Illinois is a state in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is its largest city, and the state’s capital is Springfield; other major metropolitan areas incorporate Metro East (of Greater St. Louis), Peoria, and Rockford. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-largest total national output (GDP), the 6th largest population, and the 25th-largest land area.
With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial urban communities and tremendous farmland in the north and focus, and natural assets like coal, lumber, and petrol in the south, Illinois has a profoundly different economy. Inferable from its central location and geography, the state is a major transportation center: the Port of Chicago appreciates access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway, and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway.
Here we have gathered some informative Illinois trivia questions for you to enjoy and get some information.
1 The Port of Chicago in Illinois connects the state to global ports via Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean, and through what famous river?
Answer: Mississippi River, via the Illinois River
2 O’Hare International Airport has been consistently ranked as what?
Answer: One of the world’s busiest airports
3 In 1847, thanks to lobbying by Dorothea L. Dix, Illinois was one of the first states to create a system of state-supported treatment facilities for treating what?
Answer: Mental illness and disabilities
4 Illinois is the most populous state in what region?
Answer: Tornado Alley
5 In 1967, Fermilab, near Batavia, opened a particle accelerator and it was the world’s largest particle accelerator for how long?
Answer: Over 40 years
6 Today Illinois’s biggest population center is around what city in the northern part of the state?
Answer: Chicago
7 Striking oil in Marion County and Crawford County lead to a boom and by 1939 Illinois ranked where in U.S. oil production?
Answer: Fourth
8 In what year did Illinois become a US State?
Answer: In 1818
9 How many Stanley Cups have the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL won?
Answer: Five
10 In the 1830s, on the banks of the Chicago River, Chicago was founded on which of the great lakes?
Answer: Lake Michigan
11 In 1942 the University of Chicago conducted the first sustained nuclear what?
Answer: Chain reaction
12 How many men served in the Union Army During the American Civil War from Illinois?
Answer: More than 250,000
13 John Deere’s invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois’ prairie into valuable farmland attracting immigrant farmers from what two countries?
Answer: Germany and Sweden
14 What are the names of the three presidents that have been elected to office while residing in Illinois?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Barack Obama
15 Which U.S. President was the only one born and raised in Illinois?
Answer: Ronald Reagan
16 What phrase has been displayed on Illinois’s automobile license plates since 1954?
Answer: Land of Lincoln
17 Metropolis is a city in Illinois.
Answer: True
Illinois trivia facts
18 If you are in Delavan, which direction do you need to go to get to Peoria?
Answer: North
19 Which is the furthest north?
Answer: Crane Lake
20 Where are the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum located in Illinois?
Answer: Springfield
21 Excavations in Illinois demonstrate that there were about 7,000 years of what?
Answer: Continuous habitation
22 Monks Mound, in the center of an excavation site, is the largest pre-Columbian structure north of where?
Answer: Valley of Mexico
23 By 1857, what was the largest city in Illinois?
Answer: Chicago
24 Monks Mound is 100 feet high, 951 feet long, 836 feet wide, and covers how many acres?
Answer: 13.8
25 In 1673 what pair of famous French explorers explored the Illinois River?
Answer: Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet
26 Most of the Illinois western border with Missouri and Iowa consists of what river?
Answer: The Mississippi River
27 The first experimental nuclear power plant in the United States was fired up in 1957 where?
Answer: Argonne National Laboratory
28 In 1680, other French explorers built a fort at the site of present-day what?
Answer: Peoria
29 What is the all-time high temperature for Illinois, recorded on July 14, 1954, at East St. Louis,?
Answer: 117 °
30 The British Crown made Illinois part of the land reserved for Indians and as a result, very few British or American settlers did what?
Answer: Move there
31 The Chicago Bulls is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world, due in large part to whom?
Answer: Michael Jordan
32 By 1960, Dresden 1, located near Morris Illinois, was the first privately financed” what” in the United States?
Answer: Nuclear plant
33 How many cities in Illinois does the U.S. Census Bureau currently list with populations of over 100,000?
Answer: Seven
34 Vandalia became the capital of Illinois in what year?
Answer: In 1819
Illinois state trivia
35 In 1837, state legislators representing Sangamon County, under and led by state representative Abraham Lincoln, had the capital moved to where?
Answer: Springfield
36 In 1832, the Black Hawk War was fought in Illinois and what is now Wisconsin between the United States and what Indian Tribes?
Answer: The Sauk, Fox and Kickapoo tribes
37 The winter of 1830–1831 is called the “Winter of the Deep Snow” because an unexpectedly deep snowfall covered Illinois, making travel impossible for many travelers?
Answer: Died
38 By 1839, the Mormons had established a city called Nauvoo on what river?
Answer: The Mississippi
39 Where Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader was murdered?
Answer: In the Carthage Jail, about 30 miles away from Nauvoo Illinois
40 What took place from Sunday, October 8, 1871, until Tuesday, October 10, 1871, in Chicago?
Answer: The Great Chicago Fire
41 How much of Chicago burned in downtown Chicago during the Great Chicago Fire?
Answer: 4 square miles
42 The town of Cairo, at the southern tip of the state served as a supply base and training center for what army?
Answer: The Union army
43 For several months General Grant had his headquarters in what Illinois city?
Answer: Cairo
44 At the turn of the 20th century, whites were what percentage of the state’s population?
Answer: 98%
45 During what year did Illinois host the “Century of Progress World’s Fair” in Chicago?
Answer: In 1933
46 With the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, Chicago became a what?
Answer: An ocean port
47 In 1960, what did entrepreneur Ray Kroc open in Des Plaines?
Answer: The first McDonald’s franchise
48 Illinois generates more electricity than any other state from what?
Answer: Nuclear power
49 Where was the first Farm Aid concert held to help out the American farmers, in 1985?
Answer: Champaign Illinois
50 What was the all-time low temperature ever recorded for the state of Illinois?
Answer: −36 °F on January 5, 1999, at Congerville
51 What is the average number of tornadoes that occur yearly in Illinois?
Answer: 35
52 What are the two Major League Baseball teams based in the state of Illinois?
Answer: The Chicago Cubs and The Chicago White Sox
53 How many NFL Championships has the Chicago Bears football team won?
Answer: Nine
Illinois geography trivia
54 What county is the state capital of Illinois in?
Answer: Sangamon
55 What is the second largest city in Illinois?
Answer: Aurora
56 Which of the following cities is NOT on Interstate 74?
Answer: Decatur
57 What Illinois city is the furthest south?
Answer: CAIRO
58 Where is Snakeden Hollow State Fish and Wildlife Area?
Answer: Knox County
59 Northern Illinois University is in what city?
Answer: DeKalb
60 What river goes through Peoria?
Answer: Illinois River
61 The highest point in Illinois is Charles Mound. What is its elevation?
Answer: 1235 feet
62 According to Rand McNally, how many miles is it between Chicago and St. Louis, MO?
Answer: 300 miles
63 How many square miles are there in Illinois?
Answer: 57,914 sq. miles
64 San Jose, Atlanta, and Charlotte are cities in Illinois?
Answer: True
65 If you are in Quincy, which state can you see across the river?
A Master in Economics having over 8 years of field experience. I am also a pro blogger loves to write articles for different blogs post related to kids, Christmas, harry potter, movies, and animals.
