X-Nico

99 unusual facts about Illinois


1921 APFA season

The Staleys, who moved from Decatur, Illinois, to Chicago before the season, were named the APFA Champions over the Buffalo All-Americans.

Acosada

However it was not until 1 June 1966 that the film premiered in the USA in Champaign, Illinois.

Adam's Ribs

Hawkeye and Trapper go down to try to negotiate them from a stubborn supply sergeant, who is willing to help once he finds out where they're from (as he lives in Joliet, a Chicago suburb, and is a huge fan of Adam's Ribs).

Alfred Babcock

In 1850, Babcock moved to Illinois and settled in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois where he continued the practice of his profession until his death in 1871.

Andy Studebaker

Born September 16, 1985, Studebaker spent much of his childhood in Congerville, Illinois.

Archer Avenue

Outside Chicago, Archer Avenue/Road passes through the villages of Summit, Justice, Willow Springs, and the southern edge of Lemont before terminating on the north side of Lockport.

Ayers, Illinois

Ayers, Carroll County, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Illinois

Basement Jack

And on a stormy night, in the town of Downers Grove (most likely Downers Grove, Illinois), the killer and his prey would find one another and as they hunt one another the citizens would have to fight to survive the blade of Basement Jack.

Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold

The build was first seen at a location test at Brunswick Zone Naperville in Naperville, Illinois.

Best Country Today

Beginning as one of the original Satellite Music Network formats over 20 years ago, its studios and offices were located in Mokena, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

Bloomfield, Illinois

Bloomfield, Scott County, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Scott County, Illinois

Brown County High School

Brown County High School, or BCHS, is a public four-year high school located at 500 East Main Street in Mount Sterling, Illinois, a small city in Brown County, Illinois, in the Midwestern United States.

Buda Engine Co.

Buda Engine was founded in 1881 by George Chalender in Buda, Illinois to make equipment for railways.

Buffalo Grove ambush

The Buffalo Grove ambush occurred near Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a small, unincorporated settlement in present-day Ogle County.

BYD Company

US operations are limited to sales and marketing and can be found in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and San Francisco, California.

Candace Kroslak

Candace Kaye Kroslak (born Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, July 22, 1978) is an American actress of Slovak descent, probably best known for her role as Lindy Maddock in the Swedish-American soap opera Ocean Ave.

Carpenter Park

Carpenter Park is a 322-acre (1.3 km²) park on the north bank of the Sangamon River on the far north side of the city of Springfield, Illinois.

Casey Claw

It was originally developed by Mark Casey in 1993, a former marching member and drum sergeant of the The Cavaliers of Rosemont, Illinois.

Cecil Bothwell

Bothwell was born 1950 in Oak Park, Illinois, lived in several states and held several jobs in the area of Asheville, North Carolina.

Central Street

Central Street (Evanston, IL), a major east-west road and shopping district in Evanston, Illinois

Chicago Storm

The team moved its home games to the newly built Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, a northwest suburb of Chicago, for the 2006-07 season.

Chicago United Breeze

The team plays its home games in the stadium on the campus of Harry D. Jacobs High School in the city of Algonquin, Illinois, 45 miles north-west of downtown Chicago.

Chicagoland Television

The channel began operations on January 1, 1993, originally broadcasting out of studios located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook.

Dennis Vaske

Dennis James Vaske (born October 11, 1967 in Rockford, Illinois) is a retired American ice hockey defenseman.

Dunkle

Dunkel, Illinois, unincorporated community in Christian County, Illinois, USA

Edward Breathitte Sellers

Born and reared in slavery, somehow prior to his matriculating at Wheaton College, he moved to Illinois and listed Shawneetown, Illinois as his home.

Elgin Racers

The Windy City Dawgs were an International Basketball League team based in Palatine, Illinois.

Flat as a Pancake

Head East recorded the album at Golden Voice Studios in South Pekin, Illinois.

For the Lonely Lest the Wiser

For the Lonely Lest the Wiser is the first EP but second release from Wauconda, Illinois rock outfit Dr Manhattan.

Francis Clay

Born and raised in Rock Island, Illinois, he started playing jazz, professionally at the age of 15, played drums behind many of the biggest names of 20th century popular American music.

Fred Holstein

Fred began playing around Chicago in the 1960s, first at places like the Old Town Pub and a bar in Morton Grove called Scot's Cellar.

