58 free Baltimore trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
54 free Baltimore trivia questions with answers. Baltimore gave America its national anthem, its first railroad, its first research university, its first six-pack and the Ouija board. This Baltimore trivia quiz covers all of it: Fort McHenry and Francis Scott Key, the B&O and Charles Carroll's first stone, the Great Fire of 1904, Poe's mysterious death, the Colts' midnight exit and the Ravens' two Super Bowls, the Orioles and Cal Ripken, Camden Yards and Pimlico. There is plenty of food and local colour too: Old Bay's 18 spices, Berger Cookies, pit beef, Natty Boh, the chicken box, formstone rowhouses, duckpin bowling and Mobtown. Famous natives run from Babe Ruth and Billie Holiday to Thurgood Marshall, Frederick Douglass, H. L. Mencken, Michael Phelps and John Waters, and the screen gets its due with Hairspray and The Wire. Roughly a third of the questions are for anyone who has visited, a third for locals, and the rest for people who know which London tavern Pimlico is named after. Every answer is checked against a cited source shown under the question.
30 of 58 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The city is named for Cecil Calvert, an English lord and founding proprietor of which colony?
Maryland
Calvert was the 2nd Baron Baltimore, a title seated in Ireland; the city carries the family's barony rather than the man's own name.
Q 02The bombardment of which Baltimore stronghold in 1814 inspired 'The Star-Spangled Banner'?
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry held; Francis Scott Key watched from a ship and wrote 'Defence of Fort M'Henry'; the flag now hangs in the Smithsonian.
Q 03What shape is the fort that guarded the harbor in 1814?
A pentagon
Frenchman Jean Foncin designed the bastioned pentagon in 1798, ringed by a dry moat.
Q 04Key's poem was set to the tune of a song written for which London gentlemen's club?
The Anacreontic Society
John Stafford Smith's melody spans 19 semitones, which is why the anthem is so hard to sing.
Q 05In what year did 'The Star-Spangled Banner' officially become the U.S. national anthem?
1931
President Herbert Hoover signed the joint resolution 117 years after the battle.
Q 06The Baltimore and Ohio holds what distinction among American railways?
Oldest in the United States
It ran the Tom Thumb, the first American steam locomotive, and later became one of the four railroads on the Monopoly board.
Q 07Who laid the B&O Railroad's first stone on July 4, 1828?
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
He was the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Q 08Roughly how many buildings were completely levelled in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904?
1,500
Out-of-town fire engines could not help because their hose couplings did not fit Baltimore's hydrants, which spurred national standardisation.
Q 09What was the lasting national legacy of the 1904 fire?
Standardised hose couplings
Engines from Philadelphia, Washington and New York arrived by rail and stood useless at the hydrants.
Q 10Which writer died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under mysterious circumstances?
Edgar Allan Poe
The city's NFL team took its name from his most famous poem.
Q 11The Baltimore Ravens were established in 1996 after which team's owner announced a move to the city?
The Cleveland Browns
Art Modell moved the franchise; Cleveland kept the Browns name and history.
Q 12How many Super Bowls have the Ravens won?
Two
XXXV over the Giants and XLVII over the 49ers; they and Tampa Bay are the only teams undefeated across multiple Super Bowl appearances.
Q 13By what score did the Ravens beat the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV?
34–7
It was the first title in franchise history and tied for the seventh-largest Super Bowl margin.
Q 21Johns Hopkins, opened in 1876, is considered the first American what?
Research university
The Quaker merchant's $7 million bequest was the largest philanthropic gift in U.S. history at the time.
Q 22Old Bay Seasoning is a mix of how many herbs and spices?
18
Celery salt, red and black pepper and paprika lead the list; McCormick, also of Baltimore, now owns it.
Q 23Berger Cookies are best known for what?
A thick chocolate frosting on shortbread
The frosting goes on the flat bottom, like an inverted black-and-white cookie; DeBaufre Bakeries makes them by hand.
Q 14On what date did the Colts leave Baltimore for Indianapolis?
March 29, 1984
The moving vans rolled out in the middle of the night under threat of an eminent-domain seizure by the city.
Q 15The Colts' 1958 title win over the Giants is remembered as what?
The Greatest Game Ever Played
It was the first NFL game decided in sudden-death overtime, with Johnny Unitas at quarterback.
Q 16The Colts franchise was named for what aspect of Baltimore's history?
Horse breeding and racing
The Maryland Jockey Club, formed in Baltimore in 1743, was the first professional sports organisation in the U.S.
Q 17The Orioles are named after what?
Maryland's state bird
The franchise arrived from St. Louis, where it had been the Browns, in 1954.
Q 18How many World Series have the Orioles won since moving to Baltimore?
Three
1966, 1970 and 1983, from six appearances in that span; they were the last AL charter member to win one.
Q 19Cal Ripken Jr., the 'Iron Man', spent how many seasons with the Orioles?
21
His entire career, 1981 to 2001, with 3,184 hits and two MVP awards.
Q 20Oriole Park at Camden Yards, opened in 1992, is notable as what?
The first of the 'retro' ballparks
It replaced Memorial Stadium and set the template for two decades of stadium design.
Q 24How is Baltimore pit beef cooked?
Quickly at high heat and served rare
Sliced thin on a Kaiser roll with horseradish or tiger sauce and raw onion.
Q 25Which John Waters film starred Divine, Debbie Harry and Ricki Lake in her debut?
Hairspray
Its PG was the gentlest rating a Waters film had ever received; most of his earlier work was rated X.
Q 26The Wire was created by David Simon, who spent twelve years doing what?
Reporting for The Baltimore Sun
His book Homicide became an NBC series; his writing partner Ed Burns was the ex-detective and teacher.
Q 27How many episodes of The Wire were made?
60
Five seasons on HBO from June 2002 to March 2008.
Q 28Babe Ruth was born in 1895 in which Baltimore neighborhood?
Pigtown
The house at 216 Emory Street belonged to his grandfather and is now a museum; Ruth first signed with the minor-league Orioles in 1914.
Q 29Baltimore's airport is named after which native son?
Thurgood Marshall
The first African American Supreme Court justice won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the court.
Q 30As an enslaved teenager, Frederick Douglass was hired out to work as what in Fell's Point?
A ship caulker
He escaped north in 1838 and took the name Douglass there.