Missouri History Trivia

1. Native Americans known as Mississippians settled in the St. Louis area from the 9th to the 15th century. What structure were the Mississippians known for with prominent examples including Sugarloaf and Cahokia?

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: Mounds

The Mississippian culture were some of the most prominent mound builders of North America. The mounds were commonly found near waterways including the Great Lakes, Ohio River and the Mississippi River. St. Louis had 40 platform mounds constructed by Native Americans but most of them were destroyed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Measuring 40 feet (12 m) tall, 100 feet (30 m) north to south and 75 feet (23 m) east to west, Sugarloaf Mound is the last remaining platform mound in St. Louis. This question was mounted into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: William Peter Blatty

Many of the early events in the case were recorded by the Jesuit priests who later performed the exorcism. When William Peter Blatty was a student at Georgetown University in 1949 and heard about a diary that had been kept. He even found the name of the priest involved. However, priests who are involved in exorcisms are said to be sworn to secrecy. No further information or comments were forthcoming.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: Lewis and Clark & Clark and Lewis

After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wanted to know exactly what he had bought for the U.S.A., so he hired his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis and former army officer William Clark to head the Corps of Discovery, which we now call the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They left St. Charles, Missouri with a group totaling 33 in May of 1804 and were gone so long that the people of St. Louis were certain they had all died. They returned triumphantly to St. Louis in September of 1806 after traveling up the Missouri River to its headwaters then crossing the Rocky Mountains and finally having reached the Pacific Ocean.

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: The Wainwright Building

Louis Sullivan and a partner designed the 10-story-tall Wainwright Building, believed to be the world's first skyscraper. The Wainwright, built in 1891 and still standing in downtown St. Louis in the 21st century, is considered a major turning point in building design because of its load-bearing steel framework and overall appearance, and served as a (or the prototype for the modern office building.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: The Gateway to the West

With the westward expansion of the U.S.A. that began with the opening of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to American settlers in 1841, St. Louis saw a constant flow of settlers passing through. Most of these settlers came up the Mississippi River by steam boat to St. Louis where they would begin gathering supplies before moving further west to the head of the Oregon Train in Independence, Missouri. Since so many of the western settlers and fortune hunters looking for gold in California passed through St. Louis, it gained the nickname of Gateway to the West.

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: American War of Independence

The battle was fought on May 26, 1780 between the defending Spaniards and the British, assisted by several Native American tribes. There were about 100 casualties, most of who were civilians. It was also known as the Battle of Fort San Carlos. The Spanish Governor, Fernando de Leyba, successfully defended the fort, despite his force being badly outnumbered. The site of the battle is not very far from a St. Louis major attraction, the Gateway Arch. Question submitted by ozzz2002, who can spell Mississippi!

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: Radio

Nikola Tesla, the famed scientist and inventor, made the first public demonstration of wireless communication - a.k.a. radio - in the form of a device for radio reception and transmission before the National Electric Light Association in St. Louis in 1893. (He made the same presentation in Philly later in the year.) Tesla, credited as the creator of radio, is also considered the man who "created the 20th century." He was Edison's direct competitor, particularly over electricity: Tesla promoted alternating current (AC) while Edison promoted direct current (DC). There is an historical controversy over whether the Croatian-turned-US citizen Tesla was the real inventor of radio (as the US Supreme Court ruled him to be in a 1943 patents dispute after his death) instead of Italian inventor Gugleilmo Marconi.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: Cottage City, Maryland

After the exorcism Robbie and his parents left St. Louis and returned to Maryland. He went on to attend a Catholic High School, and reportedly remains a devout Catholic today. Troy Taylor claims to have found (through quite a bit of research) the identify of Robbie, who lived in the Washington, D.C. area at the time of writing. Robbie says he has never had a repeated supernatural experience.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: The Mound City

Early St. Louis had several ceremonial mounds from the same time period of the Mississippian Culture at Cahokia Mounds. This appeared to be a satellite settlement, or a prehistoric suburb of this huge cultural center. These mounds were destroyed and used for land fill in the 19th century. It was because of these mounds that St. Louis had the early nickname of Mound City.

