Q 01/05

Which Revolutionary War general founded Cleveland in 1796 while leading a land-company survey party?

A) Moses Cleaveland

B) Lorenzo Carter

C) Alfred Kelley

D) John W. Willey

Answer · why

A) Moses Cleaveland

He led a party of about 50 people west from Schenectady, New York, and his employees named the new town site in his honor.

Q 02/05

Legend says the extra 'a' in the city's original name was dropped so it would fit where?

A) On the official city seal

B) On a newspaper's front-page banner

C) On a Lake Erie lighthouse plaque

D) On the courthouse cornerstone

Answer · why

B) On a newspaper's front-page banner

Another theory is simply that the surveying party misspelled the name on their original map, and the shorter spelling stuck.

Q 03/05

How many times did the city's founder return to the settlement bearing his name after 1796?

A) Once

B) Twice

C) Never

D) Every summer until his death

Answer · why

C) Never

He died and was buried in Canterbury, Connecticut, though a statue of him stands on Cleveland's Public Square.

Q 04/05

Cleveland was laid out as the capital of which state's 'Western Reserve' lands in Ohio?

A) Massachusetts

B) Virginia

C) New York

D) Connecticut

Answer · why

D) Connecticut

The land was reserved to that state by Congress and had initially been called New Connecticut before the Western Reserve name took hold.

Q 05/05

What ignited the famous June 22, 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River?

A) A spark from a passing rail car

B) A lightning strike on an oil slick

C) A dockworker's discarded cigarette

D) Molten slag dumped by a steel mill

Answer · why

A) A spark from a passing rail car

The blaze did about $50,000 in damage, mostly to a railroad bridge, and local media barely covered it at first.