 |
1673 -French
explorers
Jacques
Marquette
(1637-1675) and
Louis Jolliet
(1645-1700)
descend the
Mississippi to
the Arkansas
River and return
to Wisconsin via
the Illinois
River—the first
Europeans to
reach the
Illinois
country.
|
 |
1675 -
Marquette
founds a mission
at the Great
Village of the
Illinois, near
present Utica.
|
 |
1680 -
- French
traders René
Robert
Cavelier,
Sieur de La
Salle
(1643-1687)
and Henry de
Tonty
(1650-1704)
build Fort
Crèvecoeur
on the
Illinois
River, near
present
Peoria.
-
Iroquois
Indians
destroy the
Great
Village of
the
Illinois.
|
 |
1682 -
La Salle and
Tonty build Fort
St. Louis across
the Illinois
River from the
Great Village of
the Illinois
site.
|
 |
1696
- Jesuit priest
Pierre François
Pinet
(1660-1704?)
establishes the
Guardian Angel
mission at
present Chicago.
|
 |
1699 -
Priests of the
Quebec Seminary
of Foreign
Missions found
the Holy Family
mission at
Cahokia, the
first permanent
settlement in
the Illinois
country.
|
 |
1703 -
Jesuit priest
Gabriel Marest
(1662-1714)
moves the
Immaculate
Conception
mission from
present St.
Louis to
Kaskaskia.
|
 |
1717 -
Illinois
becomes part of
the French
colony of
Louisiana.
|
 |
1718 -
John Law
(1671-1729) is
granted a French
charter for
colonizing the
Mississippi
Valley; his
"Mississippi
Bubble" scheme
bursts in 1720.
|
 |
1720 -
Fort de Chartres
in Randolph
County becomes
the seat of
military and
civilian
government in
Illinois.
|
 |
1730 -
In a major
battle, hostile
Fox Indians are
massacred in
east-central
Illinois by
French troops
and Indian
allies.
|
 |
1763 -
French and
Indian (Seven
Years') War
ends; Illinois
country is ceded
to Britain by
the Treaty of
Paris.
|
 |
1769 -
According to
legend, northern
tribes besiege
and starve
Illinois Indians
tribes at Fort
St. Louis, now
known as Starved
Rock.
|
 |
1778 -
George
Rogers Clark
(1752-1818)
defeats the
British at
Kaskaskia,
securing the
Illinois country
for Virginia.
|
 |
1779 -
Jean
Baptiste Point
du Sable
(1745?-1818)
establishes a
trading post at
present Chicago.
|
 |
1783 -
Treaty of
Paris extends
the United
States boundary
to include the
Illinois
country.
|
 |
1784 -
Virginia
relinquishes its
claim to
Illinois.
|
 |
1787
- Northwest
Ordinance places
Illinois in the
Northwest
Territory.
|
 |
1788 -
Arthur St.
Clair
(1734-1818)
becomes the
first governor
of the Northwest
Territory.
|
 |
1800
- Congress
creates the
Indiana
Territory, which
includes
Illinois.
|
 |
1803 -
-
Kaskaskia
Indians cede
nearly all
of their
Illinois
lands to the
United
States.
- United
States Army
establishes
Fort
Dearborn at
present
Chicago.
|
 |
1804 -
William
Clark
(1770-1838) and
his troops
depart from Camp
Dubois, Madison
County, to join
Meriwether Lewis
(1774-1809) for
westward
explorations.
|
 |
1809
- Congress
organizes the
Illinois
Territory, with
Kaskaskia the
capital, Ninian
Edwards
(1775-1833) the
governor.
|
 |
1811
- The
first coal
mine in
Illinois is
opened in
Jackson
County.
- New
Madrid,
Missouri,
earthquake,
the largest
in United
States
history,
damages
southern
Illinois
(recurs in
1812).
|
 |
1812 -
Potawatomi
Indians massacre
fifty-two troops
and civilians in
destroying Fort
Dearborn.
|
 |
1813 -
Land offices
are opened at
Kaskaskia and
Shawneetown.
|
 |
1814 -
The first
newspaper in the
state, the
Illinois Herald,
is published at
Kaskaskia.
|
 |
1816
- Fort
Armstrong is
built at
Rock Island,
and Fort
Dearborn is
rebuilt at
Chicago.
