Collect the Century 1900-1909 Quiz

Answer: John Muir

John Muir (1838-1914) was originally from Scotland and his writings are said to be the inspiration behind the development of our National Park System by President Theodore Roosevelt. William Bartram (1739-1823) was the first, great American-born naturalist and author of "Bartram's Travels" a book that Muir pronounced "interesting". Charles Sargent (1841-1927) was an American botanist and the first director of Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University. James Harkin (1875-1955) served as Canada's first commissioner of National Parks and helped establish the world's first park service.

Answer: $850

Competing cars at this time cost between $2000 and $3000. In 1913 the Model T price dropped to $550 and in 1915 dropped again to $440. It has been said that Henry Ford stated "You can get it in any color as long as it's black!" but this has never been proven. The picture on the stamp has a red Model T!

Answer: edible

There are crayons that you can twist to close so they don't break. You can smell your artwork and even decorate your driveway .. and the nutritious ones you eat came last! Edwin Binney's wife, Alice, came up with the name Crayola. It comes for the French word for chalk, "craie", and "ola" for oleaginous or oily.

Answer: Gibson Girl

Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) was an illustrator who specialized in pen-and-ink sketches. He sold his work to magazines and also illustrated books, including the 1898 edition of "The Prisoner of Zenda" by Anthony Hope. The "Gibson Girl" stands as his most famous work.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt is well-known for many things including his saying, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" which he said when he was governor of New York.

Answer: Johnny Weismuller

Madeline Astor was a survivor of the Titanic and came through Ellis Island in 1912 after that tragedy. Albert Einstein first came to the U.S. in 1921 and later emigrated here in 1933. Rudyard Kipling traveled to the U.S. in 1892 as part of his honeymoon and later settled in Vermont where he started to work on " The Jungle Book". Johnny Weismuller entered Ellis Island as an infant with his family in 1905.

Answer: 8

The series was a best of 9 and Boston won 5 games to Pittsburgh's 3.

Answer: Prairie Style

The Prairie style was influenced by the plant life and landscapes of the midwest prairie of the United States. The Textile Block System was built with precast concrete blocks with a patterned exterior surface. Usonian homes were small L-shaped single-family homes built on odd shaped or cheap lots using native materials and had flat roofs. The Gothic style is not Wright's but was used in the high and late medieval times, and was widely imitated in the nineteenth century, especially for churches and colleges.

Due to financial problems Mr. Robie was forced to sell his home after living in it for only 14 months.

Answer: The Great Train Robbery

"Stagecoach" was released in 1939. The "Ox-Bow Incident" came out in 1943 and originally failed at the box office. "Duel in the Sun" was released in 1946. "The Great Train Robbery" was based on Butch Cassidy's "Hole in the Wall Gang". They stopped a train on the tracks in Wyoming. The final scene shows the leader of the gang pointing and shooting his revolver at the audience.

Answer: Food and Drug Administration

Many drugs used to be sold and labeled with "secret ingredients" or misleading information. Some claimed they could cure everything from epilepsy to scarlet fever. A man in Britain even claimed he could restore life in the event of sudden death. Upton Sinclair published his book "The Jungle" in 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt didn't like him and said the book was full of lies. Still, the president sent investigators into the meat-packing plants.

The major meat-packing companies lobbied the government to pass legislation for inspection and certification of of cleanliness in the plants.

This led to the Pure Food and Drug Act which established the Bureau of Chemistry that later became the Food and Drug Administration.

Answer: 59 seconds

The Wright Brothers actually made 4 flights that day, the first lasting only 12 seconds with a length of 120 feet. The second and third attempts were only 175 and 200 feet. The last flight lasted 59 seconds and they flew 852 feet with an altitude of 10 feet above ground level. In 1905, they offered their invention to the U. S. Army, but the Army was not interested.

Answer: Ash Can School

I had never heard of this group of artists before researching for this quiz. In 1908 they organized their own art show without judges or prizes as a protest against restrictive academic exhibitions.

Answer: electric can opener

The X-ray machine and the electric typewriter were introduced at the fair. The incubator is now used in hospitals for premature babies were demonstrated at the fair by premature infants from orphanages and poor families. Each baby had their own nurse at the exhibition.

Answer: W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois was the first African-American graduate of Harvard and later taught history and economics at Atlanta University. He was a contemporary of Booker T. Washington, even though they didn't agree on the best solution to the racial problem.

Answer: teddy bear

The teddy bear comes from a political cartoon showing President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt refusing to shoot a captive bear.