Pittsburgh
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97 free Pittsburgh trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free Pittsburgh trivia questions with answers. Think you know Pittsburgh? Test your knowledge of the Steel City with our comprehensive 97-question trivia quiz covering everything from the iconic Three Rivers Stadium to the city's industrial heritage. Whether you're a lifelong resident or just a passionate fan, this quiz will challenge your understanding of Pittsburgh's rich history, sports legacy, famous landmarks, and cultural contributions. Discover how well you really know America's most resilient city!
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Ohio River, formed at Pittsburgh's Point, flows 981 miles to join which river?
The Mississippi
The Mississippi takes in the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois, and gets more water from it than from any other tributary, the far longer Missouri included.
Q 02Pittsburgh's tallest skyscraper, the U.S. Steel Tower, wears a Cor-Ten steel skin designed to do what?
Rust on purpose
Rust on purpose: Cor-Ten grows a dark brown coat that seals the metal, so it never needs paint, but as the new tower weathered the run-off turned the sidewalks below a rusty brown.
Q 03Where does Pittsburgh's so-called 'fourth river' flow?
Underground
Underground: the 'fourth river' is really an aquifer of sand and gravel about 55 feet below the Point, and it was tapped to feed the fountain in Point State Park.
Q 04Which British general, namesake of the Pirates' old ballpark, named Pittsburgh in 1758?
John Forbes
John Forbes took the abandoned enemy fort at the forks in November 1758, named the place for the British statesman William Pitt, and died just four months later.
Q 05In which 1983 film does Jennifer Beals play a Pittsburgh welder who dreams of becoming a dancer?
Flashdance
Flashdance was shot largely on location around Pittsburgh on a modest budget, then took nearly $93 million at US cinemas, more than all but two other films of 1983.
Q 06A 2006 count of 446 bridges lets Pittsburgh boast of outnumbering which European city?
Venice
Venice is the usual yardstick, but the boast is disputed: the 446 comes from Bob Regan's 2006 book, which added footbridges and rail spans, and Venice's own tally runs from about 400 to over 470.
Q 07Pittsburgh's two surviving 'inclines', which carry riders up its steep hillsides, are what type of transport?
Funiculars
Funiculars, known locally as inclines, were built for people housed on the bluffs who were tired of climbing steep footpaths from the riverside mills; these two are the last still running.
Q 08Pittsburgh's downtown business core is widely known by what nickname?
The Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle is the wedge of land where two rivers meet; its tip, filled with warehouses and railroad yards by the 1930s, was cleared in the 1950s to create Point State Park.
Q 09What primary industry dominated Pittsburgh's economy before the widespread rise of steel manufacturing?
Iron and coal
Iron and coal came first: the War of 1812 set the town's forges and foundries booming, decades before steelmaking began there.
Q 10Which part of downtown Pittsburgh is home to Heinz Hall and the Benedum Center?
The Cultural District
The Cultural District was a seedy red-light quarter until a trust founded in 1984 began buying its faded movie palaces and adult theaters and turning them back into playhouses.
Q 11Which singer, raised in Pittsburgh's North Hills, won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2000?
Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera beat her former 'Mickey Mouse Club' castmate Britney Spears to the award with only one album out.
Q 12Which Pittsburgh-born artist has his own museum among the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh?
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol, the son of Rusyn immigrants, left for New York soon after graduating from Carnegie Tech in 1949; his museum opened back home in 1994, seven years after his death.
Q 13Which Frank Lloyd Wright house was built in the 1930s as a weekend retreat for Pittsburgh retailer Edgar Kaufmann?
Fallingwater
Q 21Which Hall of Famer, 'The Flying Dutchman', played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner earned the nickname for his speed and German heritage; he played in the very first World Series in 1903 and won the Pirates' first title in 1909.
Q 22Which writer, famed for her Paris salon and 'a rose is a rose is a rose', was born near Pittsburgh in 1874?
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side, but her family left for Vienna and Paris while she was a small child; her salon at 27 rue de Fleurus later drew Picasso, Matisse and Hemingway.
Q 23Which biologist from Springdale, near Pittsburgh, warned the world about pesticides in a 1962 book?