- The
first bank
in Illinois,
at
Shawneetown,
is chartered
by the
territorial
legislature.
|
 |
1817
- Morris
Birkbeck
(1764-1825)
and George
Flower
(1780-1862)
establish an
English
settlement
at Albion.
- War of
1812
veterans
begin
receiving
160-acre
land
warrants in
the Illinois
Military
Tract, a
region
between the
Illinois and
Mississippi
rivers.
|
 |
1818 -
Illinois
becomes the
twenty-first
state, with
Kaskaskia the
capital and
Shadrach Bond
(1773-1832) the
first governor.
Population of
the state is
34,620.
|
 |
1819 -
Kickapoo
Indians move
west of the
Mississippi,
relinquishing
most claims to
central Illinois
lands.
|
 |
1820 -
Vandalia
becomes the
state capital.
|
 |
1821 -
General
Assembly
charters a state
bank at
Vandalia, with
branches at
Shawneetown,
Edwardsville,
and Brownsville.
|
 |
1823 -
Galena
becomes a center
for lead mining.
|
 |
1824 -
Voters
defeat a
constitutional
convention call
to permit
slavery in the
state.
|
 |
1825
- Gurdon
S. Hubbard
(1802-1886)
establishes
the
Vincennes
Trace from
southern
Illinois to
Lake
Michigan.
- General
Assembly
enacts the
first public
school law
and levies a
school tax.
- Marquis
de Lafayette
(1757-1834)
visits
Kaskaskia
and
Shawneetown
on a tour of
the United
States.
|
 |
1827 -
John Mason
Peck (1789-1858)
founds Rock
Spring Seminary,
the first
college in the
state.
|
 |
1829
- Chippewa,
Ottawa, and
Potawatomi cede
lands in
northern
Illinois by
treaty at
Prairie du Chien.
|
 |
1830
- The
first state
prison is
built at
Alton.
- Abraham
Lincoln
(1809-1865)
moves to
Illinois
from
Indiana.
- James
Hall
(1793-1858)
launches
Illinois
Monthly
Magazine,
the first
literary
periodical
published
west of
Ohio.
|
 |
1832 -
Black Hawk
War ends with
Sauk and Fox
Indians leaving
the Illinois
lands they had
ceded in 1804.
|
 |
1833 -
Treaty of
Chicago provides
for United
States
acquisition and
settlement of
the last
remaining Indian
lands in
Illinois.
|
 |
1835 -
General
Assembly grants
a charter for
the Jacksonville
Female Academy,
the first
institution in
the state for
women's
education.
|
 |
1836
- Illinois
and Michigan
Canal
construction
is begun
between Lake
Michigan and
the Illinois
Valley;
completed in
1848.
- Galena
and Chicago
Union
Railroad is
chartered;
completed
twelve years
later.
|
 |
1837
- Chicago
receives a
city
charter;
William
Ogden
(1805-1877)
becomes the
first mayor.
- At Alton
a
pro-slavery
mob murders
abolitionist
editor
Elijah P.
Lovejoy (b.
1802).
- John
Deere
(1804-1886)
of Grand
Detour
designs a
self-scouring
steel plow.
|
 |
1838
- Northern Cross
Railroad
construction is
begun between
Meredosia and
Springfield; the
line is
completed in
1842.
|
 |
1839
- Cherokee
Indians pass
through
southern
Illinois on
the "Trail
of Tears" to
Oklahoma.
-
Springfield
becomes the
state
capital.
- National
Road is
completed
from
Cumberland,
Maryland, to
Vandalia.
|
 |
1839 -
Joseph Smith
(1805-1844)
chooses Nauvoo
as headquarters
for the Mormon
church.
|
 |
1841 -
Chicagoan
John S. Wright
(1815-1874)
begins
publishing
Prairie Farmer
magazine.
|
 |
1842 -
British
author Charles
Dickens
(1812-1870)
visits southern
Illinois,
described in his
American
Notes
(1842).
|
 |
1844 -
Anti-Mormons
assassinate
Mormon leaders
Joseph and Hyrum
(b. 1800) Smith
at Carthage.
|
 |
1846
- Mormons
leave Nauvoo
for the
Great Salt
Lake Basin
in Utah.
