Minneapolis Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Minneapolis trivia questions with answers. Minneapolis grew up around the only waterfall on the Mississippi and became the flour capital of the world, then reinvented itself as a city of lakes, skyways, theatre and one very famous purple musician. This quiz covers it in 50 questions: the meaning of the name, the Washburn mill explosion, Pillsbury and General Mills, the 1934 truckers' strike, Fort Snelling, the I-35W bridge and George Floyd Square. It also gets into the things locals like to test visitors on: which lake used to be Lake Calhoun, where Bob Dylan started out, why the Foshay Tower's dedication march was banned, who made the giant spoon, where Mary tossed her hat, which suburb the Mall of America is really in, and which bar invented the Jucy Lucy. Some questions are easy for anyone who has spent a weekend downtown; a few will only be answered by people who know how many neighbourhoods the city has. Every answer has been checked against a documented source and each question shows its citation and a short explanation after you answer.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The name Minneapolis combines the Greek word for 'city' with a Dakota word meaning what?
Water
The Dakota call the city Bde Óta Othúŋwe, Many Lakes Town, which is fair: it has thirteen of them.
Q 02Saint Anthony Falls, the reason the city exists, holds what distinction on the Mississippi River?
The only natural waterfall on it
A French priest renamed it in 1680 for St Anthony of Padua; a concrete apron has covered the falls since the 1950s.
Q 03Minneapolis earned which nickname from its dominance of a single industry in the late 1800s?
Mill City
In 1884 the value of its flour milling was the highest in the world; the Washburn A Mill was the world's largest until Pillsbury built a bigger one across the river.
Q 04Washburn-Crosby, the Minneapolis flour company founded in 1877, grew into which modern giant?
General Mills
Its rival Pillsbury sat directly across the falls; the two were finally merged in 2001.
Q 05How many workers died when flour dust exploded inside the Washburn A Mill on 2 May 1878?
18
The rebuilt mill was the largest in the world by 1880; after a 1991 fire its ruins became the Mill City Museum.
Q 06Minneapolis was incorporated as a city in which year?
1867
It had been founded in 1856 by Franklin Steele and John H. Stevens; Minnesota became a state in 1858.
Q 07What was the population of Minneapolis at the 2020 census?
429,954
That made it the 46th-largest US city, though the Twin Cities metro holds 3.69 million.
Q 08Minneapolis is nicknamed the City of Lakes. How many lakes lie inside the city limits?
Thirteen
The Chain of Lakes on the west side is the showpiece; Bde Maka Ska is the biggest.
Q 09The largest body of water in Minneapolis, Bde Maka Ska, was known until 2018 by what name?
Calhoun
Surveyors named it in 1817 for John C. Calhoun; the Dakota name means Lake White Earth, and the state Supreme Court upheld the change in 2020.
Q 10Minneapolis's Skyway System of enclosed footbridges links 80 blocks over roughly what distance?
9.5 mi
The first one went up in 1962, and locals can cross downtown in January without touching the outdoors.
Q 11What is the lowest temperature ever recorded in Minneapolis, set in January 1888?
-41 °F
The record high is 108 °F from July 1936, and the winter of 1983-84 dumped 98.6 inches of snow.
Q 12Minneapolis and which neighbouring city are together known as the Twin Cities?
Saint Paul
Saint Paul is the state capital; the metro area they anchor has about 3.69 million residents.
Q 13The Mall of America, often assumed to be in Minneapolis, is actually in which suburb?
Bloomington
It opened in 1992 on the site of the old ballpark where the Twins and Vikings once played, and houses the largest indoor theme park in the US.
Q 21The Foshay Tower, finished in 1929, was deliberately modelled on which famous structure?
The Washington Monument
Wilbur Foshay's empire collapsed six weeks after the opening, and his cheque to John Philip Sousa for the dedication march bounced.
Q 22Which composer banned his Foshay Tower dedication march from being played after his 1929 cheque bounced?
John Philip Sousa
The debt was finally paid in 1988, nearly 60 years later, and the march was played again.
Q 23What is the tallest building in Minneapolis and in Minnesota?
IDS Center
It rises 792 feet, was designed by Philip Johnson and opened in the early 1970s; Mary Richards eats lunch overlooking its Crystal Court in the sitcom credits.
Q 14The Mall of America was built on the former site of what?
Metropolitan Stadium
The old home plate is marked on the floor of the indoor theme park.
Q 15Prince, who was born in Minneapolis in 1958, made history in 1984 by being the first singer to do what?
Have a number-one film, album and single at once
The film was Purple Rain, much of it shot at the First Avenue nightclub downtown.
Q 16Prince died on 21 April 2016 at his Paisley Park studio in which Minneapolis suburb?
Chanhassen
He was 57; the complex opened to the public as a museum in October 2016.
Q 17The First Avenue nightclub, where Purple Rain was filmed, was built in 1937 as what?
A Greyhound depot
It reopened as The Depot in 1970 with Joe Cocker on stage; more than 400 stars on its black walls name the acts that have played there.
Q 18Whose star on First Avenue's black exterior was surreptitiously repainted in gold leaf in 2016?
The Purple Rain star's
Someone did it surreptitiously in 2016; the club left it that way.
Q 19Bob Dylan began performing folk in 1959 in coffeehouses in which Minneapolis neighbourhood?
Dinkytown
He played the Ten O'Clock Scholar, then left for New York after a year of classes he mostly skipped.
Q 20On which downtown street does Mary toss her hat in The Mary Tyler Moore Show's opening credits?
Nicollet Mall
TV Land unveiled a bronze statue of the throw at the spot in 2002.
Q 24Who was the lead architect of the IDS Center, Minnesota's tallest tower since the early 1970s?
Philip Johnson
His firm Johnson/Burgee also gave the tower its seven-storey glass Crystal Court, the hub of the skyway system.
Q 25Spoonbridge and Cherry, the unofficial symbol of Minneapolis, was made by which husband-and-wife artists?
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
The cherry alone weighs about 1,200 pounds and sprays water from its stem to keep it shiny.
Q 26Spoonbridge and Cherry stands in a sculpture garden run by which Minneapolis museum?
Walker Art Center
The garden opened in 1988; the Walker itself began as the first public art gallery west of the Mississippi, opened by lumber baron T. B. Walker in 1879.
Q 27The Guthrie Theater's 2006 riverfront home was designed by which architect?
Jean Nouvel
Its 178-foot cantilevered Endless Bridge juts out towards the Mississippi; the company was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963.
Q 28The Stone Arch Bridge at Saint Anthony Falls was built in 1883 for which railroad tycoon?
James J. Hill
It is the only stone arch bridge on the whole Mississippi and has carried pedestrians and cyclists since 1994.
Q 29How many people died when the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi collapsed on 1 August 2007?
13
Investigators blamed gusset plates only half an inch thick; the replacement bridge opened just over a year later.
Q 30What did investigators identify as the cause of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse?
Undersized gusset plates
The steel plates were 0.5 inches thick, too thin for the load; 145 people were injured.