- Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg,
Quincy and Alton hosted the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates
that stirred interest all over the country in the slavery
issue.
- The first Aquarium opened in Chicago, 1893.
- The world's first Skyscraper was built in Chicago, 1885.
- Home to the Chicago Bears Football Team, Chicago
Blackhawks hockey team, Chicago Bulls basketball team,
Chicago Cubs and Chicago Whitesox baseball teams, Chicago
Fire soccer team.
- The first Mormon Temple in Illinois was constructed in
Nauvoo.
- Peoria is the oldest community in Illinois.
- The Sears Tower, Chicago is the tallest building on the
North American continent.
- Metropolis the home of Superman really exists in
Southern Illinois.
- Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site--most sophisticated
prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico
- Illinois had two capital cities, Kaskaskia, and Vandalia
before Springfield.
- The NFL's Chicago Bears were first known as the "Staley
Bears". They were organized in 1920, in Decatur.
- Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th
Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery. 1865
- On December 2, 1942, Enrico Fermi and a small band of
scientists and engineers demonstrated that a simple
construction of graphite bricks and uranium lumps could
produce controlled heat. The space chosen for the first
nuclear fission reactor was a squash court under the
football stadium at the University of Chicago.
- Des Plaines is home to the first McDonald's.
- Dixon is the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan.
- Springfield is the state capital and the home of the
National Historic Site of the home of President and Mrs.
Abraham Lincoln.
- Chicago is home to the Chicago Water Tower and Pumping
Station, the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago
Fire.
- Before Abraham Lincoln was elected president he served
in the Illinois legislature and practiced law in
Springfield. Abraham Lincoln is buried just outside
Springfield at Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site.
- Carlyle is the home of the largest man-made lake in
Illinois.
- Illinois has 102 counties.
- Ronald Wilson Regan from Tampico became the 40th
president of the United States in 1980.
- The highest point in Illinois is Charles Mound at 1235
feet above sea level.
- The state motto is: State Sovereignty, National Union
- The ice cream "sundae" was named in Evanston. The piety
of the town resented the dissipating influences of the soda
fountain on Sunday and the good town fathers, yielding to
this churchly influence, passed an ordinance prohibiting the
retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. Ingenious
confectioners and drug store operators obeying the law,
served ice cream with the syrup of your choice without the
soda. Objections then was made to christening a dish after
the Sabbath. So the spelling of "sunday" was changed. It
became an established dish and an established word and
finally the "sundae".
- The round Silo for farm storage of silage was first
constructed on a farm in Spring Grove.
- The Illinois state dance is square dancing.
- Illinois has more units of government than any other
state (i.e., city, county, township, etc.). Over six
thousand. One contributing reason may be the township
governments, which are generally six miles square.
- The worst prison camp during the Civil War in terms of
percentages of death was at Rock Island.
- Illinois boasts the highest number of personalized
license plates, more than any other state.
- The University of Illinois Conservatory is 37 feet high
at its apex.
- In 1905, president of the Chicago Cubs filed charges
against a fan in the bleachers for catching a fly ball and
keeping it.
- Chicago's Mercantile Exchange building was built
entirely without an internal steel skeleton, as most
skyscrapers; it depends on its thick walls to keep itself up
- The abbreviation "ORD" for Chicago's O'Hare airport
comes from the original name Orchard Field. O'Hare Airport
was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Edward H. "Butch"
O'Hare.
- The trains that pass through Chicago's underground
freight tunnels daily would extend over ten miles total in
length.
- The slogan of 105.9, the classic rock radio station in
Chicago: 'Of all the radio stations in Chicago...we're one
of them.'
- In Mount Pulaski, Illinois, it is illegal for boys (and
only boys) to hurl snowballs at trees. Girls are allowed to
do that however.
- In Illinois Michael is the top name chosen for boys.
Emily is the most chosen name for girls.
- Illinois is known for its wide variety of weather. Major
winter storms, deadly tornadoes and spectacular heat and
cold waves.
- The first birth on record in Chicago was of Eulalia
Pointe du Sable, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable
and his Potawatomi Indian wife in 1796.
- Chicago's Mercy Hospital was the first hospital opened
in Illinois.
- The first animal purchased for the Lincoln Park Zoo was
a bear cub, bought for $10 on June 1st, 1874
- The University of Chicago opened on October 1, 1892 with
an enrollment of 594 and a faculty of 103.
- New York Sun editor Charles Dana, tired of hearing
Chicagoans boast of the world's Columbian Exposition, dubbed
Chicago the "Windy City."
- Comedy showcase "Second City" was founded on North Wells
Street in a former Chinese laundry in 1959
- Chicago's first African American mayor, Harold
Washington, took office in 1983
- The 4 stars on the Chicago flag represent Fort Dearborn,
the Chicago Fire, the World's Columbian Exposition, and the
Century of Progress Exposition.
- The Chicago Public Library is the world's largest public
library with a collection of more than 2 million books.
- The Chicago Post Office at 433 West Van Buren is the
only postal facility in the world you can drive a car
through.
- The Chicago River is dyed green on Saint Patrick's Day.
- The world's largest cookie and cracker factory, where
Nabisco made 16 billion Oreo cookies in 1995, is located in
Chicago.
Thanks to:
Sandy Kreutter,
Lois Meldrum, TDanz44, ABruns4892, L. Hallmark, Alison Pond,
Barbara Ross, Jacobovitz
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