- Donner
party leaves
Springfield
by wagon
train for
California;
forty-two
perish in
Sierra
Mountains
snowstorms.
- Erik
Jansson
(1808-1850)
and Jonas
Olson
(1802?-1898)
establish a
Swedish
religious
colony at
Bishop Hill.
|
 |
1847
- Joseph
Medill
(1823-1899)
founds the
Chicago
Tribune.
-
Jacksonville
educator
Jonathan
Baldwin
Turner
(1805-1899)
introduces
Osage orange
hedges as
farm
fencing.
- Inventor
Cyrus Hall
McCormick
(1809-1884)
opens a
plant in
Chicago for
manufacturing
wheat
reapers.
|
 |
1848
- Chicago Board
of Trade is
organized; it is
now the largest
and oldest
commodity
futures exchange
in the world.
|
 |
1849 -
Ètienne
Cabet
(1788-1856)
establishes a
French Icarian
communal
settlement at
Nauvoo.
|
 |
1850
-
Population
of the state
is 851,470.
- Illinois
Central
Railroad
receives the
first
federal land
grant for
rail
construction.
|
 |
1853
- The
first state
fair is held
at
Springfield.
- General
Assembly
enacts
legislation
to prevent
free blacks
from
settling in
the state.
|
 |
1855 -
General
Assembly adopts
a free public
school system.
|
 |
1856
- The
first
railroad
bridge
across the
Mississippi
River is
completed
between Rock
Island and
Davenport,
Iowa.
- Illinois
Central
Railroad is
completed
between
Chicago,
Galena, and
Cairo.
- Rand
McNally is
established
in Chicago;
by 1880 it
is the
world's
largest
mapmaking
company.
- Chicago
Historical
Society is
founded,
with William
H. Brown
(1796-1867)
the first
president.
|
 |
1858 -
Republican
Abraham Lincoln
and Democrat
Stephen A.
Douglas
(1813-1861) hold
seven debates in
the United
States Senate
contest; Douglas
wins the
election.
|
 |
1860
- Lincoln
is elected
President of
the United
States,
defeating
three other
candidates.
- Luxury
steamer
Lady Elgin
sinks in
Lake
Michigan;
nearly three
hundred
perish.
|
 |
1861 -
Civil War
begins; Cairo
becomes a troop
and supply
center for the
Union Army.
|
 |
1862 -
Union League
of America is
founded in Pekin
for the
promotion of
patriotism and
Union loyalty.
|
 |
1864 -
Lincoln is
reelected
President.
|
 |
1865
- General
Assembly
repeals
measures
against
black
settlement
(Black
Laws); is
the first
state
legislature
to ratify
the
Thirteenth
Amendment
abolishing
slavery.
- Lincoln
is
assassinated
in
Washington,
D.C.; buried
in
Springfield.
- Chicago
Union Stock
Yards opens;
by 1900
employs more
than one
third of
packing
industry
laborers in
the nation.
|
 |
1866 -
Grand Army
of the Republic
is established
in Decatur; the
first GAR
convention is
held in
Springfield.
|
 |
1867
- General
Assembly
establishes
the Illinois
Industrial
University
at
Champaign-Urbana,
renamed the
University
of Illinois
in 1885.
- George
M. Pullman
(1831-1897)
founds the
Pullman
Palace Car
Company in
Chicago,
manufacturing
railroad
sleeping
cars.
- Illinois
Normal
University
geologist
John Wesley
Powell
(1834-1902)
begins
surveys of
the Rocky
Mountain
region;
becomes
director of
the United
States
Geological
Survey in
1880.
|
 |
1868
- Ulysses
S. Grant
(1822-1885),
Civil War
general from
Galena, is
elected
President of
the United
States.
- Marshall
Field & Co.
department
store opens
in downtown
Chicago; at
his death,
Field
(1834-1906)
is the
city's
wealthiest
citizen.
|
 |
1871
- Chicago Fire
destroys
eighteen
thousand
downtown
buildings, with
losses estimated
at $200 million.
|
 |
1872
-
Chicagoan
John Jones
(1816-1879)
becomes a
Cook County
commissioner,
the first
African-American
to hold
elective
office in
Illinois.
