Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, is known for its rugged coastline, towering mountains, and diverse culture. The state's capital is Salem and the largest city is Portland. Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state in 1859. The state has a rich history, from the arrival of early explorers, to the Oregon Trail and the state's role in the settling of the American West.
Oregon is home to many notable landmarks, such as the Crater Lake National Park, the Oregon Trail, and the Tillamook Cheese Factory. The state is also known for its contributions to American culture, particularly in the field of environmentalism and the state has a reputation as a leader in sustainable practices. The state is also known for its diverse and vibrant culture, with many different communities, including the state's large Asian American population.
Trivia questions about Oregon can include questions about its history, geography, culture, and famous residents. This article will test your knowledge of the state's past and present, from its role in the American West to its contributions to American culture. Get ready to learn more about Oregon and see how well you fare against these challenging trivia questions. Whether you're a resident of the state or just a curious trivia buff, this article is sure to be an engaging and informative read.
89 Oregon Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)
- Oregon’s Malheur National Forest is home to the largest known living organism, cleverly given a rhyming name: the “humongous _____.”
Answer: Fungus
- Seattle-based chef Shota Nakajima made it to the finals of season 18 of Bravo's "Top Chef," which took place in what state that borders Washington?
Answer: Oregon
- In 1976, Guinness World Records named the 452-square-inch landmark Mill Ends Park as the world’s smallest park, which is located in what U.S. West Coast city that’s also home to the NBA’s Trail Blazers?
Answer: Portland
- A canyon of the Columbia River, located in Oregon, is the Columbia River ______. Fill in the one word “G” blank, a word for a narrow valley between mountains, often with steep walls and a stream running through it.
Answer: Columbia River Gorge
- The Nebraska quarter pictures a pioneer family heading westward with what famous landmark in the background? This natural feature, located in the North Platte River valley near Bayard, became the most famous landmark on the Oregon-California trail.
Answer: Chimney Rock
- While Verkada’s security cameras have person-detection capabilities powered by AI, not every state allows for these features. Texas, Illinois, and which city in Oregon have regulations that prohibit the use of security cameras with face detection, gender appearance, and person of interest notifications?
Answer: Portland
- Not far from the original Voodoo Donuts and Powell's City of Books, the famous White Stag sign lights up the Willamette River. The stag is jumping across the neon outline of what U.S. state?
Answer: Oregon
- According to its creator Matt Groening, what character on “The Simpsons” is named after Burnside Street and Montgomery Street in Portland, Oregon?
Answer: Mr. Burns
- The two men who settled in Portland, Oregon both wanted to name it after their hometowns. Unable to reach a compromise, they flipped a coin to decide who would get the honor. Francis Pettygrove won the toss and named the city after his Portland. Which state was Pettygrove from?
Answer: Maine
- Quoting “you have died of dysentery" didn’t come from “Grey’s Anatomy” or “House, M.D.”—it’s a throwback to which computer lab pioneering game from your ‘90s childhood?
Answer: The Oregon Trail
- Combined with North Bend, what is the largest town you will find on the coast in Oregon? This bay shares a name with what you hear from a flock of doves.
Answer: Coos Bay
- Leave it to Theodore Cleaver to know the answer to this one. Weighing up to 90 kg, the capybara is the largest living rodent, but the 50 kg North American species of what rodent (the state mammal of Oregon and New York) comes second?
Answer: Beaver
- The CF Toronto Eaton Centre has a holographic fashion show display thanks to what 5-letter cloud technology? Coincidentally, it is the first letters of the largest city in Oregon in the U.S.
Answer: PORTL
- Approximately one million people a year visit what cheese factory, known particularly for its cheddar and gourmet ice cream, just north of its namesake town on the Oregon coast?
Answer: Tillamook Creamery
- What lake in south-central Oregon, namesake of its own national park, is famous for its deep blue water color? It is named after the hollowed-out depression, created by impact, that allowed the lake to form.
Answer: Crater Lake
- In what early computer game did pioneers often die of dysentery? The game was later inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Answer: Oregon Trail
- Oregon is a popular fishing spot for what “D” crab species, Metacarcinus magister, that grows to 20 cm across the carapace and is a popular seafood order?
Answer: Dungeness Crab
- The International Test Garden in Portland, Oregon's Washington Park boasts over 10,000 bushes and 650 varieties of what familiar garden resident?
