Pub Quiz Mines Wealth of Neighborhood and City History

By Chuck Sudo in Miscellaneous on Dec 24, 2007 2:59PM

The crowd at Bernice's Tavern was separated into smaller groups. They were huddled together, studying a board containing ten photographs of church steeples and facades.

The goal was to correctly identify each church from a corresponding list at the side of the board. We were with fellow Chicagoist-o Kevin Robinson and his significant other, who were of little help in this round, since these churches were all located in Bridgeport. As much as we walk around the neighborhood, one would think we'd know these churches by name. And a few of them we did know, but we were under pressure. We were also surprisingly in fourth place through two rounds, then fifth place through three, which was fueling our competitive nature.

Such was the scene at last night's second annual Bridgeport neighborhood pub quiz, hosted by the fine folks at B News Update. They, along with Jimm Dispensa of Aldertrack fame, compiled a five-round contest mixing historical city data with obscure block-to-block arcana intended to test the knowledge of native sons and transplants alike. The quiz was also thankfully missing the electronic boxes so commonplace to other pub quizzes. This helped to spur interaction between teams and others in the tavern.

As we worked our way through each round, we realized that we knew more about our neighborhood than we gave ourselves credit for, as evidenced by our showing. The quiz also reminded us how integral Bridgeport was in the development of the "City on the Make." In that spirit, we're sharing some questions that we got wrong from last night's quiz with you, along with one we made up ourselves, with answers after the jump. We'd ask that you not Google or Wikipedia the answers, but that would be a futile endeavor. We'd also like to thank the folks at B News and Bernice's for a wonderful evening.

• This Chicago street is named after a Kentucky captain who was raised by Miami Indians from the age of twelve. With the blessing of his father-in-law, he later joined the Army. He was killed by Potowatamis during the Fort Dearborn Massacre while leading settlers to safety. Name the street.
• This Chicago entrant to the World Hockey Association played their games in the old International Ampitheatre (whose rink was smaller than regulation size). During their lone playoff appearance they had to play their games in suburban Rolling Meadows because a previously scheduled run of "Peter Pan" featuring Olympic gymnast/maxi-pad pitchwoman Cathy Rigby was in the arena. What was the name of the team?
• Name the four neighborhoods listed in the chorus of the South Side Irish theme song.
• How many bridges span the Chicago River? 24, 36, or 52?
• This former mayor, six-time congressman and newspaper publisher once told voters, "You damn fools! You can either vote for me, or you can go to hell!" He also has a street in Bridgeport named after him that runs parallel with the Dan Ryan Expressway. Name the mayor.
• The Dan Ryan Expressway was named after Dan Ryan, Jr. What political office did Ryan hold?
• Did Mayor Richard J. Daley ever serve as an alderman in City Council?

Your answers:

• Wells, named after Captain William Wells.
• The Chicago Cougars
• Bridgeport, Beverly, Midway and South Shore
• 52
• John Wentworth
• Dan Ryan, Jr. was President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
• No