Indianapolis Trivia
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60 free Indianapolis trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
48 free Indianapolis trivia questions with answers. Indianapolis was drawn on paper before anyone lived there: a planned capital laid out on a mile square around a circle, which is why locals call it the Circle City. This quiz covers the whole story — the 1821 plat, the world's first union station, the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, the Unigov merger, and the Indianapolis 500 that turned a brick-paved oval into the world's largest single-day sporting event. There are questions on the Colts and Pacers, Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Children's Museum, Eli Lilly, Kurt Vonnegut, Madam C.J. Walker, Benjamin Harrison, Crown Hill Cemetery and the tenderloin sandwich. The easy questions ask which state capital this is and what the winner of the 500 drinks in victory lane. The hard ones want the height of the monument, why the milk tradition started with buttermilk, which coach Hinkle Fieldhouse is named for and how many people are buried at Crown Hill. Good for race weekend, a school unit on Indiana or a Naptown pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the city and its landmarks, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Indianapolis is the capital and county seat of which county?
Marion
Indianapolis is the county seat of Marion County; a 1970 city-county consolidation merged most county government with the city's, making the two nearly coterminous.
Q 02In what year was Indianapolis established as a planned city for Indiana's state government?
1821
Indianapolis was founded in 1821 on a central site chosen to house the state government, which did not move in from the old capital until 1825.
Q 03Who platted the original mile-square city with Elias Pym Fordham?
Alexander Ralston
Alexander Ralston, who had assisted Pierre L'Enfant in surveying Washington, D.C., drew the Mile Square plat with four diagonal avenues radiating from a central circle.
Q 04Where was Indiana's state capital before it moved to Indianapolis in 1825?
Corydon
Corydon served as Indiana's capital from statehood in 1816 until 1825, and its old limestone capitol survives as a state historic site.
Q 05Which Indianapolis nickname doubles as Indiana's official state motto?
Crossroads of America
Crossroads of America is both a nickname for Indianapolis and, since 1937, Indiana's official state motto, reflecting the city's role as a rail and interstate highway hub.
Q 06Indianapolis sits along the west fork of which waterway?
The White River
The West Fork of The White River winds north to south through Indianapolis, collecting Fall Creek and Eagle Creek within the city before continuing southwest.
Q 07The 'Circle City' nickname comes from what feature of the city's original plan?
A central roundabout
A central roundabout, the circular street first called Governor's Circle, anchored the original Mile Square plat; it became Monument Circle and gave Indianapolis the 'Circle City' nickname.
Q 08What is the name of the 1970 city-county consolidation?
Unigov
Unigov, effective 1 January 1970, merged the governments of Indianapolis and its surrounding county, expanding the city's area from about 82 to about 402 square miles.
Q 09The 1853 Indianapolis rail terminal shared by several railroads was the world's first what?
Union station
Indianapolis opened the world's first union station in 1853, a single terminal shared by competing railroads; a larger Romanesque Revival station replaced it on the same site in 1888.
Q 10The National Road, which reached the town in 1827, was notable as the first what?
Federally funded major highway
The National Road, begun at Cumberland, Maryland, in 1811, was the first federally funded major highway in the United States; it crosses Indianapolis as Washington Street.
Q 11The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on the circle is roughly how tall?
284 feet
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument rises 284 feet 6 inches above Monument Circle, an Indiana limestone obelisk topped by a bronze statue of Victory and only about 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty.
Q 12Who designed the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, dedicated in 1902?
Bruno Schmitz
Bruno Schmitz, an architect from Germany, won the design competition for the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument; its cornerstone was laid in 1889 and it was dedicated on 15 May 1902.
Q 13The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza hosts the national headquarters of which veterans' organization?
The American Legion
Q 21Which team owner bought the Speedway and the IndyCar Series from the Hulman family in 2019?
Roger Penske
Roger Penske's Penske Corporation agreed in November 2019 to buy the Speedway and the IndyCar Series from Hulman & Company; Tony Hulman had bought the track from Eddie Rickenbacker in 1945.