- Chicago
merchant
Aaron
Montgomery
Ward
(1844-1913)
establishes
the first
large-scale
mail order
business.
- General
Assembly
grants
communities
taxing
authority to
establish
and maintain
public
libraries.
|
 |
1873
- Frances
Willard
(1839-1898)
founds the
Woman's
Christian
Temperance
Union in
Evanston.
- Joseph
F. Glidden
(1813-1906)
of DeKalb
develops
barbed wire
fencing,
patented in
1874.
|
 |
1876 -
United
States Supreme
Court
establishes in
Munn v.
Illinois the
principle that
business of a
public nature is
subject to state
regulation.
|
 |
1877 -
General
Assembly
establishes the
Illinois
National Guard.
|
 |
1878 -
Bell
Telephone
Company of
Illinois begins
service in
Chicago.
|
 |
1880 -
Leslie E.
Keeley
(1832-1900) and
John R. Oughton
(1858-1925)
establish the
Keeley Institute
in Dwight for
treatment of
alcoholism; by
1900 franchised
sanitoriums are
operating in
many states.
|
 |
1883
- General
Assembly
enacts the
first
compulsory
school
attendance
legislation.
- William
LeBaron
Jenney
(1832-1907)
designs the
ten-story
Home
Insurance
Building in
Chicago,
generally
known as the
world's
first
skyscraper.
|
 |
1886 -
Haymarket
Square bombing
and riot in
Chicago during a
labor rally
cause several
deaths; eight
anarchists are
convicted, four
are hanged, and
one dies in
prison.
|
 |
1888 -
Chicago
attorney
Melville W.
Fuller
(1833-1910) is
named Chief
Justice of the
United States
Supreme Court.
|
 |
1889
- Jane
Addams
(1860-1935)
and Ellen
Gates Starr
(1859-1940)
open Hull
House, one
of the
nation's
first
settlement
houses, for
foreign-born
residents of
Chicago.
-
Evangelist
Dwight L.
Moody
(1837-1899)
founds the
Chicago
Bible
Institute
for training
missionaries
to foreign
lands.
- Illinois
State
Historical
Library is
established
by the state
legislature.
- John
Mitchell
(1870-1919)
of Spring
Valley
becomes
president of
the United
Mine Workers
of America
(to 1908).
|
 |
1890
-
University
of Chicago
is
incorporated,
with William
Rainey
Harper
(1856-1906)
the first
president.
- Chicago
Symphony
Orchestra is
established,
with
Christian
Theodore
Thomas
(1835-1905)
the first
conductor.
-
African-American
surgeon
Daniel Hale
Williams
(1858-1931)
organizes
Provident
Hospital in
Chicago, the
first black
hospital in
the United
States;
performs the
first
open-heart
surgery in
1893.
|
 |
1892
- Chicago
attorney
Myra
Bradwell
(1831-1894)
becomes the
first woman
admitted to
practice
before the
United
States
Supreme
Court.
- Canal
construction
to reverse
the Chicago
River flow
is begun;
completed in
1900.
- Illinois
and
Mississippi
(Hennepin)
Canal
construction
is begun
between the
Illinois and
the Rock
rivers;
completed in
1907.
- Adlai
Stevenson I
(1835-1914)
of
Bloomington
is elected
Vice
President of
the United
States on
the ticket
with Grover
Cleveland.
|
 |
1893
- World's
Columbian
Exposition
is held in
Chicago,
commemorating
the 400th
anniversary
of European
exploratory
voyages to
the western
hemisphere.
- General
Assembly
establishes
regulations
for child
labor and
factory
inspections.
- Governor
John Peter
Altgeld
(1847-1902)
pardons
three
imprisoned
Haymarket
anarchists.
|
 |
1894
- Pullman
factory
strike in
Chicago
becomes a
national
railway
strike;
federal
troops are
called to
quell mob
violence.
- Chicago
attorney
Clarence
Darrow
(1857-1938)
unsuccessfully
defends
socialist
leader
Eugene V.
