In The Past
Which two states gave up land to create Washington DC?
A. Virginia & West Virginia
B. Delaware & Virginia
C. Maryland & Virginia
D. Delaware & Maryland
C. Maryland & Virginia
Fun fact: DC's creation comes directly from the US Constitution, which provides that the district, "not exceeding 10 Miles square," would "become the Seat of the Government of the United States."
What is Washington, D.C.?
A. One of the 50 states of the United States
B. The government of the United States
C. A city that is part of Maryland
D. The capital city of the United States
D. The capital city of the United States
Fun Fact: Washington DC is missing “J” Street.
What was the previous name of the street now known as Martin Luther King Ave SE?
A. Johnson Ave
B. Nichols Ave
C. Smith Ave
D. Bolling Ave
B. Nichols Ave
Post-answer fact: MLK Avenue received its current name in 1971.
Which billionaire is an alumni of Wilson High School?
A. Mark Cuban
B. Laurene Powell Jobs
C. Sheila Johnson
D. Warren Buffett
D. Warren Buffett
Post-answer fact: Buffett, who is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway moved to DC as a child when his father was elected to Congress. He also attended Alice Deal Junior High.
What is the area called between the Capital and the Lincoln Memorial?
A. National Grounds
B. National Mall
C. Lafayette Square
D. East Potomac Park
B. National Mall
Fun Fact: The National Mall is home to more than 26 miles of pedestrian sidewalks and 8 miles of bike trails. 10 tons of grass seed and nearly 3,000 yards of sod and turf are installed and planted on the National Mall annually. There are over 300 acres of turf on the National Mall.
Which of the following women of national note have lived or live in Washington, D.C.?
A. Clara Barton
B. Pauli Murray
C. Anna Julia Cooper & Mary McLeod Bethune
D. All of the above
D. All of the above
Fun Fact: The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is located on the National Mall, just north of the Reflecting Pool. The memorial was dedicated in 1993 and portrays two women caring for a fallen soldier.
How many members does the DC Council have?
A. 8
B. 10
C. 13
D. 15
C. 13
Post-answer fact: There are 8 Ward council-members, 4 At-Large council members, and 1 Chairman, totaling 13.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the neighborhood around Second and N St SW was so notorious for violence, it was known by what nickname?
A. Blackjack Row
B. The Knock
C. Bloodfield
D. Murdertown
C. Bloodfield
Fun Fact: Southwest is part of Pierre L'Enfant's original city plans and includes some of the oldest buildings in the city, including the Wheat Row block of townhouses, built in 1793, and Fort McNair, which was established in 1791 as "the U.S. Arsenal at Greenleaf Point.
Which of these was NOT a Washington, D.C.-area professional sports team:
A. The Washington Dash
B. The Maryland Arrows
C. The Washington Tapers
D. The Capital Bullets
A. The Washington Dash
Fun Fact: Washington, D.C. has hosted five Major League Baseball All-Star Games. The Washington Senators hosted the 1937 and 1956 All-Star Games at Griffith Stadium. The 1962 and 1969 Games were hosted by the next Washington Senators franchise and were played at RFK Stadium. The 2018 All-Star Game was hosted by the Nationals at Nationals Park.
What is the tallest structure in Washington, D.C. (excluding radio towers)?
A. United States Capital
B. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
C. Washington Monument
D. Washington National Cathedral
C. Washington Monument
Fun Fact: The Original Monument Design was $1 Million in 1848! By the time the monument was officially opened to the public in 1888, it was at a cost of $1.4 million. (Good thing they stopped there!)
Who is the only president buried in DC?
A. John Adams
B. Thomas Jefferson
C. Robert F. Kennedy
D. Woodrow Wilson
D. Woodrow Wilson
Fun Fact: Wilson made the first live remote national radio broadcast. In November 1923, shortly before his death, Wilson spoke to a national audience just before Armistice Day from his Washington, D.C. home. The next day, 20,000 people showed up at his house to hear a few more words from the former President.
In square miles, roughly how large is Washington D.C?
A. 28
B. 68
C. 100
D. 168
B. 68
Fun Fact: The population of D.C. in 2023 is about 630,000!
How are the names of DC streets running north to south organized?