Answer: Roses
- The indie band lover in your life would love an assortment of band tees from Modest Mouse, Blind Pilot, Blitzen Trapper, and Elliott Smith, some of the esteemed acts from what second-most-populous Pacific Northwest city?
Answer: Portland, Oregon
- What “T” Creek and State Natural Area exists entirely in Portland, OR, and is the only Oregon state park in a metropolitan area?
Answer: Tryon Creek State Natural Area
- Given the institution featured one named “Puddles” at its sporting events in the 1920s, what feathered animal currently serves as the official mascot of the University of Oregon?
Answer: Duck
- What Ken Kesey novel, later turned into a movie, is set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital?
Answer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- In the timeless Oregon Trail video games, you were often given three options to get across rivers: caulk and float, take a ferry, and what bronco and mustang-friendly, four-letter third choice?
Answer: Ford
- Beatrice Morrow Cannady was a civil rights advocate born in 1889 and became a longtime editor of "The Advocate" which was the largest African American newspaper in Portland, Oregon. She was also the first Black female to practice law in Oregon, and was a founding member of the city's chapter of what 1909-founded organization?
Answer: NAACP
- For such a beautiful state, it’s almost unbelievable that there’s only just ONE National Park in Oregon. What’s its name (which kinda makes it sound like it would be on the moon)?
Answer: Crater Lake
- What 1985 video game begins with a planned departure from Independence, Missouri?
Answer: The Oregon Trail
- The pear is the official state fruit of what U.S. state? The designation is likely because they are the top-selling tree fruit crop in the state, growing particularly well in the Rogue River Valley and along the Columbia River near Mt. Hood.
Answer: Oregon
- In 1887, Oregon became the first state in the U.S. to make it an official public holiday. Seven years later, there were 29 additional states with official celebrations. What is it?
Answer: Labor Day
- Primarily powering Juneau, the Snettisham Hydroelectric Facility dams Long Lake and what other body of water that shares its name with an Oregon national park?
Answer: Crater Lake
- Kate Brown became the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when she assumed the role after the resignation of John Kitzhaber in 2015. Of what state is Brown the governor?
Answer: Oregon
- Given its resemblance to bales of horse fodder, what’s the name of an iconic 235-foot-tall monolithic rock formation in Cannon Beach, Oregon?
Answer: Haystack Rock
- Located near the Oregon Zoo in Portland’s Washington Park, the World ______ Center is a nonprofit educational institution dedicated to what science of planting land dominated by trees?
Answer: Forestry
- A museum of rocks and minerals, in the Portland metro area in Hillsboro, Oregon, is the ______ Northwest Museum. Fill in the one word “R” blank, also a swamp grass widely cultivated as food source, especially in Asian cuisine.
Answer: Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks & Minerals
- A public park in the Piedmont neighborhood of Portland, Oregon is ______ Park. Fill in the one word “P” blank, also a word for a piece of land almost surrounded by water that projects out into a body of water.
Answer: Peninsula Park
- Oregon's Baker City was transformed into "No Name City" for the filming of Paint Your _____, a 1969 musical Western starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. What common Western image fills in the blank in the movie's title?
Answer: Wagon
- Nike founder Phil Knight is famously an alum of the University of Oregon, but what other West Coast school awarded Knight his graduate degree?
Answer: Stanford
- Bear with us, we know this is a bit of a wild question. But we suspect it is fun. Portland, Oregon has a city population of around 650,000 making it the most populous city in Oregon. If Portland, Maine was in Oregon, it would be the 9th most populous city, with around 66,000 residents. Name either the 8th or 9th most populous city in Oregon today (i.e. the ones that Portland, Maine would be neighboring on the rankings if it moved across the country.)
Answer: Medford or Springfield
- Located 75 miles northwest of Portland, what Oregon city is the setting for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring 1990 film "Kindergarten Cop"?
Answer: Astoria
- Serving in the state assembly for more than 20 years, who was the first Black woman elected to Oregon's state legislature? Earlier in her career, she had worked at Portland Community College as a counselor.
Answer: Margaret Carter
- The Nike corporation is headquartered in what Oregon city? Its name sounds like 2,000 pounds of semi aquatic rodent of the family Castoridae.
Answer: Beaverton
- What is the name of Portland, Oregon's Major League Soccer team, whose mascot is a grizzled lumberjack named Jim?