Debs
(1855-1926)
on charges
relating to
the Pullman
strike.
|
 |
1896 -
Salem native
William Jennings
Bryan
(1860-1925) wins
the first of
three
presidential
nominations; is
defeated each
time.
|
 |
1898 -United
Mine Workers win
labor disputes
at Pana and
Virden, after
eleven miners
and guards are
killed.
|
 |
1899 -
General
Assembly creates
the first
juvenile court
system in the
nation.
|
 |
1900
-
Population
of the state
is
4,821,550.
- Chicago
Sanitary &
Ship Canal
opens
between
Chicago and
Lockport.
- Frank
Lloyd Wright
(1869-1959)
establishes
a studio in
Oak Park for
designing
"prairie
style"
architecture.
- Chicago
newspaperman
Theodore
Dreiser
(1871-1945)
launches his
literary
career with
Sister
Carrie,
the first
major novel
set in
Chicago.
|
 |
1903
- Fire
destroys the
Iroquois
Theater in
Chicago;
nearly six
hundred
perish.
- Joseph
G. Cannon
(1836-1926),
Danville,
elected to
the United
States House
of
Representatives
in 1872,
begins the
first of
four
successive
terms as
Speaker of
the House
(to 1911).
|
 |
1905
- Paul P.
Harris
(1869-1947)
and other
Chicago
businessmen
organize the
Rotary Club.
- Eugene
Debs, Mary
Harris
"Mother"
Jones
(1843?-1930),
and others
found the
Industrial
Workers of
the World
union in
Chicago.
|
 |
1906 -
Chicago
White Sox defeat
crosstown rival
Chicago Cubs in
the baseball
World Series.
|
 |
1908
- Springfield
race riot leads
to formation of
the National
Association for
the Advancement
of Colored
People (NAACP)
in 1909.
|
 |
1909
- Coal
mine fire at
Cherry,
resulting in
259 deaths,
is one of
the worst
mine
disasters in
history.
-
Architect
Daniel
Burnham
(1846-1912)
designs the
"Chicago
Plan" for
development
of the
lakefront
and business
district.
|
 |
1910
- William
D. Boyce
(1858-1929),
Chicago and
Ottawa
businessman,
founds the
Boy Scouts
of America.
-
Winchester
native and
Northwestern
University
Dental
School dean
Greene V.
Black
(1836-1915)
receives the
first
International
Miller Prize
in dental
science.
|
 |
1911-
Chicago sculptor
Lorado Taft
(1860-1936)
completes his
most famous
work, "The
Indian" (later
called "Black
Hawk"), a
massive statue
overlooking Rock
River in Ogle
County.
|
 |
1912 -
Harriet
Monroe
(1860-1936)
launches
Poetry: A
Magazine of
Verse in
Chicago;
includes
writings of
Springfield poet
Vachel Lindsay
(1879-1931).
|
 |
1913
- General
Assembly grants
women the right
to vote for
presidential
electors and
provides state
aid for county
road
construction.
|
 |
1915
- Poet and
novelist
Edgar Lee
Masters
(1869-1950)
publishes
Spoon River
Anthology,
a volume on
small-town
Illinois.
-
Excursion
steam
Eastland
capsizes in
the Chicago
River; 1812
perish.
|
 |
1917
- With
support from
Governor
Frank O.
Lowden
(1861-1943)
General
Assembly
adopts a
modern civil
administrative
code for
state
government.
- In May
and July
Illinois
National
Guard troops
are sent to
East St.
Louis to
quell race
riots.
- Chicago
White Sox
defeat the
New York
Giants in
the World
Series.
|
 |
1918
-
Influenza
epidemic
causes
thirty-two
thousand
deaths in
the state.
- Voters
approve a
$60 million
bond issue
for paving
state roads.
- Robert
Paul Prager
(b. 1886), a
German-born
socialist
suspected of
disloyalty
to the
United
States, is
lynched by a
pro-war mob
in
Collinsville.
|
 |
1919
- Chicago
White Sox
players (the
"Black Sox")
are accused
of gambling
on the World
Series,
which they
lost to the
Cincinnati
Red Legs.
