Baltimore Trivia
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57 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 57 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
Maryland was chartered to the Calverts in 1632. Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, held a title seated in Ireland, so the city carries the family's barony rather than his 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
It is a pentagon: Frenchman Jean Foncin designed the five-bastioned fort in 1798, ringed by a dry moat, so every wall could be covered by flanking fire.
Q 04Key's poem was set to the tune of a song written for which London gentlemen's club?
The Anacreontic Society
The Anacreontic Society, a London amateur-musicians' club, used John Stafford Smith's 'To Anacreon in Heaven' as its song; the 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
In 1931 President Herbert Hoover signed the joint resolution making it the national anthem, 117 years after the battle it describes.
Q 06The Baltimore and Ohio holds what distinction among American railways?
Oldest in the United States
Oldest in the United States: chartered in 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio was America's first common-carrier railroad and later lent its name to 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
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, then 90 and the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, laid the first stone at the 4 July 1828 ceremony.
Q 08Roughly how many buildings were completely levelled in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904?
1,500
About 1,500 buildings across roughly 140 acres of downtown burned in some 30 hours on 7–8 February 1904, the worst American city fire since Chicago in 1871.
Q 09What was the lasting national legacy of the 1904 fire?
Standardised hose couplings
Standardised hose couplings: engines from Philadelphia, Washington and New York arrived by rail but could not connect to Baltimore's hydrants, and a national thread standard was adopted in 1905.
Q 10Which writer died in Baltimore in 1849, aged 40, under mysterious circumstances?
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore on 7 October 1849, aged 40, days after being found delirious in the street; the city's NFL team took its name from his poem 'The Raven'.
Q 11The Baltimore Ravens were established in 1996 after which team's owner announced a move to the city?
The Cleveland Browns
Art Modell announced in November 1995 that he was moving the Cleveland Browns; Cleveland kept the Browns name and history, and the relocated team became the Ravens in 1996.
Q 12Through the 2020 season, how many Super Bowls had the Ravens won?
Two
Two: Super Bowl XXXV over the Giants in January 2001 and Super Bowl XLVII over the 49ers in February 2013, both without a defeat in the big game.
Q 13By what score did the Ravens beat the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV?
34–7
34–7: the Ravens' defence allowed no offensive touchdown, the Giants' only score coming on a kickoff return, and the 27-point win was the first title in franchise history.
Q 21Old Bay Seasoning is a mix of how many herbs and spices?
18
18, by McCormick's own count, led by celery salt, paprika and red and black pepper; Gustav Brunn created the blend in Baltimore in 1939 and McCormick bought the brand in 1990.
Q 22Berger Cookies are best known for what?
A thick chocolate frosting on shortbread
A thick chocolate frosting on shortbread: the fudge is spread on the flat bottom, like an inverted black-and-white cookie, and DeBaufre Bakeries makes them by hand in Baltimore.
Q 23How is Baltimore pit beef cooked?
Quickly at high heat and served rare
Q 14On what date did the Colts leave Baltimore for Indianapolis?
March 29, 1984
March 29, 1984: Mayflower moving vans rolled out of the Colts' complex in the pre-dawn hours after the state Senate passed a bill letting Baltimore seize the team by eminent domain.
Q 15The Colts' 1958 title win over the Giants is remembered as what?
The Greatest Game Ever Played
'The Greatest Game Ever Played': the 1958 NFL Championship, won 23–17, was the first NFL game decided in sudden-death overtime, with Johnny Unitas at quarterback.
Q 16The Orioles are named after what?
Maryland's state bird
Maryland's state bird, the Baltimore oriole, itself takes its name from the orange-and-black colours of the Calvert family arms; the franchise arrived from St. Louis, where it had been the Browns, in 1954.
Q 17How many World Series did the Orioles win in the twentieth century after moving to Baltimore?
Three
Three: 1966, 1970 and 1983, from six appearances in that span; the franchise was the last American League charter member to win one.
Q 18Cal Ripken Jr., the 'Iron Man', spent how many seasons with the Orioles?
21
21 seasons, his entire career, ending in 2001 with 3,184 hits, two MVP awards and a record 2,632 consecutive games played.
Q 19Oriole Park at Camden Yards, opened in 1992, is notable as what?
The first of the 'retro' ballparks
The first of the 'retro' ballparks: its brick, exposed steel and the old warehouse beyond right field set the template for two decades of stadium design after it replaced Memorial Stadium in 1992.
Q 20Johns Hopkins, opened in 1876, is considered the first American what?
Research university
Research university: modelled on the German universities, it opened in 1876 under Daniel Coit Gilman; the Quaker merchant's $7 million bequest was the largest philanthropic gift in American history at the time.
Quickly at high heat and served rare: top round is seared over charcoal, then sliced thin on a Kaiser roll with horseradish or tiger sauce and raw onion.
Q 24Which John Waters film starred Divine, Debbie Harry and Ricki Lake in her debut?
Hairspray
Hairspray (1988) earned a PG, the gentlest rating a Waters film had ever received, and its Tracy Turnblad was Ricki Lake's first screen role.
Q 25The Wire was created by David Simon, who spent twelve years doing what?
Reporting for The Baltimore Sun
Reporting for The Baltimore Sun on the police beat; his book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets became an NBC series, while writing partner Ed Burns was the ex-detective and teacher.
Q 26How many episodes of The Wire were made?
60
60 episodes over five seasons on HBO, from June 2002 to March 2008, each season taking on a different Baltimore institution.
Q 27Babe Ruth was born in 1895 in which Baltimore neighborhood?
Pigtown
Pigtown: the rowhouse at 216 Emory Street belonged to his grandfather and is preserved as his birthplace; Ruth first signed with the minor-league Orioles in 1914.
Q 28Baltimore's airport is named after which native son?
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall, born in Baltimore in 1908, became the first African American Supreme Court justice and had won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the court.
Q 29As an enslaved teenager, Frederick Douglass was hired out to work as what in Fell's Point?
A ship caulker
A ship caulker: he learned the trade in Fell's Point shipyards and by 1838 was hiring out his own time, before escaping north that year and taking the name Douglass in New Bedford.
Q 30Michael Phelps was raised in Rodgers Forge, a neighborhood of which Baltimore suburb?
Towson
Towson: he grew up in its Rodgers Forge neighbourhood and trained with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club; born in Baltimore itself, he won 28 Olympic medals, 23 of them gold.