Q 01/05

Cornelius Vanderbilt was known for most of his life by which naval nickname, once common among steamboat owners?

A) The Harbormaster

B) The Commodore

C) The Skipper

D) The Admiral

Answer · why

B) The Commodore

The Commodore was then the top title in the US Navy, and by the late 1840s no other steamboat owner was called by it.

Q 02/05

A debunked legend says a Saratoga Springs cook invented which snack in 1853 for a fussy Cornelius Vanderbilt?

A) Potato chips

B) Soft pretzels

C) Corn dogs

D) Salted peanuts

Answer · why

A) Potato chips

Potato chips cannot have been his doing: Vanderbilt was away in Europe that summer, though a 1973 advertising campaign named him as the picky diner.

Q 03/05

Which television news anchor, a son of Gloria Vanderbilt, is a great-great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt?

A) Jake Tapper

B) George Stephanopoulos

C) Anderson Cooper

D) Brian Williams

Answer · why

C) Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper co-wrote a 2021 history of the Vanderbilt family, subtitled The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.

Q 04/05

Sinking Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad tracks below street level in Manhattan gave rise to which famous address?

A) Fifth Avenue

B) Madison Avenue

C) Lexington Avenue

D) Park Avenue

Answer · why

D) Park Avenue

Park Avenue north of his 42nd Street depot was plain Fourth Avenue until the tracks were lowered into a cut, which was later roofed over as a tunnel.

Q 05/05

How was Sophia Johnson related to Cornelius Vanderbilt before the pair married in 1813 and had 13 children?

A) His stepsister

B) His first cousin

C) His brother's widow

D) His employer's daughter

Answer · why

B) His first cousin

His first cousin Sophia stayed married to him for 54 years, and the Alabama woman he wed after her death was a cousin of his too.