From Quiz St. Louis History

Answer: Marquette and Joliet & Joliet and Marquette

The lower Mississippi River was first documented, some say discovered, by Hernando Desoto in 1541. He is given credit for having explored as far north as the present day city of Memphis. Pere (Father) Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet are given credit for having explored the northern Mississippi River from near present day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in 1673. They explored down river to the mouth of the Arkansas River before turning back north to avoid hostile natives.

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: The Louisiana Purchase

The Corps of Discovery Expedition, better known as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was commissioned by Thomas Jefferson following the aquisition of new land after the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark left Camp Dubois, a few miles outside St. Louis in 1804 to map the area and to establish that it belonged to the Americas rather than any European powers. They reached the Pacific ocean at Fort Clatsop in 1805 and then returned to St. Louis in 1806. They had many encounters with Native Americans as they travelled, the most famous being Sacagawea, commonly thought of as being a 'guide' for the expedition, it is felt she was more likely a diplomatic aide, being a woman with an infant son, showing that the expedition was a peaceful one. Red Team's smpdit left one point, wandered around a bit, then returned to where she started.

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: The Olympics & Olympics & The Summer Olympics & Summer Olympics

In addition to the famed 1904 World's Fair, St. Louis hosted the first Olympics to be held in America. They weren't very good Olympics, though, as there were many problems. For example, the marathon was conducted on a hot and dusty road and, at first, was "won" by a man who didn't even finish the race and had in fact ridden in a car for much of the route. The real winner, a Brit running for the USA, was so pumped up with alcohol and strychnine(!) that he had to be carried over the finish line by his trainers and needed life-saving medical treatment at once.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: 1940s

In January 1949 Robbie's family began to hear scratching noises that seemed to come from inside the walls and ceilings of their house. In addition, they said that objects in the home moved any without explanation, and they heard a noise that sounded like someone walking in the hallway.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: The 1904 Summer Olympics

The 1904 Summer Olympic Games were supposed to be held in Chicago, Illinois, but all eyes were truly on St. Louis. St. Louis was hosting the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, aka the World's Fair, and the organizers refused to allow another world event to be held during the same time frame as the World's Fair. They began to organize their own sporting events and informed the Chicago Olympic Committee that St. Louis intended to overshadow the Olympics if they were held in Chicago. The founder of the modern Olympic games gave in and the 1904 Summer Olympics were moved and held in St. Louis from July through November of 1904. It was the first game where gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the top three in each event.

From Quiz St. Louis History

Answer: The Piasa Bird

The Piasa Bird was a huge painting on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River near present day Elsah, Illinois. It was described as having the face of a man with a beard, antlers like a deer, a scaled body with wings and a long tail over twice as long as the body, ending like a fish's tail. The First European to see it was Father Jaques Marquette in 1673 while exploring the Mississippi River valley.

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: Zebulon Pike

The first steamship to arrive in St Louis in 1817 was the "Zebulon M Pike". It could travel from the Mississippi to the Ohio River. Zebulon Montgomery Pike was an explorer and army officer. Although his exploration party never made it quite to the top, Pike's Peak was named for him. Sitting on the Mississippi River, St Louis became an important working port with the introduction of steamships. The ships allowed passenger travel and transportation of goods and products. Once the product reached St Louis, it could work its way north or west via land trails. The steamboats weren't without troubles. Native American attacks, boiler explosions, and snags were the top dangers to steamboat travel. Steamboats made the western expansion easier with trade and travel until the introduction of trains. By the 1880s, there many miles of rail, and trains proved to be much faster and more efficient than that of steamboats. But for over 60 years, the steamboat earned its place in the western expansion of the US. Jaknginger of Phoenix Rising's Red Crew sailed this question straight into the quiz.

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: Gas station & gas stations

The world's first gas station opened in St. Louis in 1905 at 412 S. Theresa Avenue. A competing claim boasts that Standard Oil built the first service station in Seattle in 1907. Another says that Gulf opened the first "real" station in Pittsburgh in 1913 - "real" because it was the first "drive-in" station as opposed to pumps located next to the street.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: a Ouiga Board experiment

Robbie had been taught how to use the device by a relative who believed in Spiritualism and the occult. Perhaps he was invaded by an invisible entity after experimenting. Robbie's relative passed away shortly after the symptoms began. Some have suggested that there was a connection between her death and his possession.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: The Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The St. Louis World's Fair was officially named The Louisiana Purchase Exposition in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Not only did the fair celebrate this anniversary, it was a place for the world to showcase the advancements that had been achieved since 1804.

