Q 01/05

The French name Des Moines is usually translated as 'River of the' what?

A) Monks

B) Mills

C) Moors

D) Mounds

Answer · why

A) Monks

Monks: 'des moines' is French for 'of the monks', but the name probably began as Moingona, a people living along the river whose name French fur trapp...

Q 02/05

Which river merges with the Des Moines River at the spot where the city was founded?

A) Cedar

B) Skunk

C) Raccoon

D) Little Sioux

Answer · why

C) Raccoon

Raccoon: the Army officers who built the fort at the two rivers' meeting point in 1843 proposed calling it Fort Raccoon, but the War Department turned...

Q 03/05

In the 1969 Tinker case, the Supreme Court backed Des Moines students suspended for wearing what to school?

A) Black armbands

B) Peace-sign buttons

C) Upside-down flag pins

D) Anti-draft T-shirts

Answer · why

A) Black armbands

Black armbands: Mary Beth Tinker, 13, her brother John and a friend wore them in December 1965 over the Vietnam War, and the Court ruled 7-2 that stud...

Q 04/05

Which town was the state capital before the seat of government moved to Des Moines in 1857?

A) Burlington

B) Dubuque

C) Davenport

D) Iowa City

Answer · why

D) Iowa City

Iowa City: when the government left for Des Moines in 1857, the stone capitol it vacated was handed to the young University of Iowa as its first perma...

Q 05/05

Fort Des Moines was built in 1843 on land still held by which peoples, soon removed to Kansas?

A) Sioux and Omaha

B) Ioway and Otoe

C) Sauk and Meskwaki

D) Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk

Answer · why

C) Sauk and Meskwaki

Sauk and Meskwaki: the fort closed in 1846 once both had been sent to Kansas, but Meskwaki families came back and in 1857 bought 80 acres in Tama Coun...