Q 01/05

From which country was the Statue of Liberty a gift to the United States?

A) Germany

B) Great Britain

C) Italy

D) France

Answer · why

D) France

France: the statue, officially 'Liberty Enlightening the World', was proposed by Édouard de Laboulaye and paid for by the French public, on the unders...

Q 02/05

Which two landscape architects are credited with designing New York City's Central Park?

A) Daniel Burnham and John Root

B) Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan

C) Robert Moses and Gilmore Clarke

D) Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux

Answer · why

D) Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux

Central Park was designed by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, whose 'Greensward Plan' won a design competition in 1858. Co...

Q 03/05

Which showman marched 21 elephants across the Brooklyn Bridge in 1884?

A) John Ringling

B) P. T. Barnum

C) Buffalo Bill

D) Harry Houdini

Answer · why

B) P. T. Barnum

P. T. Barnum marched the 21 elephants over on May 17, 1884, a year after the bridge opened, calming doubts about its strength and advertising his circ...

Q 04/05

The subway's first line set off in 1904 from a now-closed station named for which landmark?

A) Grand Central

B) Union Square

C) City Hall

D) Columbus Circle

Answer · why

C) City Hall

City Hall station, with its chandeliers and vaulted tile, was the showpiece when the first train left on October 27, 1904; it closed in 1945 because i...

Q 05/05

Which president pressed a button in Washington to switch on the Empire State Building's lights at its opening?

A) Calvin Coolidge

B) Franklin D. Roosevelt

C) Woodrow Wilson

D) Herbert Hoover

Answer · why

D) Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover pressed the button on May 1, 1931; the tower had gone up in just over 13 months, but the Depression left it so short of tenants that Ne...