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: City voters approved a tax to support the museum

In 1907, St. Louis voters approved a tax to fund the St. Louis Art Museum, making it the first municipally-funded museum in the world. This museum has two of my favorite paintings, which I "visit" every once in a while: fellow Missourian George Caleb Bingham's "The County Election" and "Stump Speaking." The building that forms the core of the St. Louis Art Museum is one of only a handful of the gorgeous purpose-built structures for the 1904 World's Fair that was not torn down after the fair.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: Father Bowdern, S.J.

Rev. Thomas Bermingham, S.J., was Blatty's instructor when he was a student at Georgetown University. The priest who kept the supposed journal of the exorcism, as well as participated, was Rev. Raymond Bishop, S.J. Father Brian McGrath, S.J., was Dean of Georgetown University in the spring of 1950.

From Quiz St. Louis History

Answer: Laclede and Chouteau & Chouteau and Laclede

The city of St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede and his 13 year old step son, Auguste Chouteau, who had come up the Mississippi River from New Orleans to start a fur trading outpost. They decided on a location on the low bluffs 40 feet above the Mississippi River just a few miles down stream from the Missouri River in November of 1763.

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: Games of the III Olympiad

The World Fair was held to commemorate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase in 1903. Originally, the fair was due to begin in 1903, but was held back until the following to allow up to 50 foreign countries to take part. The site was an astonishing 1200 acres and comprised some 1500 buildings. Exhibits ranged from educational, scientific and cultural to travel, music, theatre troupes and food from around the world. The Olympic Games held in St. Louis, alongside the fair was the first time the games had been held outside Europe. Very few international athletes were able to compete, as the Russo-Japanese War made travel difficult. The games were marred somewhat by the organisers of the Fair including a demonstration called 'Anthropology Days', which has since been vilified around the world. Red crew's leith90 crafted this question and exhibited it in the quiz.

From Quiz An Exorcism in St. Louis

Answer: Michael

On the night of April 18, after days of little progress, Bowdern tried a new treatment. Robbie was forced to wear a chain of religious medals and to hold a crucifix in his hands. Five witnesses said Robbie screamed that he was a fallen angel; finally, a loud voice identifying himself as St. Michael the Archangel ordered the demon to depart. Robbie told the priests that he had a vision of St. Michael holding a flaming sword.

From Quiz St. Louis History, Part II

Answer: Forest Park

St. Louis's Forest Park is the large urban park in the same style of New York's Central Park. The park is found near the western edge of the city's boundary, though it is near the center of the metropolitan area. The park houses seven of the city's major attractions, and numerous sporting venues. Some of the larger attractions in Forest Park with remnants of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition are the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum and the World's Fair Pavilion.

From Quiz St. Louis History

Answer: 1764

The trading outpost we now call St. Louis, the site of which was decided on in November of 1763, was established on February 15, 1764. The construction was supervised by Pierre Laclede's 13-year-old stepson, Auguste Chouteau.

From Quiz The Spirit of St. Louis

Answer: Shelley v. Kraemer

The case of Shelley v. Kraemer came about after a black family purchased a home in an area that restricted housing by members of their race. A neighbor challenged the purchase and the challenge was upheld by the Supreme Court of Missouri blocking the black family's purchase of the home. The U.S. Supreme Court took the case after appeal and the majority opinion concluded that the 14th amendment prohibits racially restrictive housing covenants. This question was codified into the quiz by Phoenix Rising teammate and Red Crew member Triviaballer as part of the team's 2022 World Tour.

From Quiz St. Louis Missouri "Firsts"

Answer: World's first parachute jump from an airplane

Albert Berry became the world's first modern-style parachutist when he conducted a successful test jump from an airplane at 1,500 feet over St. Louis' army base at Jefferson Barracks in 1912. People had made parachute jumps before, particularly from balloons-Berry's father was a professional parachutist-but this was the first one from an aircraft (a Benoit pusher biplane, to be more precise). There is a competing claim that a man named Grant Morton was the first jumper a year earlier in California. (Personally, I would have a hard time jumping from a perfectly good airplane, but that's just me!)

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