- Chicago
race riots
leave
thirty-eight
dead and
more than
five hundred
injured; a
thousand
residents
are left
homeless.
|
 |
1920
- John L.
Lewis
(1880-1969)
of
Springfield
is elected
president of
the United
Mine Workers
of America
(to 1960).
- Governor
Lennington
Small
(1862-1936)
pardons
twenty
members of
the
Communist
Labor party
convicted
under the
Illinois
Sedition
Act.
|
 |
1921 -
George
Halas's
(1895-1983)
football team,
the Staleys,
moves from
Decatur to
Chicago, and
wins the
national
championship; in
1922 the Staleys
become the
Chicago Bears.
|
 |
1922
- Decatur
manufacturer
A. E. Staley
(1867-1940)
opens the
first
commercial
soybean-processing
plant.
- In the
"Herrin
Massacre,"
three union
miners and
twenty
strikebreakers
are killed
in mob
violence at
a strip mine
in
Williamson
County.
|
 |
1924
- At the
University of
Illinois' new
Memorial
Stadium, Harold
"Red" Grange
(1904-1991), the
"Galloping
Ghost," scores
four touchdowns
in twelve
minutes against
the University
of Michigan.
|
 |
1925
- Charles
Gates Dawes
(1865-1951)
of Evanston
becomes Vice
President
with
President
Calvin
Coolidge
(1872-1933);
receives the
Nobel Peace
Prize for
the "Dawes
Plan" to
restore the
German
economy
after World
War I.
- The
worst
tornado in
United
States
history
devastates
parts of
Illinois,
Missouri,
and Indiana;
695 deaths.
- Chicago
Cardinals
win the
professional
football
championship;
repeat in
1947.
|
 |
1926 -
Aviator
Charles
Lindbergh
(1902-1974)
begins daily
mail delivery
flights between
Chicago and St.
Louis.
|
 |
1929 -
Gunmen of
Alphonse Capone
(1899-1947)
murder seven
rival Chicago
mobsters in the
"St. Valentine's
Day Massacre."
|
 |
1930
-
Utilities
founded by
Chicagoan
Samuel
Insull
(1859-1938),
and valued
at more than
$2 billion,
produce one
tenth of the
nation's
electric
power.
|
 |
1931
- Jane
Addams wins
the Nobel
Peace Prize.
|
 |
1932
-
Disgruntled
United Mine
Workers
organize the
Progressive
Miners of
America at
Gillespie
and Benld,
eventually
enlisting
twenty
thousand
members.
- The
number of
unemployed
Chicago
workers
during the
Great
Depression
reaches
750,000.
- Chicago
Bears win
the
professional
football
championship;
repeat in
1933, 1940,
1941, 1943,
1946, 1963,
and 1986.
|
 |
1933
- Century
of Progress
International
Exposition
commemorates
the
centennial
of the
incorporation
of Chicago
(held again
in 1934).
- Chicago
mayor Anton
J. Cermak
(b. 1873)
dies in
Miami,
Florida, in
an
assassination
attempt on
President-elect
Franklin
Roosevelt
(1882-1945).
-
Chicago
Tribune
sports
editor Arch
Ward
(1896-1955)
organizes
the first
baseball
All-Star
Game, played
at Comisky
Park and won
by the
American
League.
- Illinois
and Michigan
Canal is
closed to
river
traffic.
|
 |
1934 -
Chicago
Black Hawks win
the National
Hockey League
championship
(Stanley Cup);
repeat in 1938
and 1961.
|
 |
1937 -
- General
Assembly
creates an
unemployment
compensation
system.
- On
Memorial
Day, Chicago
police fire
on strikers
at Republic
Steel,
resulting in
ten deaths.
|
 |
1939 -
Chicago
author Richard
Wright
(1908-1960)
publishes
Native Son,
set in Chicago
and the first
major novel
about the black
experience in
America.
|
 |
1940 -
Chicago
theater-chain
owner John
Balaban
(1894-1957)
establishes WBKB,
the first
television
station in
Illinois.
|
 |
1942 -
University
of Chicago
scientists, led
by Nobel Prize
winner (1938)
Enrico Fermi
(1901-1954),
achieve the
first
self-sustaining
nuclear
reaction.
|
 |
1945
- Chicago
Cubs win the
National
League
pennant,
lose the
World Series
to the
Detroit
Tigers.
