Illinois, or the Prairie State, is the sixth most populous state in the United States and ranks 25th in America in area. Yes, Illinois is known as the ‘Land of Lincoln,’ but to your surprise, Abraham Lincoln was not actually born in Illinois. Ronald Reagan is the only American President native to Illinois.
Illinois surpasses all other spots of equal extent upon the face of the globe in soil fertility. Not only is 27 million acres of Illinois farmland, but the State also produces the most electricity from nuclear energy than any other state which accounts for 13% of the US.
Illinois Facts Trivia Questions and Answers
Illinois ranks high among the states in manufacturing chemicals, food products, fabricated metals, computer and electronic products, and rubber products. Other Illinois top industries include oil production and coal mining.
Below are Illinois trivia questions and answers to jog your memory.
1. What county is the state capital of Illinois in?
2. In what year did Illinois become a US State?
3. What is the purple State Flower of Illinois?
4. Charles Mound has the state’s highest elevation above sea level at how many feet of elevation?
5. The Port of Chicago in Illinois connects the state to global ports via Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the Atlantic Ocean, and through what famous river?
6. What turtle is the State Reptile of Illinois?
7. O’Hare International Airport has been consistently ranked as what?
8. As far as population, where does Illinois rank compared to the other US States?
9. Which of these common trees is the State Tree of Illinois?
10. How many Stanley Cups have the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL won?
11. 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?
12. What is the State pie of Illinois?
13. In the 1830s, on the banks of the Chicago River, Chicago was founded on which of the great lakes?
14. Illinois is the most populous state in what region?
15. Illinois generates more electricity than any other state from what?
16. What is the State Mineral for Illinois?
17. What was the all-time low temperature ever recorded for the state of Illinois?
18. What is the second largest city in Illinois?
19. Much of Illinois is flat and relatively treeless. This type of terrain gave Illinois one of its nicknames. What is it?
20. In 1942 the University of Chicago conducted the first sustained nuclear what?
21. With the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, Chicago became a what?
22. Name of a small town in northwestern Illinois that is named after an ore of lead. What is it?
23. Where was the first Farm Aid concert held to help out the American farmers, in 1985?
24. What is the State Slogan of Illinois?
25. What is the average number of tornadoes that occur yearly in Illinois?
26. A small town in the extreme southern part of the state is home to the Superman Museum. It is the only city with this name in the United States. What is it?
27. How many days of thunderstorm activity does Illinois experience on an annual basis?
28. What are the two Major League Baseball teams based in the state of Illinois?
29. Which of these is the state fish?
30. Metropolis is a city in Illinois?
31. This river, one of the longest and most well-known in the world, makes up the entire western border of Illinois. Which river is it?
32. How many NFL Championships have the Chicago Bears football team won?
33. What are the names of the three presidents that have been elected to office while residing in Illinois?
34. In 1967, Fermilab, near Batavia, opened a particle accelerator and it was the world’s largest particle accelerator for how long?
35. Which is the state fruit of Illinois?
36. Name the States that border Illinois?
37. This impressive monument is located in Springfield, Illinois. Which famous American is buried here?
38. If you are in Quincy, which state can you see across the river?
39. What is Illinois’ state motto?
40. How many men served in the Union Army During the American Civil War from Illinois?
41. Today Illinois’s biggest population center is around what city in the northern part of the state?
42. It was the largest urban center of the Mississippian culture, and in the 12th century is thought to have been home to well over 10,000 people. What is it known as today?
43. John Deere’s invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois’ prairie into valuable farmland attracting immigrant farmers from what two countries?
44. If you are in Delavan, which direction do you need to go to get to Peoria?
45. By 1844, it had a population of 12,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in Illinois. A reconstruction of the original Mormon Temple was opened in 2002, and now attracts many thousands of visitors annually. What town is this?
46. Striking oil in Marion County and Crawford County led to a boom and by 1939 Illinois ranked where in U.S. oil production?