Answer: Portland Timbers
- A major tributary of the Columbia River, what “W” River lies 187 miles across northwestern Oregon? This major landmark of the Portland area got its name from a village of the Clackamas Native Americans.
Answer: Willamette River
- The Oregon Museum of Science and ______, located on Water Avenue in Portland, OR offers a planetarium and many hands-on science exhibits. Fill in the “i” blank, often used to describe a branch of an economy that produces similar goods or services.
Answer: Industry
- Portland, Oregon holds a strange record likely to go without contest. In 2000, researchers in the city earned the title for creating what first-of-its-kind bioluminescent animal? Although they inserted jellyfish glow genes into a whole barrel of them, only one came out with the unique ability.
Answer: Monkey
- The Portland Aerial Tram provides service for the district known as South ______, connecting it to Oregon Health & Science University. Fill in the one word “W” blank, also a word from a 1954 Marlon Brando movie directed by Elia Kazan.
Answer: South Waterfront
- Originally constructed to house the operations of the former Oregon Journal, what 12-story terra-cotta building stands on Broadway across from Yamhill Street? Hint: We're looking for TWO words here.
Answer: Jackson Tower
- Portland can only expand to a certain size because of Oregon's UGB laws. That stands for Urban Growth WHAT?
Answer: Boundary
- The Blue Sky Gallery, located on 8th Avenue in Portland, Oregon, is an art gallery specifically dedicated to presenting what visual medium?
Answer: Photography
- Which West Coast university does Nike have a close relationship with (they designed the football team’s uniforms and donate a lot of money to the athletics programs)?
Answer: University of Oregon
- Portland's historic Bagdad Theatre was the site of the gala premiere of what Best Picture winner, itself set in the state of Oregon, in 1975?
Answer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- In 1994, which West Coast state passed its Death With Dignity Act, making it the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide?
Answer: Oregon
- What coffee chain, local to the western United States, is based in Grants Pass, Oregon--not, as the name might suggest, Amsterdam or The Hague?
Answer: Dutch Bros.
- In Oregon, the Spotted Owl is threatened by which other owl that used to be mostly in the eastern U.S., but has moved west in the last few decades?
Answer: Barred Owl
- Situated along the Eastern border of Oregon, what “devilish” canyon was created by the waters of the Snake River and is the deepest river gorge in North America?
Answer: Hells Canyon
- Haystack Rock—an iconic sea formation off the coast of Oregon's Cannon Beach—helps the title characters of what 1985 movie to navigate a mysterious map?
Answer: The Goonies
- What is Oregon's state gemstone? It is a variety of crystal feldspar, and its color (which ranges from water-clear to pale yellow, soft pink, blood red, blue, and green) is determined by the amount of copper in the stone.
Answer: Sunstone
- Which river found in North America empties into the Pacific Ocean just a little to the West of Astoria in Oregon?
Answer: Columbia
- Talk about confusing! Although it shares a name with a city thirty miles NORTH of the state, what Washington town of 200,000 is actually a suburb of Portland, Oregon?
Answer: Vancouver
- What 620-foot waterfall is the tallest in Oregon and, with over two million visitors each year, the most-visited natural attraction in the Pacific Northwest?
Answer: Multnomah Falls
- The "Institute of Technology" in what U.S. state was the first college to offer a Bachelor of Science program in Renewable Energy Engineering? The campus of this school is in the city of Klamath Falls, and there are additional campuses in Wilsonville and Salem.
Answer: Oregon
- Founded as a weekly by Thomas Dryer in 1850 and published daily since 1861, what is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. West Coast? This paper is also one of the few to have an explicitly statewide focus.
Answer: The Oregonian
- Now his foundation awards the preeminent global cooking awards. But what man claimed that his earliest food memory came from the 1905 World’s Fair in Portland Oregon? “I was taken to the exposition two or three times. The thing that remained in my mind above all others—I think it marked my life—was watching Triscuits and shredded wheat biscuits being made. Isn't that crazy? At two years old that memory was made. It intrigued the hell out of me.”
Answer: James Beard
- Which city along Oregon’s Deschutes River is known for its glorious natural wonders (like Mirror Pond and the Badlands Wilderness), and is also home to the last Blockbuster Video in the U.S.?