- American
Airlines
inaugurates
direct air
service from
Chicago to
London.
|
 |
1949 -
Orchard
Place Airport in
Chicago is
renamed O'Hare
Field, Chicago
International
Airport in honor
of Lieutenant
Commander Edward
H. O'Hare
(1914-1943),
Congressional
Medal of Honor
recipient killed
in World War II.
|
 |
1950
-
Population
of the state
is
8,712,176.
-
Gwendolyn
Brooks (b.
1917)
becomes the
first
African-American
woman to win
a Pulitzer
Prize; is
named
Illinois
poet
laureate in
1968.
|
 |
1951 -
Illinois and
Mississippi
Canal is closed
to river
traffic.
|
 |
1952 -
Governor
Adlai Stevenson
(1900-1965) is
the Democratic
nominee for
president;
defeated by
Republican
Dwight
Eisenhower
(1890-1969).
|
 |
1953
- State Auditor
Orville Hodge
(1904-1986) is
convicted of
$1.5 million
theft of state
funds.
|
 |
1954 -
In Des
Plaines, Raymond
A. Kroc
(1902-1984)
opens the first
in a chain of
McDonald's
fast-food
restaurants.
|
 |
1955 -Richard
J. Daley
(1902-1976) is
elected to the
first of six
terms as Chicago
mayor.
|
 |
1957 -The
nation's first
nuclear power
generating
station is
activated at
Argonne National
Laboratory in
DuPage County.
|
 |
1958
- The
first
section of
Illinois
toll roads
is opened
from O'Hare
International
Airport to
the
Wisconsin
border.
- Fire at
Our Lady of
Angels
elementary
school in
Chicago
claims the
lives of
ninety-two
children and
three nuns.
|
 |
1959
- Everett
M. Dirksen
(1896-1969)
is elected
Republican
leader of
the United
States
Senate.
- Chicago
White Sox
win their
first
American
League
championship
since the
1919 Black
Sox scandal
but lose the
World Series
to the Los
Angeles
Dodgers.
|
 |
1959 -
Chicago
native Lorraine
Hansberry
(1930-1965) wins
the New York
Drama Critics
Circle Award for
A Raisin in
the Sun, the
first play by an
African-American
woman to be
presented on
Broadway.
|
 |
1962
- General
Assembly
names
Pulitzer
Prize-winner
Carl
Sandburg
(1878-1967)
the first
poet
laureate of
Illinois.
- Governor
Otto Kerner
(1908-1976)
leads
businessmen
on the first
Illinois
trade
mission to
Europe.
|
 |
1964 -
General
Assembly
approves an
at-large
election of 177
representatives
after the 1963
veto of a
reapportionment
bill.
|
 |
1966 -
Illinois for
the first time
leads the nation
in exports of
agricultural and
manufactured
products.
|
 |
1968
- Civil disorder
erupts during
the Democratic
National
Convention in
Chicago; police
report 650
arrests.
|
 |
1970 -
- After
the death of
Secretary of
State Paul
Powell (b.
1902),
$800,000 is
found in
shoeboxes in
his
Springfield
hotel room.
- Voters
adopt a new
Constitution,
the first in
one hundred
years.
- "Chicago
Seven"
defendants
are
convicted on
charges
relating to
violence at
the 1968
Democratic
National
Convention;
the decision
is
overturned
in 1972.
|
 |
1971
- Chicago
political and
civil rights
leader Jesse
Jackson (b.
1941) founds
Operation PUSH —
People United to
Save (later
Serve) Humanity.
|
 |
1972 -
- Chicago
Union Stock
Yards
closes.
- Abraham
Lincoln Home
in
Springfield
is
designated
the first
national
historic
site in
Illinois.
- Two
Illinois
Central
commuter
trains
collide in
Chicago;
forty-five
passengers
are killed
and more
than two
hundred are
injured.
|
 |
1973 -Otto
Kerner is
convicted on
charges
involving the
sale of
racetrack stock
while governor.
|
 |
1974 -
- The
world's
tallest
building,
Sears Tower
in downtown
Chicago, is
completed.
