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52 Illinois Trivia Questions and Fun Facts

Reviewed by Stefanie Zaldarriaga, Author·Updated Oct 2026·7 min read

52 Illinois trivia questions with answers and a handful of checked fun facts, from Lincoln's Springfield and Cahokia's mounds to Route 66, the Ferris wheel and the official state pie.

Featured Image of Illinois Trivia Questions. Credit: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Illinois gave the world the Ferris wheel, the first controlled nuclear chain reaction and the starting line of Route 66,, and it still calls itself the Prairie State while running one of the biggest cities in the country. Before the 52 questions below, here are the facts worth knowing.

Long before Chicago, Cahokia near present-day Collinsville was the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. Its Monks Mound is the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas, and the site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Source: Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site; UNESCO World Heritage List.)

Abraham Lincoln moved to Springfield in 1837, practiced law there for nearly 25 years and is buried in the city's Oak Ridge Cemetery. The house on Eighth Street is the only home he ever owned. (Source: National Park Service, Lincoln Home National Historic Site.)

On February 1, 1865, Illinois became the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Lincoln, its champion, had signed the joint resolution the same day. (Source: Illinois Secretary of State; National Archives.)

On December 2, 1942, under the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, the reactor Chicago Pile-1 achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. (Source: US Department of Energy; University of Chicago.)

Illinois harvests more pumpkins than any other state, and most of them are grown for processing into canned pumpkin. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.)

The official state list includes popcorn as the state snack food, pumpkin pie as the state pie, the GoldRush apple as the state fruit, the square dance as the state dance and the Tully monster, a soft-bodied creature known only from Illinois fossil beds, as the state fossil. (Source: Illinois General Assembly, State Designations Act, 5 ILCS 460.)

The questions start easy and get harder as you go, and every one has multiple-choice options. Read each question aloud, give the table a moment, then reveal the answer.

  1. 1What is the capital of Illinois?

  2. 2What is the largest city in Illinois?

  3. 3Which slogan has appeared on Illinois license plates since the 1950s?

  4. 4Which US president is buried in Springfield, Illinois?

  5. 5Which Great Lake borders Illinois?

  6. 6Which river forms the western border of Illinois?

  7. 7What is the state bird of Illinois?

  8. 8Chicago's Sears Tower was renamed in 2009. What is it called now?

  9. 9Which famous highway ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California?

  10. 10What is the official state snack food of Illinois?

  11. 11Which southern Illinois city is the official hometown of Superman?

  12. 12Every St. Patrick's Day, the Chicago River is dyed what color?

  13. 13The Ferris wheel made its debut at which 1893 fair in Chicago?

  14. 14What is the name of the Chicago Cubs' home ballpark?

  15. 15What is the state flower of Illinois?

  16. 16In what year did the Great Chicago Fire burn much of the city?

  17. 17In what year did Illinois become a state?

  18. 18Illinois entered the Union as which numbered state?

  19. 19What is the state tree of Illinois?

  20. 20What is the state animal of Illinois?

  21. 21What is the state insect of Illinois?

  22. 22What is the state fish of Illinois?

  23. 23Which US president was born in Tampico, Illinois, in 1911?

  24. 24Ulysses S. Grant lived in which northwestern Illinois town before the Civil War?

  25. 25How many debates did Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas hold across Illinois in 1858?

  26. 26Which mound at Cahokia is the largest prehistoric earthen structure in the Americas?

  27. 27Which 1885 Chicago building is often called the world's first skyscraper?

  28. 28The Sears Tower was the world's tallest building from 1973 until it was overtaken in 1998 by what?

  29. 29The first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction took place in 1942 at which university?

  30. 30In 1900 engineers reversed the flow of which river so it ran away from Lake Michigan?

  31. 31In 1837 John Deere built his self-scouring steel plow in which Illinois town?

  32. 32Chicago's O'Hare airport is named after Butch O'Hare, who was what?

  33. 33Which animation pioneer was born in Chicago in 1901?

  34. 34Which Nobel Prize-winning novelist was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899?

  35. 35In February 1865, Illinois became the first state to ratify which constitutional amendment?

  36. 36How many counties does Illinois have?

  37. 37Illinois harvests more of which crop than any other state, most of it for canning?

  38. 38Which dessert did Illinois name its official state pie in 2015?

  39. 39Which soft-bodied prehistoric creature is the state fossil of Illinois?

  40. 40How many NBA championships did the Chicago Bulls win in the 1990s?

  41. 41What is the state mineral of Illinois?

  42. 42Which apple variety is the official state fruit of Illinois?

  43. 43What is the highest natural point in Illinois?

  44. 44What was the first capital of the state of Illinois?

  45. 45From 1820 until 1839, before Springfield, the Illinois capital sat in which town?

  46. 46What is the official state motto of Illinois?

  47. 47What is the state amphibian of Illinois?

  48. 48What is the state reptile of Illinois?

  49. 49Which dance is the official state dance of Illinois?

  50. 50Illinois generates more electricity from which source than any other state?

  51. 51The Tully monster is known only from fossil beds at which Illinois site?

  52. 52What is the official state soil of Illinois?

Answer Key

  1. 1. Springfield
  2. 2. Chicago
  3. 3. Land of Lincoln
  4. 4. Abraham Lincoln
  5. 5. Lake Michigan
  6. 6. The Mississippi River
  7. 7. The northern cardinal
  8. 8. Willis Tower
  9. 9. Route 66
  10. 10. Popcorn
  11. 11. Metropolis
  12. 12. Green
  13. 13. The World's Columbian Exposition
  14. 14. Wrigley Field
  15. 15. The violet
  16. 16. 1871
  17. 17. 1818
  18. 18. The 21st
  19. 19. The white oak
  20. 20. The white-tailed deer
  21. 21. The monarch butterfly
  22. 22. The bluegill
  23. 23. Ronald Reagan
  24. 24. Galena
  25. 25. Seven
  26. 26. Monks Mound
  27. 27. The Home Insurance Building
  28. 28. The Petronas Towers
  29. 29. The University of Chicago
  30. 30. The Chicago River
  31. 31. Grand Detour
  32. 32. A World War II Navy fighter pilot
  33. 33. Walt Disney
  34. 34. Ernest Hemingway
  35. 35. The 13th Amendment
  36. 36. 102
  37. 37. Pumpkins
  38. 38. Pumpkin pie
  39. 39. The Tully monster
  40. 40. Six
  41. 41. Fluorite
  42. 42. The GoldRush apple
  43. 43. Charles Mound
  44. 44. Kaskaskia
  45. 45. Vandalia
  46. 46. State Sovereignty, National Union
  47. 47. The eastern tiger salamander
  48. 48. The painted turtle
  49. 49. The square dance
  50. 50. Nuclear power
  51. 51. Mazon Creek
  52. 52. Drummer silty clay loam

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