's founding in 1682 and what the name means in Greek, the years Philly served as the nation's capital, the truth about the Liberty Bell's crack, why City Hall was briefly the tallest building on the planet, and the gentlemen's agreement that produced the Curse of Billy Penn. It also covers the things Philadelphians actually argue about: who invented the cheesesteak, whether the hoagie came from Hog Island, the Mummers' five divisions, the 72 Rocky steps, Boathouse Row's lights, Wawa's goose, the Philly Special and the city's long list of American firsts. Sports, TV and music get a look in too, from American Bandstand to the Roots. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is marked on every question. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and the primary sources it cites, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
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Q 01Philadelphia's name is Greek for what?
Brotherly love
William Penn chose it as a Quaker; several ancient cities carried the same name, including one mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
Q 02In which year did the city's Quaker founder establish Philadelphia?
1682
Legend has Penn making a treaty with Lenape chief Tammany under an elm at Shackamaxon, now Fishtown.
Q 03Philadelphia served as capital of the United States on how many separate occasions between 1776 and 1800?
Five
It gave way to Washington, D.C. in 1800, and lost its title as the nation's largest city to New York in 1790.
Q 04Which Native American people lived at Shackamaxon on the site of Philadelphia?
The Lenape
They were also called the Delaware Indians, after the river along which they lived.
Q 05The Liberty Bell was cast in 1752 by a London firm later renamed what?
The Whitechapel Foundry
It cracked on its first test ring in Philadelphia and was recast twice by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose names are on it.
Q 06Which movement first gave the State House Bell the name 'Liberty Bell', adopting it as a symbol?
The abolitionists
That happened in the 1830s; the bell's link to the Revolution was not made until 1847.
Q 07The Liberty Bell's inscription begins 'Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the' what?
Inhabitants thereof
The bell also spells the colony 'Pensylvania', an accepted spelling at the time that Alexander Hamilton later used on the Constitution.
Q 08Independence Hall was originally built as what?
The Pennsylvania State House
Completed in 1753, it hosted both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Convention in its Assembly Room.
Q 09Independence Hall has appeared on the back of which US banknote since 1928?
The $100 bill
Its Assembly Room, from John Trumbull's painting, is on the back of the $2 bill.
Q 10When its tower was finished in 1894, Philadelphia City Hall held what world record?
Tallest habitable building
It kept the title until the Singer Building rose in New York in 1908, and it is still the world's largest free-standing masonry building.
Q 11Whose 37-foot bronze statue stands on top of City Hall?
William Penn
Sculptor Alexander Milne Calder made it and more than 250 other sculptures on the building; the statue weighs over 53,000 pounds.
Q 12The 'Curse of Billy Penn' was blamed on which 1987 event?
A skyscraper rising above the City Hall statue
The city then went a quarter century without a title in any major sport, until the Phillies won the 2008 World Series.
Q 13Which building, completed in 2018, is the tallest in the US outside Manhattan and Chicago?
Comcast Technology Center
Q 21The bronze statue of Stallone's boxer at the museum steps was originally commissioned for which movie?
Rocky III
Sculptor A. Thomas Schomberg cast three 2-ton copies; the first bounced between the museum, the Spectrum and the bottom of the steps.
Q 22Philadelphia's museum parkway was designed in 1917 by Jacques Greber to emulate which famous boulevard?
The Champs-Elysees
The Art Museum stands in for the Arc de Triomphe at its far end, giving 'a slice of Paris in Philadelphia'.
Q 23The Mummers Parade, held every New Year's Day, first officially marched in which year?
1901
It is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the US, and its theme song is 'Oh, Dem Golden Slippers'.
It rises 1,121 feet, more than double City Hall's 548.
Q 14Which two hot-dog-stand brothers are credited with inventing the cheesesteak?
Pat and Harry Olivieri
The first sandwiches had no cheese at all; that was added at Pat's Ridge Avenue shop by a manager nicknamed 'Cocky Joe' in 1951.
Q 15Which rival cheesesteak shop, founded in 1966, sits directly across the street from Pat's?
Geno's
The soft, slightly salted Amoroso roll is the classic base for both.
Q 16Per a popular account, 'hoagie' comes from Italian-American workers at a WWI shipyard known as what?
Hog Island
Mayor Ed Rendell later declared the hoagie the official sandwich of Philadelphia.
Q 17Which snack-cake company, maker of the Butterscotch Krimpet, was founded in Philadelphia in 1914?
Tastykake
Kandy Kakes became its best-seller, with nearly half a million baked every day.
Q 18The convenience chain Wawa is named after a Pennsylvania town whose name comes from an Ojibwe word for what?
Snow goose
The first Wawa Food Market opened in Folsom in 1964, though the logo shows a Canada goose rather than a snow goose.
Q 19Reading Terminal Market opened in 1893 under what?
A railroad's elevated train shed
The city wanted street markets moved indoors for safety and sanitation; the Pennsylvania Dutch merchants there still close on Sundays.
Q 20How many steps make up the famous 'Rocky Steps' at the Philadelphia Museum of Art?
72
Stallone originally wanted Rocky to carry his bull mastiff Butkus up them, but the dog was too heavy.
Q 24Which is NOT one of the five competitive divisions of the Mummers Parade?
Brass Bands
The five are Comics, Wench Brigades, Fancies, String Bands and Fancy Brigades, based in clubhouses along 'Two Street' in Pennsport.
Q 25What delayed the opening of Philadelphia's zoo, chartered in 1859, until 1874?
The Civil War
It opened with 1,000 animals and 25-cent admission.
Q 26Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation's first, was founded in 1751 by Thomas Bond and whom?
Benjamin Franklin
It housed America's first surgical amphitheatre and first medical library.
Q 27Which polymath established the Library Company of Philadelphia, the nation's first, in 1731?
Benjamin Franklin
Franklin also founded the city's first fire company.
Q 28The Philadelphia bourse, owned by Nasdaq since 2008, holds what distinction?
Nation's oldest stock exchange
Founded in 1790, it is now a global leader in options trading.
Q 29The 1793 epidemic that killed roughly ten percent of Philadelphia's population was an outbreak of what?
Yellow fever
It was the largest yellow fever epidemic in US history, killing 4,000 to 5,000 people.
Q 30Which invention was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Fairmount Park, the first official US World's Fair?
Bell's telephone
More than nine million people visited between May and November.