United States City Firsts Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

The first swimming school in the United States, opened in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 23, 1827. For their first lesson, each student was suspended from the ground by a rope on a pole and taught correct arm and leg movements. A couple of the school's famous alumni are: John Quincy Adams and naturalist James Audubon.

Answer: First monument honoring Christopher Columbus

In 1736, The Union Company, the first volunteer fire company in America, was organized in Philadelphia, by Benjamin Franklin. The year 1730 saw two botanic gardens founded in or near Philadelphia, the first in the USA. On Mar. 26, 1796, Bethel African Church was established in Philadelphia.

It was the first organized African-American church in the United States. The first monument to Christopher Columbus was dedicated in Baltimore, Maryland, on Oct. 12, 1792, as part of the the 300th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World.

Answer: Adair, Iowa

On July 21, 1873, Jesse and Frank James, with their gang, (which included Jim and Cole Younger) wrecked, looted, and robbed the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad near Adair, Iowa. They took $3,000.00 from passengers and the express car. Engineer John Rafferty was killed in the derailment. Jesse James died on April 3, 1882, in his rented house in St. Joseph, Missouri.

He was shot in the back of the head, while standing in a chair dusting a picture, by new gang member, Bob Ford. Ford and his brother Charles had hoped to collect the $10,000.00 reward on James's head.

Instead, they were arrested for murder and sentenced to hang, but the brothers were pardoned by Gov. Tom Crittendon. Bob Ford was himself killed in a barroom brawl in Creede, Colorado in 1892.

Answer: False

The first recorded automobile fatality took place on Sept. 13, 1899, in New York City, New York. Henry M. Bliss stepped off of a streetcar at Central Park West and 74th Street and into the path of the car driven by Arthur Smith. Bliss died at the hospital shortly afterwards.

Answer: True

The oldest forensic laboratory in the United States is that of the Los Angeles Police Department. It was created in 1923 by August Vollmer, a police chief from Berkeley, California. The FBI Lab was organized in 1932 under J. Edgar Hoover. It is the world's largest forensic lab and examines over one million cases each year.

This is from "Criminalists: Introduction To Forensic Science" by Richard Saferstein.

Answer: Hollywood, California

The First Annual Academy Awards, honoring films of 1927 and 1928, was held in the Boston Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. William C. de Mille and Douglas Fairbanks served as hosts. The first Academy Award for most outstanding project went to "Wings" from Paramount Famous Lasky. Best actor and best actress awards went to Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor. Charles Chaplin received a special award for directing, producing, writing, and acting in "The Circus". Warner Bros. also received a special award for pioneering the first talking picture "The Jazz Singer".

Answer: Detroit Daily Mirror

"Dick Tracy", the comic strip about a plainclothes police detective who battled such bad guys as Pruneface and Flattop, debuted in the "Detroit Daily Mirror" on Oct. 4, 1931. Dick Tracy was drawn by Chester Gould.

Answer: Hendersonville, North Carolina

Ithaca, New York, Norfolk, Virginia, and Buffalo, New York, all claim to be the home of America's first ice cream sundae. The earliest documentation of the the sundae was in an ad placed by Chester Platt in the "Ithaca Daily Journal" on Apr. 6, 1892. The story goes that a Unitarian minister, Rev. Scott, stopped by the Platt and Colt drugstore in Ithaca, New York, for his usual Sunday scoop of vanilla ice cream. For reasons unknown, Chester Platt poured cherry syrup over the ice cream and topped it off with a candied cherry. Rev. Scott loved the new confection and called it a "Cherry Sunday". If you would like to get the other versions of how the sundae was invented, you can get the "scoop" at "The Official Website of the Ice Cream Sundae" at: http://www.icecreamsundae.com.

Hendersonville, North Carolina's claim to fame is that the lovely angel monument which inspired the title of Thomas Wolfe's novel "Look Homeward, Angel" is located in their Oakdale Cemetery.

Answer: Chicago, Illinois

The Exchange National Bank of Chicago, Illinois, opened the first driveup banking facility in the United States, in 1946. Ten teller windows helped make banking easier and faster for the bank's customers.

Answer: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

George Romero was born on Feb. 4, 1940, in New York City, New York, and lived there until leaving to attend Pittsburgh's Mellon University. Romero was the camerman, director, editor, and co-writer (with John Russo) of "Night of the Living Dead". It may have been made on the cheap, the budget was $100,000.00, but it has been scaring audiences silly since its premiere in Pittsburgh in 1968. "Night of the Living Dead" has attainted not only true cult status, but mainstream recognition, too, and was inducted into the United States Film Registry in 1999. Thank you for taking my quiz. I hope you enjoyed it.