Answer: Bend
- A certain author's 1957 research trip to Florence, Oregon began as an attempt to write an article on environmental efforts to use grasses to slow the spread of beach sands. Though article was never written, the trip did inspire what appropriately named 1965 science fiction novel?
Answer: Dune
- Hailed by Phil Knight as "Soul of Nike" and by Sports Illustrated as "America's Distance Prodigy," what Oregonian runner died at the age of 24 in 1975?
Answer: Steve Prefontaine
- In the Pacific Northwest, what "B" named dam spans the Columbia River forty miles east of Portland, Oregon?
Answer: Bonneville Dam
- The largest fungal colony in the world is found in the Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of what state? Considered as a single organism, this fungus is the largest living organism on earth, taking up 2,200 acres.
Answer: Oregon
- According to the 2020 U.S. Census, what is the third largest city in the state of Oregon?
Answer: Salem
- What famous donut shop in Portland, Oregon once served NyQuil- and Pepto Bismol-coated doughnuts before the FDA shut down the medicinal pastry operation?
Answer: Voodoo Doughnuts
- What over 1,000-mile-long slithering river makes up most of the border between Oregon and Idaho?
Answer: Snake
- What venture capital fund, founded in 2007 and named for the pacific northwest U.S. state it’s located in, and invests in customer.io, Perfect Company, and GlobeSherpa, among many others?
Answer: Oregon Venture Fund
- Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman's father served briefly in what high-ranking political office?
Answer: Governor of Oregon
- Although Portland (and Oregon, more broadly) is often associated with Nike, Adidas also has its North American headquarters located in Portland. In which neighborhood will you find this sporty HQ?
Answer: Overlook
- Bearing the names of two 19th-century businessmen (one of whom also gives his name to the most populous city in a different state), which building in Portland is the tallest in Oregon?
Answer: Wells Fargo Center
- The origin of the Hawaiian-sounding name “Aloha” is disputed and might have been down to a post office mistake. Which West Coast state is the mysteriously monikered locale in?
Answer: Oregon
- "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the highly acclaimed Miloš Forman film starring Jack Nicholson, was filmed in a mental hospital in what state?
Answer: Oregon
- Mount Eddy is the highest point in which mountains system in north-western California and south-western Oregon whose name derives from the Chinook word “tlamatl,” meaning a people native to this area?
Answer: Klamath
- What is the name of the overnight, long-distance relay held annually each August in Oregon that's considered the largest running and walking relay in the world? The course runs approximately 200 miles and includes more than 10,000 participants that start and end at important geographical landmarks.
Answer: Hood to Coast Relay
- In 2021, Sotheby's planned an auction for a specific edition of the Nike Hyperdunk basketball sneaker created for what man? The shoes are one of only two pairs in existence, with the other gifted to this man. As a hint, this man's brother-in-law coached the Oregon State and Brown University basketball teams in the 2000s.
Answer: Barack Obama
- To celebrate the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Nike named a collection of shoes and athletic wear after what iconic University of Oregon stadium?
Answer: Hayward Field
- What is the westernmost state capitol in the contiguous United States? It is nicknamed "The Cherry City," reflecting the historical importance of cherry growing to the community.
Answer: Salem, Oregon
- Rivers run through it: What two rivers are part of Oregon's borders? One river provides most of the border between Oregon and Washington, while the other forms a part of the border between Oregon and Idaho.
Answer: Columbia, Snake
- Which “devil” of a canyon can you visit in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest along the borders of Oregon and Idaho?
Answer: Hells
- While camped in Oregon in 1805, explorers Lewis and Clark famously traveled to the coast to view the carcass of what kind of animal?
Answer: Blue Whale
- The brand Burley is most often-associated with what specific bicycle accessory? The Oregon-based brand has been selling this item since the early 1980s.
Answer: Kids trailer
- What is the name of the city park in Portland that is also the northernmost point in the city? The park forms the tip of a peninsula where the Willamette and Columbia rivers intersect, and is named after a New Englander who promoted interest in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest during the 1800s.
Answer: Kelley Point Park
- Oregon brewery Ninkasi is named for the beer goddess of what ancient Mesopotamian culture, which also produced the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Answer: Sumer
- Nike has famously been an Oregon-based company since its founding. What man has been mayor for the past decade in Nike's current hometown of Beaverton?
Answer: Denny Doyle
- Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds contain the first recorded fossils of what species, Castor californicus, also closely associated with the state of Oregon?
Answer: Beaver
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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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