Welcome to our page of Illinois trivia questions! Illinois is a state known for its rich history, diverse culture, and iconic landmarks, making it a fascinating destination for trivia enthusiasts. Our selection of questions covers a wide range of topics including the state's history, culture, geography, and landmarks. Whether you're a native of Illinois or just a curious learner, our trivia questions will help you discover new and exciting information about this great state.
For those interested in the history of Illinois, our trivia questions will take you through the state's past, from its early days as a French colony to the present. We also cover the state's famous landmarks such as Chicago's Willis Tower, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Culture enthusiasts can learn about the state's diverse cultural heritage, traditional customs, and local art forms.
Illinois's geography and wildlife are also an important part of the state's identity, and our questions cover information about the state's natural wonders like the Shawnee National Forest, the Great River Road and the unique wildlife such as the Eastern Gray Squirrel and the state bird, the Cardinal.
Our trivia questions are designed to be challenging yet entertaining, making them perfect for individuals, families, or groups of friends. Whether you're looking for a fun way to pass the time or you want to test your knowledge of Illinois, our trivia questions are sure to provide hours of entertainment.
48 Illinois Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- What geometrically named dance is the official state dance of Illinois?
Answer: Square Dance
- What federation of motor clubs, known for its roadside service and its repetitive acronym, was founded in 1902 in Chicago, Illinois? It is a privately held not-for-profit national member group.
Answer: American Automobile Association
- What Illinois city located along the Ohio River in Massac County has a population of 6,465, and shares a name with a famed fictional city in superhero lore?
Answer: Metropolis
- A September 28, 2021, ceremony commemorated the breaking of ground for construction of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in what U.S. city?
Answer: Chicago
- The library of Des Plaines, Illinois's Maine North High School, which had been closed in 1981, was given a second life when it became the principal setting for what popular 1985 film?
Answer: The Breakfast Club
- What insurance provider, founded in 1931 in Illinois, USA, offers liability among other insurance services, and owns Esurance? Their logo appropriately features two outstretched palms.
Answer: Allstate
- The following four states border Lake Michigan: Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and what fourth Midwestern U.S. state that’s officially nicknamed “The Prairie State?”
Answer: Illinois
- What Illinois-born actor appeared in all of the following films? Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Tootsie, Ghostbusters, and Scrooged.
Answer: Bill Murray
- Measured by the number of students, what is the largest college in Illinois with the word 'Chicago' in its full name?
Answer: University of Illinois at Chicago
- What Midwestern state was the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexual acts between two consenting adults in private?
Answer: Illinois
- The Wrigley Company is spitting distance from the original Goose Island Brewery in what major American city?
Answer: Chicago
- As defined by the U.S. census, the Midwest region includes two subdivisions. One of these includes Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and what other state?
Answer: Illinois
- What “M” food conglomerate, based in Chicago, Illinois, owns Cadbury, Chips Ahoy, and Oreo among others? Formerly known as Kraft Foods, it got its name from combining the Latin words for “world” and “delicious.”
Answer: Mondelez International
- Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth became a double amputee after the helicopter she was piloting was attacked during the Iraq War. Prior to her election to the Senate, she served as an assistant secretary at what U.S cabinet-level department focused on providing lifelong healthcare services to former members of the military?
Answer: United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett, and Miguel Cabrera all spent time playing for the Kane County Cougars in Geneva, Illinois while the team was part of what Major League team's farm system?
Answer: Florida Marlins
- Illinois’s Circuit Court contains two types of judges: circuit judges and what second type of judge that must be appointed by circuit judges on the basis of merit for a single four-year term?
Answer: Associate Judges
- The nine stars on the flag of the city of Richmond, Virginia rep states that used to be part of the Virginia Commonwealth. Of those nine, name either one that starts with the letter "I."
Answer: Illinois, Indiana
- If you wanted to travel through three adjacent U.S. states that all started with the same letter, you would have to travel through which three states?
Answer: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
- Representing seven states, including Illinois, North Carolina, and West Virginia, what bird is the most popular choice for official state bird in the U.S.?
Answer: Northern Cardinal
- The Amtrak passenger line The City of New Orleans ends in, well, New Orleans. In what Midwestern city does it start?
Answer: Chicago
- Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan, Dan Walker, and Otto Kerner have all been governors of the same state in the past 70 years. Coincidentally, each man has also served a prison term since leaving public office. Over what state did all of these men govern?
Answer: Illinois
- While working at Motorola in the 1970s, Martin Cooper invented what is typically considered the first cell phone. Cooper is a graduate of IIT: an Institute of Technology located in what state?
Answer: Illinois
- Opening for business in 1893, what hotel located across from Chicago's Grant Park was declared the most haunted place in Illinois by Travel + Leisure magazine in 2016?