Fred Paul Hedges

Originally from Ewing, Illinois, Freddie Paul Hedges was a long-time friend of Grand Ole Opry star Billy Grammer who hired Hedges to help establish Grammer's newly formed guitar company.

Genoa-Kingston High School

Genoa-Kingston High School is a public high school located in Genoa, Illinois.

George Corneal

From 1911 to 1914, Corneal was the basketball coach at Rock Island High School in Rock Island, Illinois.

George E. Coghill

Born in Beaucoup, Illinois, to John Waller and Elisabeth Tucker Coghill, George started college at Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois.

Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad

It provided service from Springfield, the state capital, to Gilman, a junction point on the main line of the much larger Illinois Central Railroad.

Girard incident

Specialist Third Class Girard, a 21-year-old enlisted man from Ottawa, Illinois, used a grenade launcher mounted on an M1 rifle to fire an empty casing at Sakai, which killed her.

Glenbard North High School

Michael Quigley is a United States Congressman, representing the 5th Congressional District of Illinois; a seat he won in a special election to replace Rahm Emanuel.

Great Disappointment

In Loraine, Illinois, a mob attacked the Millerite congregation with clubs and knives, while a group in Toronto was tarred and feathered.

Gregory Perino

His fascination with the past and his innate ability to locate and meticulously excavate prehistoric cemeteries and burial mounds soon led him into a career as a self-taught professional archaeologist, first with the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma; then with the Foundation for Illinois Archeology in Kampsville, Illinois; and finally with the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma.

Harding Tomb

The memorial is also important in American history because it is the last of the elaborate presidential tombs, a trend that began with the burial of President Abraham Lincoln in his tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

Harmonica gun

Commencing in 1834 in Quincy, Illinois, he began to make harmonica guns and more conventional revolving rifles.

Heinen's Fine Foods

On August 22, 2012, after two years of market and distribution logistics research, the company opened its first store outside the Greater Cleveland area in The Shops at Flint Creek in Barrington, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Henry S. Magoon

Born in Monticello, Wisconsin, Magoon attended the Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, Illinois, and was graduated from the Western Military College, Drennon, Kentucky, in 1853.

Horton Smith

When he resigned as head professional of Oak Park Country Club in River Grove, Illinois, in 1936, his brother Ren replaced him at the club.

Howie Crittenden

He was head basketball coach at Metropolis High School in Metropolis, Illinois and Calloway County High School in Murray, Kentucky.

Illinois Route 116

Illinois 116 was a popular agricultural and commercial truck route from Burlington, Iowa (on the Mississippi River) to Peoria, Illinois (on the Illinois River) during World War II and through the late 1960s.

Illinois Route 179

From here, the highway ran west through farmland to Dana.

Independent Illinois Volunteer Cavalry Companies

Sherer's Independent Cavalry Company was organized at Aurora, Illinois as Company B, 36th Illinois Infantry, but detached from the regiment and served primarily as headquarters guard.

Isaac N. Morris

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1835 and commenced practice in Warsaw, Illinois, in 1836.

J. Frank Duryea

On November 28, 1895, Frank Duryea won the first motor-car race in the United States, a 54-mile loop along the lakeshore from Chicago to Evanston and back again.

Joe Rutgens

Joseph Casimiere Rutgens (born January 26, 1939 in Cedar Point, Illinois) is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins.

John Baricevic

Justice Baricevic presides over the Twentieth Judicial Circuit (Fifth Appellate District) in Illinois for the counties of Monroe, Perry, Randolph, St. Clair, and Washington.

John Fritchey

Fritchey was one of many candidates who ran for former US Representative Rahm Emanuel's seat in Illinois's 5th congressional district special election, 2009.

John Richard Parker

John Parker was born in 1830 in Crawford County, Illinois the second oldest child of Silas Mercer Parker (1802–1836) and Lucy (Duty) Parker.

John Shastid House

A few of Pike County's other sites include the address restricted Naples Mound 8 and New Philadelphia Town Site as well as the Massie Variety Store in New Canton and the Lyman Scott House in Summer Hill.

Julius Sterling Morton

 Sterling Morton High School District, located in Berwyn and Cicero, Illinois.

Kate Booth

At her husband's wish, Katie and the children travelled with him to the cult leader John Alexander Dowie's Zion City, a township about 40 miles north of Chicago.

KGCW

KGCW can also be seen on KLJB's second digital subchannel (UHF channel 49.2 or virtual channel 18.2 via PSIP) from a transmitter in the Orion village of Western Township, Illinois.

