Name that Flyover City! — June 9, 2022

Here’s a review of this week’s questions:

1. The first nighttime baseball game took place in 1935. What city’s home team hosted and won the game?
2. What midwestern city has a shopping area that includes a half-sized replica of La Giralda, the cathedral bell tower in Seville, Spain?
3. Which city’s Museum of Art has the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly blown-glass sculptures in the world?

And here are the answers:

1. Cincinnati, Ohio. On May 24, 1935, the first night game in major league baseball history was played at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, where the home team defeated the Phillies, 2-1. At 8:30 p.m., President Franklin D. Roosevelt threw a ceremonial switch at the White House in Washington, and the lights went on in Cincinnati. To capitalize on their new evening fan base, the Reds played a night game that year against every National League team–eight games in total–and despite their lousy record of 68-85, paid attendance rose 117 percent. Though baseball owners had a well-deserved reputation for being old-fashioned, most teams soon followed suit, as they knew night games would benefit their bottom line. Teams upgraded their facilities to include lights throughout the 1930s and 40s, and before long, most of the league had night games on the schedule.
2. Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza shopping district, opened in 1923, is widely considered to be the first planned suburban shopping center in the United States. It consists of 18 separate buildings and its design echoes the Moorish architecture found in Seville, Spain. Its anchor is a replica of La Giralda, the instantly recognizable bell tower for the Great Mosque in Seville. As strange as it may have been for the citizens of Kansas City to see the tower rise above a shopping center in their city, it certainly didn’t dissuade them from visiting “the Plaza,” which remains a hugely popular destination for locals and visitors alike.
3. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Museum of Art, or OKCMOA, as it is commonly known, has been serving the community and the world since 1945. The synthesis of two predecessors, the Oklahoma Art Center, and the Oklahoma Museum of Art, that merged in 1989, the museum now attracts over 125,000 visitors each year with its permanent collection, cycle of temporary exhibitions, inventive education opportunities, international film program, and museum store. Since 2004, the museum has housed numerous works of glass art from American artist Dale Chihuly. Instantly recognizable, Chihuly’s art appears in over 400 permanent collections all over the world, including in the United States, Canada, England, Israel, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia, but it is in OKC that art lovers can find the largest collection.