Well, What Do You Know?

Put your knowledge of Mobile to the ultimate test with this quiz of little-known Port City facts.

Can you name this bed and breakfast from question 26?

1. What was unusual about the skin of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, co-founder of Mobile?
2. In Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road, ” what does one character steal from a Causeway filling station?
3. In 1946, what struck the cross on top of the southern tower of the Cathedral Basilica of Immaculate Conception?
4. When the Cochrane Bridge was opened in 1927 (during Prohibition), how was it christened?
5. Ninety-three Union soldiers still rest with this ship, sunk off Mobile Point during the Battle of Mobile Bay. Today, it sits upside-down under a layer of mud and about 40 feet of water. What was the ship’s name?
6. On a map, why is the Church Street Graveyard grid off-kilter with the surrounding blocks?
7. How far was the USS Alabama towed to reach its moorings in Mobile Bay, and in what year did that happen?
8. What familial link exists between the CSS Alabama and the USS Alabama?
9. How much older is Mobile than the state of Alabama?
10. What is Mobile’s oldest living landmark?
11. What role did Howard Rayford play in the history of the Bankhead Tunnel?
12. Name the first dog to ride through the Bankhead Tunnel.
13. Mobilian Lamar Wilson is better known by what nickname?
14. Which television personality has spent the most time on Mobile’s airwaves?
15. When J. Oliver Wintzell opened his restaurant at 605 Dauphin St. in 1938, how many stools were inside?
16. Questlove, drummer for the Roots of “The Tonight Show, ” has a unique link to Mobile. What is it?
17. Under what title did the first five mayors of Mobile serve?
18. Who was George Ketchum, and why was the Bienville Square fountain placed in his name?
19. What are the dimensions of the Saenger Theatre chandelier, and how many crystals does it hold?
20. What Civil War-era submarine, a prototype for the famous H.L. Hunley, still rests in an unknown location in Mobile Bay?
21. Mobile is known as the City of Six Flags. Can you name all six?
22. What eventual U.S. president camped on the grounds of the present-day Battle House Hotel?
23. The beloved Washington Square cast-iron deer was salvaged from where?
24. What are the only two cities to claim more baseball Hall of Famers than Mobile?
25. The bodies of Joe Cain and his wife were relocated to the Church Street Graveyard in 1966, but where were they originally buried?
26. What well-known midtown bed-and-breakfast inn was built from a kit sold through a mail-order catalog?
27. How did Dauphin Street get its name?
28. Before Church Street Graveyard was officially opened in 1820, where were most city residents buried?
29. What is the only known case of a Mobile slave earning his freedom through the fundraising efforts of city residents?
30. During World War II, what island helped the Navy improve its bombing accuracy?
31. How many metal barricades does it take to successfully manage a Mobile Mardi Gras?
32. Name Mobile’s seven National Register Historic Districts.
33. Before Cracker Jacks, what was the first Mardi Gras throw to be banned by the city?
34. What future president, in 1877, sipped his first genuine mint julep on Oakleigh’s front gallery?
35. In what movie was there a motorcycle chase scene through Mobile’s Springdale Mall?
36. In 1871, what Mobile Bay disaster killed or seriously injured 70 people?​

Click here to view the answers

A valuable resource in the making of this quiz was Malcolm Steiner’s “Old Mobile Trivia, ” available for purchase at such stores as Ashland Gallery, Bienville Books, Page and Palette and at oldmobilerestaurants.com.

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