Tucson Trivia
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48 free Tucson trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
45 free Tucson trivia questions with answers. This Tucson trivia quiz digs into the whole story of the Old Pueblo: the Spanish presidio of 1775, the O'odham name that means "the base of the hill is black," the Gadsden Purchase, the decade as territorial capital, and the founding of the University of Arizona. It also covers the places that make the city what it is today: Saguaro National Park, Mission San Xavier del Bac, the aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan, Kitt Peak, Biosphere 2, Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon. Expect food and culture too: Sonoran hot dogs, the chimichanga origin story, the Gem and Mineral Show, rodeo days off school, El Tour de Tucson, Hotel Congress and the Dillinger gang, Old Tucson Studios and Linda Ronstadt. Difficulty ranges from questions any resident can answer to sister-city and Wildcat-lore stumpers. Every answer has been checked against a reference page, mostly Wikipedia and the National Park Service, so the facts hold up whether you're a lifelong Tucsonan, a snowbird, a UA student or planning a trip.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year was the Presidio San Agustín del Tucsón, which founded Tucson, authorized?
1775
Irish-born Spanish officer Hugo O'Conor chose the site on August 20, 1775; the old downtown courthouse stands near the spot of the original presidio walls.
Q 02A giant whitewashed 'A' for the University of Arizona sits on which hill west of downtown?
Sentinel Peak
Sentinel Peak earned its everyday name, 'A' Mountain, after students built the 160-foot basalt 'A' in 1916 following a football win over Pomona College.
Q 03Tucson is commonly known by which nickname?
The Old Pueblo
'The Old Pueblo' traces to an 1880 telegram that called Tucson the 'ancient and honorable pueblo', a phrase newspapers shortened over time.
Q 04Tucson served as capital of the Arizona Territory during which years?
1867–1877
Tucson was territorial capital from 1867 to 1877; Prescott held it before and after, and Phoenix took over for good in 1889.
Q 05Tucson became part of the United States on June 8, 1854, through which land deal with Mexico?
The Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase bought the land south of the Gila River for $10 million; the U.S. Army did not formally take control of Tucson until March 1856.
Q 06Tucson is the seat of which Arizona county?
Pima
The county is named for the Pima people, also known as the Akimel O'odham, and had just over a million residents at the 2020 census.
Q 07The University of Arizona, the first university in the Arizona Territory, was founded in which year?
1885
The 1885 territorial legislature gave Tucson the university with a $25,000 allocation; the city had hoped for the mental hospital, which came with $100,000.
Q 08Arizona became the Wildcats after a 1914 football game against which California opponent?
Occidental College
After Arizona's hard-fought 1914 loss to Occidental College in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the Arizona men 'showed the fight of wildcats'.
Q 09The Wildcats' motto "Bear Down" comes from the last words of which student athlete, who died in 1926?
John Salmon
Salmon was student body president, starting quarterback and baseball catcher; the state legislature made "Bear Down" the university's exclusive property in 1939.
Q 10The University of Arizona's giant-telescope mirror lab is tucked beneath which campus structure?
Football stadium
The Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab sits under the east stands of Arizona Stadium, the football stadium, spin-casting honeycomb mirrors such as the 8.4-meter mirror for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
Q 11Which of Saguaro National Park's two units lies east of Tucson?
Rincon Mountain District
The Rincon Mountain District, the eastern unit, is far larger and climbs to 8,666 feet at Mica Mountain; the western unit tops out at 4,687-foot Wasson Peak.
Q 12Which president created Saguaro National Monument in 1933 under the Antiquities Act?
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover proclaimed the monument on March 1, 1933, days before leaving office; the western unit in the Tucson Mountains was added in 1961.
Q 13Saguaro National Monument was elevated to full national park status in which year?
1994
Congress made Saguaro a national park in October 1994; its namesake cactus can live 200 years, reach 60 feet and weigh 4,800 pounds when fully hydrated.
Q 21How many people were sealed inside Biosphere 2 for its original two-year mission from 1991 to 1993?
Eight
Eight crew members lived sealed inside for two years; oxygen fell from 20.9 to 14.5 percent after 16 months, forcing managers to pump more in.