Answer: Congress Plaza Hotel
- Missouri borders 8 states, tied for the most with Tennessee. Covering most of its eastern side, with what state does Missouri share its longest border, stretching 331 miles and just edging out Arkansas for the title?
Answer: Illinois
- According to a UK insurance expert, there would be a 5-million-pound payout for Jake and Elwood's drive through an Illinois shopping mall in what fraternal 1980 musical comedy?
Answer: The Blues Brothers
- Ray Kroc’s first McDonald’s opened in 1955 in what Chicago suburb?
Answer: Des Plaines
- John Wayne Gacy Jr. (aka "The Killer Clown") was incarcerated and held on death row for 14 years in what U.S. state?
Answer: Illinois
- MDW and ORD are both prominent airports found in which U.S. state? We're looking for the state, not the city.
Answer: Illinois
- Connecting St. Louis, Missouri with East St. Louis, Illinois, the Eads Bridge, which was built in the 19th century, is the first bridge across what American river?
Answer: Mississippi River
- What “B” boating company based out of Mettawa, Illinois, makes the Mercury boat engines? The name is the same as, but unrelated to, a Canadian province and a bowling company.
Answer: Brunswick
- In Illinois and Indiana in the late 1880s, a female serial killer murdered at least 14 people she’d lured by placing marriage ads in local papers. Dubbed “Hell’s Belle,” she only stopped killing when she died in a fire in 1908—or did she? What was the name of the murderous mistress who some historians believe faked her death?
Answer: Belle Gunness
- Hungarian-born British conductor Georg Solti has the record for most Grammy Awards, with a whopping 31 wins. He won these awards as the conductor of the Orchestra for what midwestern U.S. city?
Answer: Chicago
- Abraham Lincoln was famously born in Kentucky and lived much of his adult life in Illinois. However, he spent most of his childhood and early teenage years in what third state?
Answer: Indiana
- What Illinois public university has a mascot that commemorates a historic 1871 event?
Answer: UIC Flames
- Although the Big 10 Conference has gained many schools over the years, only one school has left the conference. What is this school that is often considered the most prestigious university in the state of Illinois?
Answer: University of Chicago
- Perhaps the most famous debates of all time featuring a future U.S. president weren't actually presidential debates. Rather, in 1858 Abraham Lincoln participated in a series of seven debates against which other man vying to be a U.S. Senator from Illinois?
Answer: Stephen Douglas
- Historic Route 66 begins in Illinois and ends in California, totaling 2,448 miles from end to end. However, in what state does the route pass through for a measly 13.2 miles?
Answer: Kansas
- In 1893, Ida B. Wells joined Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders for a boycott of the World's Columbian Exposition in what Midwest city?
Answer: Chicago
- In what year was the current Illinois Constitution passed, retaining the three-tiered court system of the Judicial Article to the state constitution passed six years earlier?
Answer: 1970
- The Inter-Ocean was a popular newspaper from the end of the Civil War until 1914. The somewhat unusual name for the paper made more sense when one realized what large American city was home to the paper's headquarters. What was this city?
Answer: Chicago
- The sports teams of Southern Illinois University are named for what Egyptian dog breed, sometimes called "Persian greyhounds?"
Answer: Salukis
- What singer-songwriter wrote and sang a song about infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy on his 2005 double-album titled "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" The biggest hit from the album was simply titled "Chicago."
Answer: Sufjan Stevens
- The building regarded as the world’s first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, was built in 1884 in which American city?
Answer: Chicago
- While working as a lawyer in Illinois in 1858, Abraham Lincoln produced what two-word manual to prove that the witness testimony of seeing a crime in the moonlight could not have been true? Lincoln ultimately won the case.
Answer: Farmer's Almanac
- Abraham Lincoln volunteered in the Illinois Militia in 1832 during what War? Although he never saw combat, he was elected captain of his first company. Although typically deemed a "War," it was in fact a relatively brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans.
Answer: Black Hawk War
- Within 3%, what percent of the total population of Illinois lives in Chicago?
Answer: 21% (18% - 24% accepted)
- As of the July 2019 estimates, Ohio is the seventh-most populous state in the U.S. You have one guess to name either the sixth-most or eighth-most populous state. So, basically, we're asking you to guess for Ohio's neighbor in population rankings.
Answer: Illinois (sixth) and Georgia (eighth)
- CERN hosts the Large Hadron Collider, the world's highest energy particle collider which opened underneath the Swiss-French border in 2008. The LHC surpassed the prior record-holding particle accelerator in what U.S. state?
Answer: Illinois
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About the Author
Eli Robinson is the Chief Trivia Officer at Water Cooler Trivia. He was once in a Bruce Springsteen cover band called F Street Band.
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