47. Erika Harold the 2002-2003 Ms. America winner was born in which Illinois city?
48. In 1673 what pair of famous French explorers explored the Illinois River?
49. What was the name of the Air Force training base in Rantoul, IL?
50. When most people think of Illinois, they think of Chicago or the flat plains that cover most of the state. But southern Illinois is actually quite hilly. The Shawnee Hills, shown here, are also known by what other name?
51. Metropolis, Illinois, the home of Superman, borders which river?
52. In what year was Illinois’ current constitution written?
53. Which is the furthest north?
54. Which U.S. President was the only one born and raised in Illinois?
55. Who became governor of Illinois in 2003?
56. Air Force One got stuck in the mud at which airport when Bill Clinton came to Champaign, Illinois?
57. Most of the Illinois western border with Missouri and Iowa consists of what river?
58. San Jose, Atlanta, and Charlotte are cities in Illinois?
59. What is the name of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana football field?
60. How many capitals have Illinois had up until 2006?
61. Illinois attracted nationwide attention in 1858 because of the debates between Abraham Lincoln and what other man?
62. What President was born in Illinois?
63. In 1960, what did entrepreneur Ray Kroc open in Des Plaines?
64. What phrase has been displayed on Illinois’s automobile license plates since 1954?
65. Springfield is the largest city in Illinois (by population.)
66. How many people were killed in the Chicago fire?
67. According to Rand McNally, how many miles is it between Chicago and St. Louis, MO?
68. Name of the US speaker from Illinois in 2006?
69. Which year did the Chicago Great Fire occur?
70. What allegedly caused the great Chicago fire of 1871?
71. The first experimental nuclear power plant in the United States was fired up in 1957 where?
72. What is the oldest town in Illinois?
73. How many square miles are there in Illinois?
74. Where is the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum located in Illinois?
75. In 1680, other French explorers built a fort at the site of the present day what?
76. Where did the name Illinois come from?
77. Excavations in Illinois demonstrate that there were about 7,000 years of what?
78. What is the all-time high temperature for Illinois, recorded on July 14, 1954, at East St. Louis?
79. Monks Mound, in the center of an excavation site, is the largest pre-Columbian structure north of where?
80. The British Crown made Illinois part of the land reserved for Indians and as a result very few British or American settlers did what?
81. What river goes through Peoria?
82. By 1857, what was the largest city in Illinois?
83. The Chicago Bulls is one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world, due in a large part to who?
84. Monks Mound is 100 feet high, 951 feet long, 836 feet wide and covers how many acres?
85. By 1960, Dresden 1, located near Morris Illinois, was the first privately financed” what” in the United States?
86. Where was Joseph Smith the Mormon leader murdered?
87. How many cities in Illinois does the U.S. Census Bureau currently lists with populations of over 100,000?
88. What took place from Sunday, October 8, 1871, until Tuesday, October 10, 1871, in Chicago?
89. Vandalia became the capital of Illinois in what year?
90. In 1837, state legislators representing Sangamon County, under and led by state representative Abraham Lincoln, had the capital moved to where?
91. How much of Chicago burned in downtown Chicago during the Great Chicago Fire?
92. In 1832, the Black Hawk War was fought in Illinois and what is now Wisconsin between the United States and what Indian Tribes?
93. The town of Cairo, at the southern tip of the state served as a supply base and training center for what army?
94. During what year did Illinois host the “Century of Progress World’s Fair” in Chicago?
95. Northern Illinois University is in what city?
96. 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?
97. For several months General Grant had his headquarters in what Illinois city?
98. By 1839, the Mormons had established a city called Nauvoo on what river?
99. What Illinois city is the furthest south?
100. At the turn of the 20th century, whites were what percentage of the state’s population?
101. Where was Ray Kroc’s first McDonald’s located?
102. Illinois school children selected what type of bird as the State Bird of Illinois?
103. Where is Snakeden Hollow State Fish and Wildlife Area?