Q 22NASCAR's 400-mile race of 1994 was the first non-Indy 500 race at the Speedway since what year?
1916
The inaugural Brickyard 400 in August 1994 was the first race other than the 500 held at the Speedway since the 1916 Harvest Classic; its crowd of more than 250,000 was then a NASCAR record.
Q 23The Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984 from which city?
Baltimore
The Colts left Baltimore on the snowy night of 28-29 March 1984, loading Mayflower moving vans and driving to Indianapolis before Maryland could seize the team by eminent domain.
The American Legion, chartered by Congress in 1919, has kept its national headquarters in Indianapolis since that year, in a building on the Indiana World War Memorial Plaza among the city's veterans' monuments.
Q 14The Indianapolis 500 is billed as the world's largest what?
Single-day sporting event
The Indianapolis 500 is billed as the world's largest single-day sporting event; the Speedway's permanent grandstands alone seat more than 257,000 people, before infield crowds are counted.
Q 15Who won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911?
Ray Harroun
Ray Harroun won the inaugural 1911 race in the Marmon Wasp, driving without a riding mechanic and instead fitting a rear-view mirror to watch the cars behind him.
Q 16What does the Indy 500 winner traditionally drink in victory lane?
Milk
Milk became the tradition after Louis Meyer, a habitual buttermilk drinker, was photographed swigging from a bottle in victory lane after his 1936 win, and a dairy executive promoted the image.
Q 17How many cars traditionally start the Indianapolis 500?
33
The traditional field is 33 cars in eleven rows of three, a size derived from an early AAA safety formula that allowed one car for every 400 feet of track.
Q 18How long is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval?
2.5 miles
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval measures 2.5 miles around, so drivers cover 200 laps to complete the 500-mile race.
Q 19Which of these drivers has NOT won the Indy 500 four times?
Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti won the Indianapolis 500 only once, in 1969; A. J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears and Hélio Castroneves make up the four-win club.
Q 20The Borg-Warner Trophy, presented since 1936, is decorated with what?
Sculpted faces of every winner
The sterling-silver Borg-Warner Trophy carries sculpted faces of every winner in bas-relief, beginning with the 1911 victor; it stands about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs some 153 pounds.
Q 24Which coach and quarterback led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl XLI?
Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning
Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning led the Colts past the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI in February 2007; Manning was named MVP and Dungy became the first Black head coach to win the game.
Q 25Before Lucas Oil Stadium opened in 2008, the Colts played in which domed stadium?
RCA Dome
The RCA Dome, opened in 1984 as the Hoosier Dome, was the Colts' home until 2008 and was then demolished to expand the Indiana Convention Center.
Q 26The Indiana Pacers began in 1967 in which league?
The ABA
The Indiana Pacers were charter members of the ABA in 1967 and won three of its titles (1970, 1972 and 1973) before joining the NBA in the 1976 merger.
Q 27The Pacers' name refers to harness racing and what else?
Indy 500 pace cars
The name Pacers was chosen in 1967 to evoke Indiana's harness-racing pacers and the Indy 500 pace cars that lead the field to the green flag.
Q 28Reggie Miller earned what nickname for his clutch shooting against one particular team?
Knick Killer
Reggie Miller was dubbed the Knick Killer for feats like scoring eight points in 8.9 seconds against New York in the 1995 playoffs; drafted 11th overall in 1987, he spent all 18 seasons with Indiana.
Q 29The city's Children's Museum, founded in 1925, holds what world distinction?
Largest of its kind
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis is the largest of its kind in the world, with 472,900 square feet of exhibit space on five floors; it opened in 1925.
Q 30Which pharmaceutical giant was founded in Indianapolis in 1876?
Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly was founded in Indianapolis in 1876 by the pharmacist Eli Lilly; in 1923 it became the first company to mass-produce insulin, and it later made much of the Salk polio vaccine.