Q 22The very first Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, in 1955, was held in what kind of venue?
An elementary school
The 1955 show was held in Helen Keeling Elementary School, then moved to a Quonset hut at the fairgrounds before growing into the Tucson Convention Center.
Q 23El Tour de Tucson, first held in 1983, is a mass-participation event for which activity?
Road cycling
Q 14Mission San Xavier del Bac, about 10 miles south of downtown Tucson, is known by what nickname?
White Dove of the Desert
The 'White Dove of the Desert' nickname comes from the mission's gleaming white plaster; the present church went up between 1783 and 1797 and is the oldest European structure in Arizona.
Q 15Which Jesuit missionary founded Mission San Xavier del Bac in 1692?
Eusebio Kino
The Italian-born Kino founded a chain of missions across the Pimería Alta and first visited the Tucson valley the same year.
Q 16Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is named after two Tucson natives who died how?
In military air crashes
Davis-Monthan honours Tucson natives Samuel Davis and Oscar Monthan, Army aviators killed in separate military air crashes in 1921 and 1924.
Q 17Which aviator flew the Spirit of St. Louis to Tucson in 1927 to dedicate Davis-Monthan airfield?
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis in on September 23, 1927 to dedicate the field, then the largest municipal airport in the United States.
Q 18The museum in Sahuarita, south of Tucson, preserves the last intact launch complex of which ICBM?
Titan II
Titan II site 571-7 went operational in 1963 and was deactivated in 1984; every other Titan II silo in the country was demolished.
Q 19Kitt Peak National Observatory, west of Tucson, sits on land leased from which Native nation?
Tohono O'odham
The Tohono O'odham Nation leased the peak in 1958 under an agreement lasting as long as the site is used for astronomy; it hosts more than twenty optical telescopes.
Q 20Biosphere 2, the giant sealed glass research facility north of Tucson, is located in which community?
Oracle
Biosphere 2 stands in Oracle, some 30 miles north of Tucson at the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains; its glass enclosure covers 3.14 acres at roughly 4,000 feet.
El Tour de Tucson is a road cycling ride founded by Richard DeBernardis; about 185 riders took part in 1983, and later editions drew several thousand.
Q 24Most Tucson schools give two 'rodeo days' off during Fiesta de los Vaqueros in place of which holiday?
Presidents' Day
Tucson districts swap Presidents' Day for two days off during the February rodeo, whose parade is billed as the world's largest non-mechanized parade.
Q 25Sun Link, Tucson's 3.9-mile modern streetcar line, began service in which year?
2014
Sun Link opened on July 25, 2014, linking the health sciences center, the university, Fourth Avenue, downtown and the Mercado District west of Interstate 10.
Q 26In which year did UNESCO name Tucson the first "City of Gastronomy" in the United States?
2015
UNESCO added Tucson to its Creative Cities Network as a City of Gastronomy in December 2015, citing some 4,000 years of continuous farming in the valley.
Q 27A Sonoran hot dog, a Tucson street-food staple, is wrapped in what before it hits the grill?
Bacon
The bacon-wrapped frank comes on a bolillo-style bun with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, mayo, mustard and jalapeño salsa; more than 200 Tucson vendors sold them by 2009.
Q 28Monica Flin of which Tucson restaurant is credited with accidentally inventing the chimichanga?
El Charro Café
At El Charro Café, Flin reportedly began to swear with a word starting 'chi-' but, with children nearby, switched to 'chimichanga', Spanish for thingamajig.
Q 29Which Tucson restaurant won a 2018 James Beard America's Classics award for its Sonoran hot dogs?
El Güero Canelo
El Güero Canelo, Daniel Contreras's south-side stand turned restaurant chain, took the 2018 America's Classics award; the style itself is credited to Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, in the late 1980s.
Q 30A 1934 fire at Tucson's Hotel Congress led to the capture of which bank robber's gang?
John Dillinger
Firemen who hauled out the gang's heavy luggage later recognized the men from a detective magazine, and John Dillinger and his gang were arrested in Tucson in January 1934.