50 free Pennsylvania trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
49 free Pennsylvania trivia questions with answers. Pennsylvania is where the Declaration and the Constitution were signed, where the Civil War turned at Gettysburg, where oil was first drilled and steel was king, and where a groundhog gets a global audience every February. This quiz covers the whole Keystone State: Penn's Woods and the Quakers, Philadelphia's firsts, Pittsburgh's three rivers and 446 bridges, Hershey and Heinz, the Amish of Lancaster County, Three Mile Island and the Johnstown Flood, plus Fred Rogers, Andy Warhol, Fallingwater and the Rocky Steps. The easy questions ask what the state's nickname is and who founded it. The hard ones want the depth of the Drake Well, why Heinz picked the number 57, which town Little League calls home and how many words Lincoln needed at Gettysburg. It suits a classroom, a family reunion or a pub quiz anywhere between Erie and Philly. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the state, its cities and its landmarks, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Pennsylvania's best-known nickname, used since 1802?
The Keystone State
It refers to the state's central place among the original thirteen colonies.
Q 02Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 through a royal land grant to whom?
William Penn
King Charles II was repaying a £16,000 debt owed to Penn's father, an admiral.
Q 03What did the colony's founder originally propose to call it?
New Wales
The King settled on 'Penn's Woods' after the elder Penn, which embarrassed his son.
Q 04What is the state capital of Pennsylvania?
Harrisburg
It sits on the Susquehanna River, and the state legislature had earlier met in Lancaster and York.
Q 05Pennsylvania was which state to ratify the US Constitution, in December 1787?
Second
Delaware had ratified five days earlier; the Constitution was presented in German too, since a third of Pennsylvanians spoke it.
Q 06Pennsylvania's southern boundary with Maryland is famous under what name?
The Mason-Dixon Line
The Twelve-Mile Circle is the state's curious arc-shaped border with Delaware.
Q 07Of the original thirteen colonies, Pennsylvania is the only one that does not border what?
The Atlantic Ocean
It does have 51 miles of Lake Erie coastline and shoreline on the tidal Delaware.
Q 08Philadelphia's name is Greek for what?
Brotherly love
William Penn founded the city in 1682 as capital of his province.
Q 09Philadelphia was the largest city in the United States until which city overtook it in 1790?
New York
It served as the national capital on five separate occasions before Washington, D.C. was ready in 1800.
Q 10Independence Hall was originally known by what name?
Pennsylvania State House
It hosted both the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Q 11Where was the Liberty Bell hidden from the British for nine months in 1777-78?
Under a church floor in Allentown
Bells were evacuated because the British could recast them into munitions.
Q 12Which Ivy League school did Benjamin Franklin found in 1740?
Penn
It is the state's only Ivy League school.
Q 13Which Franklin County native became the first Pennsylvania-born US president in 1857?
James Buchanan
He served a single term before Lincoln.
Over how many days was the Battle of Gettysburg fought in July 1863?
Q 21Andrew Carnegie began making steel in 1875 at a plant in North Braddock named after whom?
Edgar Thomson
The plant grew into the Carnegie Steel Company, later folded into U.S. Steel; Thomson was a Pennsylvania Railroad president.
Q 22Milton Hershey built his chocolate factory in 1903 in his hometown, then known as what?
Derry Church
He had sold his Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million to concentrate on chocolate.
Q 23In what year did Hershey begin making its Milk Chocolate bar?
1900
The Hershey Chocolate Company itself had been founded in 1894 as a caramel-company subsidiary.
Three
It was the bloodiest battle in American history to that point, with over 50,000 casualties.
Q 15Which Union general commanded the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg?
George Meade
Lincoln had replaced Hooker with him only three days before the battle began.
Q 16Roughly how many words long is the Gettysburg Address?
271
Edward Everett's main oration that day ran 13,607 words and two hours.
Q 17Pittsburgh sits where which two rivers meet to form the Ohio?
Allegheny and Monongahela
The confluence is called 'the Point', now Point State Park.
Q 18Pittsburgh is nicknamed the 'City of Bridges' for having roughly how many?
446
It is better known as the Steel City, though most of the mills are long gone.
Q 19Pittsburgh was named in 1758 in honour of which British statesman?
William Pitt the Elder
Scottish General John Forbes probably pronounced it 'Pittsborough', like Edinburgh.
Q 20Which Pittsburgh station became the world's first commercially licensed radio station in 1920?
KDKA
It began broadcasting on November 2, 1920, with the presidential election results.
Q 24Why did Henry Heinz choose the number 57 for his famous slogan?
5 and 7 were his and his wife's lucky numbers
The company actually made more than 60 products when the slogan appeared in 1896.
Q 25Heinz began packing foodstuffs in 1869 in which Pennsylvania town, first selling horseradish?
Sharpsburg
The company merged with Kraft in 2015 to form the world's fifth-largest food company.
Q 26The Amish church began with a 1693 schism in Switzerland led by whom?
Jakob Ammann
Pennsylvania's Amish population is topped only by Ohio's.
Q 27The Amish set of church rules governing electricity, cars and dress is called what?
The Ordnung
It differs between districts and is reviewed twice a year by all members.
Q 28The language spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch is actually a dialect of what?
German
'Dutch' is a mangling of Deitsch, the word for German.
Q 29Punxsutawney Phil emerges each Groundhog Day from his burrow at what location?
Gobbler's Knob
The event formally began in 1887 and is run by a top-hatted 'Inner Circle'.
Q 30According to tradition, what does it mean if Phil sees his shadow?
Six more weeks of winter
The Inner Circle's president claims to interpret Phil's 'Groundhogese' with an acacia-wood cane.