Prince George's County, MD Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Great Depression

That active First Lady is Eleanor Roosevelt. The town was created under the Resettlement Administration in 1935 under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. (Greendale, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, and Greenhills, Ohio, near Cincinnati were also created under this program while a fourth town, to be located in New Jersey, was never built.) Greenbelt was modeled on the English garden towns. With Greenbelt, the federal government was trying to create a new type of planned community. Most of the homes were twin houses of a modest size (under 1000 square feet).

There were many requirements and restrictions, some of which might seem odd. These are three examples. Your family had to make between $800 and $2200 a year and the wife could not work outside the home. Each home came with a garage but if your family didn't own a car, you could not use the garage for storage. Clothing could only be placed on the laundry lines during certain hours of the day. (Information taken from the City of Greenbelt website).

Answer: Airflights--it's an airport.

College Park Airport dates from 1909 and was designed by the Wright Brothers. The Federal Government was interested in training some of its military officers in how to operate flying machines or airplanes. Wilbur Wright provided training for early military pilots. Today, the adjoining College Park Aviation Museum presents this specific history as well as including several examples of early aircraft. (information from the PG Parks website)

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

The Surratt House served as a local tavern and post office in the Civil War era. Mary Surratt was found guilty and hanged - the first woman executed for murder in US history. John Surratt managed to escape abroad and was never captured. John Wilkes Booth made a stop at the house as he fled from Ford's Theater in April, 1865. Today, the Surratt House is a Museum administered by the county.

The museum sponsors a "Lincoln Assassination" tour that transports participants from the Ford's Theater to the site of the tobacco warehouse where Booth was finally killed. (Information from PG Parks website).

Answer: Britain

The Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 is often described as the Bladensburg Races because of how fast the militia fled from the scene. The Marine and Naval unit performed well, but numbering several hundred, they were overwhelmed by the thousands of regulars in the British army. Once the battle was concluded, the path was clear for the British to march into Washington, DC and eventually burn the White House. (Information from the Town of Bladensburg website).

Answer: Roman Catholic

Although Maryland had been founded as a Catholic colony, in the 1700s it joined other English colonies in passing laws that discriminated against Catholics in matters such as property ownership and voting (among other issues). Private houses of worship could be built and it is believed that Sacred Heart Chapel was built on private land in the 1740s for this purpose. "Following the Revolutionary War the Jesuit Fathers under the leadership of John Carroll, S.J. called several meetings of the clergy for the purpose of organizing the Catholic Church in America.

The meetings, called the General Chapters, the first of which took place in 1783," took place at Sacred Heart Chapel. John Carroll would go on to become the first Catholic bishop in the United States and found Georgetown University in 1789. (Information taken from Sacred Heart Church website).

Answer: True

The Belair Estate had been owned by many wealthy and/or important people since it was built in the 1740s, including Governor Samuel Ogle of Maryland and the Woodwards, a New York banking family. In the late 1950s, the Woodwards sold the property to the Levitt Company, already well known for "Levittowns" in New York and Pennsylvania.

In 1960, the company began selling homes in one of five types--Cape Cod, Rancher, Three-Bedroom Colonial, Four-Bedroom Colonial, and Country Clubber--to interested people.

Initially racially segregated, the community began being integrated in the late 1960s. "Belair at Bowie" was annexed to the city of Bowie in 1963. (Information taken from Levittown Beyond website).

Answer: Land was ceded by Maryland for the formation of a federal district.

The Constitution authorized the Federal Government to create a federal district to serve as a national capital. The site for the capital was chosen along the Potomac River, only a handful of miles upstream from George Washington's Mount Vernon. One hundred square miles total was ceded by Maryland and Virginia. (The Virginia portion was returned to that state in 1846.) Surveyor and scientist Benjamin Banneker helped to survey the boundary of the new Federal District. (Information taken from Wikipedia).

Answer: Sears, Roebuck

Although Julius Rosenwald was not a Prince George's County resident, his fund played a big part in Prince George's County. The Rosenwald Fund assisted in the building of schools for African-American communities. The Fund matched dollars from the larger community and the African American community.

The segregated Ridgeley School served African American children living near Capitol Heights until the 1950s. The School has been restored as a museum. (Information from PG Parks website and Wikipedia).

Answer: Prince George of Denmark (wife of Queen Anne)

Prince George's County was founded in 1696. The county forms (as you might have guessed) the inner Eastern Suburbs of Washington, DC. Prince George was the husband of the future Queen Anne, last of the Stuart rulers of England. Of George himself, his uncle-in-law King Charles II, famously said, "I have tried him drunk, and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him".

The county is nearly 500 square miles in size and has over 860,000 residents. (Information taken from Wikipedia)

Answer: George Wallace

Wallace was paralyzed by the attempt and was wheelchair bound for the remainder of his life. The former Governor of Alabama had come to national attention in the 1960s for his support of segregationist policies. Although he had run as an independent in the 1968 Presidential election, in 1972 he was running in the Democratic primary. (Information taken from Wikipedia).