Rachel Carson
Fallingwater stands about 70 miles southeast of the city on Bear Run; Kaufmann had expected a house looking up at the stream's waterfall, and Wright set it directly on top instead.
Q 14Which University of Pittsburgh building holds the Nationality Rooms?
Cathedral of Learning
Cathedral of Learning funds came partly from children: in a 1925 'Buy a Brick for Pitt' drive, each schoolchild who mailed in a dime got a certificate for one brick in the 42-story tower.
Q 15Pittsburgh's three near-identical suspension bridges over the Allegheny downtown share what nickname?
The Three Sisters
The Three Sisters went up in the 1920s because the War Department ordered three mismatched older bridges replaced to give river traffic more clearance; eyebar chains hold them up in place of cables.
Q 16Kennywood, the Pittsburgh area's classic amusement park, is located in which suburb?
West Mifflin
West Mifflin's Kennywood opened in 1898 as a trolley park: a trolley company owned by the city's leading banking family built it as an attraction at the far end of its line.
Q 17What unique contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh is known for its site-specific installations?
The Mattress Factory
The Mattress Factory is named for its home: sculptor Barbara Luderowski bought a derelict Stearns & Foster mattress warehouse on the North Side in 1975 and opened it to artists two years later.
Q 18Which family has owned Pittsburgh's NFL team since founding it in 1933?
The Rooneys
The Rooneys trace back to Art Rooney, who paid $2,500 for the franchise in 1933; the league's Rooney Rule, which makes teams interview minority candidates for top jobs, is named for his son Dan.
Q 19Which slugger won two National League MVP awards in Pittsburgh before leaving for San Francisco after 1992?
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds's last act for the club was a throw home that came too late to stop Sid Bream scoring the run that lost the 1992 NLCS; 20 straight losing seasons followed.
Q 20Pitt's football rivalry with West Virginia, first played in 1895, goes by what name?
The Backyard Brawl
The Backyard Brawl is named for how close the rivals are: the two campuses sit only about 75 miles apart along Interstate 79.
Rachel Carson grew up on a small family farm in Springdale; her 'Silent Spring' stirred such public alarm over pesticides that the United States cancelled almost all uses of DDT in 1972.
Q 24Which iconic actor and dancer, known for musicals like 'Singin' in the Rain,' was raised in Pittsburgh?
Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly studied economics at the University of Pittsburgh and for several years ran a successful dancing school in the city, leaving for New York and a Broadway chorus part only in 1938.
Q 25Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie arrived in the Pittsburgh area as a boy from which country?
Scotland
Scotland's Dunfermline, his birthplace, fell on hard times when factories undercut handloom weavers like his father, so the family sold up and sailed in 1848; the boy started work in a cotton mill.
Q 26Which future TV host worked the puppets on WQED Pittsburgh's 'The Children's Corner' in the 1950s?
Fred Rogers
Fred Rogers left NBC in New York in 1953 to help start WQED, then stayed off camera for years, voicing puppets such as Daniel Striped Tiger while Josie Carey hosted.
Q 27Which entrepreneur and investor, known from 'Shark Tank,' was born and raised in Pittsburgh?
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban grew up in suburban Mt. Lebanon, sold garbage bags door to door at 12 and ran newspapers in from Cleveland during a Post-Gazette strike before his Broadcast.com fortune.
Q 28Which Catholic school in Pittsburgh's Bluff neighborhood was long home to the Tamburitzans troupe?
Duquesne
Duquesne became the troupe's home in 1937, when its founder stopped in Pittsburgh on tour and struck a deal for work scholarships; the Eastern European folk ensemble went independent in 2016.
Q 29Pittsburgh's economy has diversified from its industrial past to focus on which sectors?
Healthcare and education
Healthcare and education took up the slack after the steel industry collapsed around 1980, a recovery the White House chose to showcase by bringing the 2009 G20 summit of world leaders to the city.
Q 30Pittsburgh's Washington's Landing recalls which 1753 mishap of George Washington's on the Allegheny?
Falling off a raft
Falling off a raft: Washington, 21, was thrown into the icy river and scrambled onto an island, a neighbouring one and not the one that now bears his name.