How much do you know about Atlanta’s political, business, cultural, and sports history? Take this quiz to test your level of Hotlanta-ness.
Scoring
0-5 correct: Just got off I-85 South.
6-13 correct: Transplanted, but taking root.
14-20 correct: Y’all never heard of youse.
21-25 correct: Card-carrying member of the Native Atlantans Club.
Questions
1. Which Native American tribe lived northwest of the Chattahoochee River?
2. Name humorist Lewis Grizzard’s beloved animal companion.
3. Give one of Atlanta’s previous names.
4. What was the unique feature of the playing field at Ponce de Leon Ball Park, home of the Atlanta Crackers?
5. Atlanta’s strategic significance during the Civil War was based on what factor?
6. Which New South advocate was the most outspoken supporter for relocation of the state capital from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1877?
7. Which Jewish immigrant from Hungary established a dry goods store with his two brothers in 1867 that subsequently stayed in family hands for three generations before being sold to a national store chain?
8. What was Atlanta’s first planned suburb?
9. Located in Atlanta, what was the South’s first radio station? What are its call letters reputed to stand for?
10. The Omni housed an amusement park when it first opened. Name it.
11. Under Jim Crow, which street—dubbed "sweet"—provided African Americans with many of the services, jobs, and funds denied them elsewhere in Atlanta?
12. Under Atlanta Crackers manager Earl Mann, the team became the only club ever to trade an announcer for a player. Name this Hall of Famer.
13. The state’s first intercollegiate football game took place between in 1892 in Piedmont Park. Name the teams.
14. June 3, 1962 was a tragic day for Atlanta, particularly for its cultural and philanthropic community. Why?
15. Constructed in 1922, what was the first public park for Atlanta’s black citizens?
16. Who was the first Jewish mayor of Atlanta?
17. Which United States Olympic sports team won their first ever gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta?
18. What notorious 1920s gangster was housed at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary?
19. Gen. William T. Sherman watched the Battle of Atlanta from the present-day site of what renowned Atlanta cultural site?
20. Who made the first hit at Turner Field?
21. What was the name of the late, great bookstore in the Peachtree Battle shopping center?
22. Who are Percival and Priscilla?
23. Who was the Falcons’ first All-Pro player?
24. Where is the "Disco Kroger" and why was it so named?
25. What was Atlanta’s first college for black students?
Answers
1. Cherokee.
2. Catfish, a dog.
3. Terminus, so named because the city acted as a hub for railroad lines or Marthasville, after Georgia Governor Wilson Lumpkin’s youngest daughter Martha. Georgia Railroad Chief Engineer John Edgar Thompson first used the name Atlanta (feminine of Atlantic) to designate his railroad’s local depot. The name stuck and was officially adopted by the city in 1843.
4. R. J. Spiller Field, the official name of the long-gone ballpark, had a magnolia tree in centerfield. The tree survives behind the parking lot of Ponce Square shopping center on Piedmont Avenue.
5. Railroads.
6. Henry Grady.
7. Morris Rich of Rich’s department store.
8. Inman Park.
9. WSB, or "Welcome South, Brother!".
10.: The World of Sid and Marty Kroft.
11.: Auburn Avenue.
12.: Ernie Harwell.
13. The University of Georgia and Auburn University. Auburn won the game 10-0 and no injuries occurred despite the fact that helmets were not worn.
14. The Boeing 707 carrying some of Atlanta’s most prominent and charitable citizens on a museum tour of Europe crashed at Orly Field near Paris, killing 130.
15. Washington Park.
16. Sam Massell, elected in 1961.
17. Women’s gymnastics.
18. Al Capone.
19. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
20. Chipper Jones, on April 4, 1997. (The Braves beat the Cubs, 5-4.)
21. Oxford Books.
22. The Pink Pig trains which annually ran atop the downtown Rich’s from Thanksgiving-Christmas.
23. Middle linebacker Tommy Nobis.
24. On Piedmont Avenue in Buckhead, thus named because of its proximity to the Limelight disco.
25. Atlanta University, chartered in 1867.