- General
Assembly
approves a
state
lottery.
|
 |
1976 -
- James R.
Thompson (b.
1936) is
elected to
the first of
four
gubernatorial
terms (to
1991), the
longest-serving
governor in
Illinois
history.
- Chicago
author Saul
Bellow (b.
1915) wins
the Nobel
Prize in
Literature.
|
 |
1979
- Jane
Byrne (b.
1934)
becomes the
first female
mayor of
Chicago.
- American
Airlines
crash at
O'Hare
International
Airport
kills 275,
the worst
air disaster
in United
States
history.
-
Centralia
native
Roland
Burris (b.
1937)
becomes
Comptroller,
the first
African-American
to hold a
statewide
elective
office in
Illinois.
|
 |
1980
- Ronald Reagan
(b. 1911) in
Tampico, is
elected United
States
President; John
B. Anderson (b.
1922) of
Rockford is
defeated as an
Independent
candidate.
|
 |
1981
- Morton
Grove
ordinance
bans the
possession
of handguns,
the most
restrictive
gun control
measure in
the nation.
- Peoria
native John
B. "Jack"
Brickhouse
(1916-1998)
retires
after
broadcasting
more than
five
thousand
Chicago Cubs
and White
Sox games;
receives the
National
Baseball
Hall of Fame
Ford C.
Frick Award
in 1983.
|
 |
1982 -
General
Assembly fails
to ratify the
proposed equal
rights amendment
to the United
States
Constitution.
|
 |
1983
- Harold
Washington
(1922-1987) is
elected the
first
African-American
mayor of
Chicago.
|
 |
1984 -
Seventeen
Chicago
attorneys,
police officers,
and judges are
indicted in
Operation
Greylord on
charges of
improperly
influencing
court cases;
convictions
include the
first for a
sitting state
court judge in
Illinois.
|
 |
1988
- Diamond-Star
Motors, an
automobile
manufacturing
venture between
Mitsubishi
Motors of Japan
and the Chrysler
Corporation,
opens in
Bloomington.
|
 |
1989 -
Clarence
Page (b. 1947)
of the
Chicago Tribune
is the first
African-American
columnist to win
a Pulitzer
Prize.
|
 |
1990
- Population of
the state is
11,430,602.
|
 |
1991-
Chicago Bulls
win the first of
three
consecutive
National
Basketball
Association
championships.
|
 |
1992
- Carol
Moseley-Braun
(b. 1947) of
Chicago becomes
the first
African-American
women elected to
the United
States Senate.
|
 |
1993 -
The worst
floods in the
state's history
ravage western
and southern
Illinois.
|
 |
1994
- Bonnie Blair
(b. 1964) speed
skater from
Champaign, wins
her fifth
Olympic Games
gold medal, the
most by an
American woman.
|
 |
1995 -
- Navy
Pier in
Chicago,
constructed
in 1916 as a
shipping
terminal and
then used
for wartime
navy and
marine
training and
as a campus
of the
University
of Illinois,
is renovated
and reopens
with a giant
Ferris
Wheel,
children's
museum,
stage
pavilion,
and retail
shops.
- Commuter
train
strikes a
school bus
in Fox River
Grove,
killing
seven and
injuring
thirty
students.
|
 |
1996 -
Chicago
Bulls post a
72-10 season,
best in league
history, then
wins the
National
Basketball
Association
championship.
Guard Michael
Jordan (b. 1963)
sets NBA records
with his eighth
scoring title
and fourth Most
Valuable Player
designation.
|
 |
1997
- The Field
Museum of
Natural History,
outbidding
museums
throughout the
United States,
pays $8.4
million for Sue,
the most
complete
Tyrannosaurus
Rex fossil yet
discovered.
|
 |
1998 -
- Fire
destroys the
historic
Pullman
railroad-car
factory in
south
Chicago.
-
Eighteenth
District
Congressman
Ray LaHood
(b. 1945)
presides as
Speaker of
the United
States House
of
Representatives
during the
impeachment
of President
William J.
Clinton.
|
 |
1999
- Fourteenth
District
Congressman J.
Dennis Hastert
(b. 1942) is
elected Speaker
of the United
States House of
Representatives.
|