A. Alphabetically by names of presidents
B. Alphabetically by names of states
C. Numerical
D. Alphabetically by letters
C. Numerical
Fun Fact: The city of Washington was designed on a grid. At its center is the US Capitol. The streets running north and south are numbered, and the east-west streets are lettered beginning at the Capitol and extending in both directions.
Which of the following is NOT found in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution?
A. Abraham Lincoln’s Top hat
B. Spirit of St. Louis airplane
C. Hope diamond
D. Declaration of Independence
D. Declaration of Independence
Fun Fact: The Declaration of Independence was not actually signed on July 4, 1776. The Second Continental Congress adopted it that day, but the 56 representatives did not take up the quill pen until Aug. 2 – nearly a month later.
How many columns does the Lincoln Memorial have?
A. 51
B. 50
C. 36
D. 13
C. 36
Fun Fact: Rejected designs included an Egyptian pyramid!
Who was the 1st president to live in the White House?
A. George Washington
B. Ulysses S. Grant
C. John Adams
D. Abraham Lincoln
C. John Adams
Fun Fact: Adams was 90 when he died—the longest living president until Ronald Reagan, 178 years later.
Washington, D.C. gets how many electoral votes in presidential elections?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3
D. 3
Fun Fact: Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president in 1872.
When the Northwest D.C. neighborhood of LeDroit Park was built in the 1870s, a fence was constructed around its perimeter. Why?
A. To keep African-Americans from passing through the all-white development
B. To keep millionaire developer Harvey LeDroit's peacocks from wandering into streetcar traffic
C. To protect it from a rabies epidemic
D. To use up Confederate cannons that had been captured and melted down after the Civil War
A. To keep African-Americans from passing through the all-white development
After two years of wrestling with District authorities, on Aug. 8, 1961, Harry Zitelman opened the city's first what, at Bassin's Restaurant, 1347 E St. NW?
A. Kosher restaurant
B. Salad bar
C. Sidewalk cafe
D. Drive-through liquor service
C. Sidewalk cafe
Fun Fact: The sidewalk café wasn’t Zitelman’s only innovation at the Bassin’s complex. He also opened one of the city’s first discotheques, called the Top O’ the Walk Twist Room, in the former Atlas Club upstairs from the dining room in 1962. According to the Post, Zitelman got the idea after seeing Chubby Checker dancing the twist in New York.
The Washington National Cathedral has sculpted heads of what pop culture icon on its northwest towers?
A. Terminator
B. Darth Vader
C. Alien
D. Kermit the Frog
B. Darth Vader
Fun Fact: Washington National Cathedral is the sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in the United States. (The largest Church in the world is St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The largest cathedral in the United States is Saint John the Divine in New York City.)
Who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.?
A. Marshall Purnell
B. Maya Lin
C. I. M. Pei
D. Friedrich St. Florian
B. Maya Lin
Fun Fact: In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
What is the official bird of Washington, D.C?
A. Pigeon
B. Wood thrush
C. American Robin
D. American goldfinch
B. Wood thrush
Fun Fact: Their scientific name translates to “weasel-colored woodland thrush.” Other common names for the wood thrush include the swamp angel, song thrush, or wood robin.
Which of these organizations does NOT have its headquarters in Washington D.C?
A. FBI
B. Military
C. DHS
D. NSA
D. NSA
Fun Fact: The NSA maintains a museum in Fort Meade, Md., that shows off past supercomputers and secure smartphones. “It is a popular stop for tech executives after sales calls,” The New York Times reports. In 2002, the NSA claimed to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the United States “and perhaps the world.”
Which former president died in the capital building?
A. John Quincy Adams
B. Franklin D. Roosevelt
C. Grover Cleveland
D. Andrew Jackson
A. John Quincy Adams
Fun Fact: Adams was the first president to be interviewed by a female reporter. Anne Royall, a travel writer and publisher, had a simple formula for success. She charged $5 for subscriptions and treated customers gently, while heaping invective on non-subscribers. Fortunately for John Quincy Adams, he paid her $5 when he met her.
The tallest structure in DC isn’t the Washington Monument. It’s a radio tower. Which street is it located on?
A. Georgia Avenue
B. East Capitol Street
C. Wisconsin Avenue
D. New York Avenue
A. Georgia Avenue
Post-answer fact: At 761 feet, the Hughes Memorial tower is the tallest in the District. It is located at the corner of Georgia Ave and Peabody St NW and provides radio communications for DC’s police and fire departments.