Q 01/05

Phoenix is the county seat of which Arizona county?

A) Maricopa

B) Pima

C) Yavapai

D) Pinal

Answer · why

A) Maricopa

Maricopa County was carved out of Yavapai County in 1871, when Phoenix was a farming settlement only a few years old, and the young town became its se...

Q 02/05

Where did Phoenix rank among US cities by population at the 2020 census?

A) Second

B) Fifth

C) Tenth

D) Twentieth

Answer · why

B) Fifth

Fifth, after trading places with Philadelphia: Phoenix slipped to sixth in the 2010 census, then edged back ahead in 2020 by fewer than 5,000 resident...

Q 03/05

Phoenix lies in the northern reaches of which desert?

A) Mojave

B) Chihuahuan

C) Sonoran

D) Great Basin

Answer · why

C) Sonoran

Sonoran Desert is the only place the saguaro cactus grows wild, because the giant cactus can't survive long freezes; Phoenix sits near the desert's no...

Q 04/05

Which mountain town lost the Arizona territorial capital to Phoenix for good in 1889?

A) Bisbee

B) Prescott

C) Tombstone

D) Yuma

Answer · why

B) Prescott

Prescott had already lost the capital to Tucson once and won it back before the legislature voted in 1889 to move it to Phoenix for good.

Q 05/05

Which director premiered his first feature film in Phoenix?

A) George Lucas

B) Oliver Stone

C) John Carpenter

D) Steven Spielberg

Answer · why

D) Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg was 17 when his father rented a Phoenix theatre for one night in 1964 to show Firelight, a film that cost about $500 to make; ticket ...