Kid Capri

Kid Capri also made an appearance as Rakim's DJ during the Rock The Bells 2008 show on July 19, 2008 in Tinley Park, Illinois.

Lake Township, Illinois

Lake Township, Cook County, Illinois, also known as the Town of Lake, annexed to Chicago in 1889

Lemuel Milk

Born in New York, Milk came to Illinois after purchasing a large tract of land in Iroquois County.

Mary's River Covered Bridge

The bridge was built in 1854 as part of a plank toll road connecting Chester to Bremen; the bridge allowed agricultural products to be transported to Chester, a significant port on the Mississippi River.

Milam Township, Macon County, Illinois

In 2009, it was merged into Mount Zion Township.

Miles Henry Davis

In the late 1940s, Davis purchased a 160-acre estate in Millstadt, Illinois.

Minooka High School

The district, is largely composed of the communities of Minooka and Channahon, and also includes portions of Shorewood, Joliet and Troy.

National Register of Historic Places listings in West Side Chicago

The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District extends through Cook County west of Chicago, DuPage County and Will County to Lockport.

Osco Drug

Also in 1968, Osco's headquarters relocated from Melrose Park, Illinois to Franklin Park, Illinois.

Owen Scott

Born on a farm in Jackson Township, Illinois, Scott attended the common schools, a private school in Kinmundy, and the State normal school in Normal, Illinois.

Peru, Nebraska

The first attempt to settle the community occurred in 1853 when some residents of Peru, Illinois.

Peter Newell

A native of McDonough County, Illinois, Newell built a reputation in the 1880s and 1890s for his humorous drawings and poems, which appeared in Harper's Weekly, Harper's Bazaar, Scribner's Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, and other publications.

Philo, California

Two versions of how Philo was named are current: first, that its founder Cornelius Prather named it after his favorite female cousin; second, that he named it for his former home at Philo, Illinois.

Prentice Marshall

In 1959, Marshall, then a resident of Wheaton, Illinois, ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state's attorney in DuPage County, a Republican stronghold.

Quashquame

Quashquame maintained a village near what is now Nauvoo, Illinois until it was combined with an older village on the west side of the Mississippi near Montrose, Iowa.

Ralf Henricksen

Murals were also commissioned to him as part of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts at the Stanton (IL) and Monroe (Michigan) Post Offices.

Reptile centre

A Burmese Python at the reptile centre Serpent Safari in Gurnee, Illinois was billed as the heaviest living snake in captivity.

Reuben Ellwood

He attended public schools in New York before moving to DeKalb County, Illinois with his family when he was fifteen.

Roanoke High School

Roanoke High School (Illinois) — a public school in Roanoke, Woodford County, Illinois, also known as Roanoke Victory High School or Roanoke Township High School, and consolidated with Benson High School in 1957 to form Roanoke-Benson High School

Rock Creek, Illinois

Rock Creek, Hardin County, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Hardin County, Illinois

Rockford East High School

Rockford East High School is a comprehensive four year high school in Rockford, Illinois.

Rolling Meadows High School

It serves primarily central and east Rolling Meadows (east of Route 53), a significant part of Arlington Heights and a small part of Mount Prospect.

Rosemary Mulligan

In the fall of 2009 Mulligan announced her intention to run for Republican Committeeman of Maine Township Maine Township, Cook County, Illinois against incumbent Mark Thompson.

Russell Schulz-Widmar

Born into a family of German and Dutch immigrants, Russell Schulz grew up northwest of Chicago, near the village of Hebron, Illinois.

Shirley Allen

Shirley Allen, of Roby, Illinois, is a former nurse whose family's 1997 attempt to have her involuntarily committed led to a 39-day standoff (described by some as a "siege") with Illinois State Police and other law-enforcement agencies.

Shop 'n Save

Shop ’n Save was founded in 1979 as a grocery store in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri.

Teco pottery

The American Terra Cotta Tile and Ceramic Company was founded in 1881; originally as Spring Valley Tile Works; in Terra Cotta, Illinois, between Crystal Lake, Illinois and McHenry, Illinois near Chicago by William Day Gates.

Tonti

Tonti, Illinois, unincorporated community in Illinois, United States

Treaty of Prairie du Chien

By this treaty, the tribes ceded to the United States an area in present-day northwestern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin, as well as the areas currently occupied by the cities of Wilmette and Evanston.

Ulysses F. Doubleday

He was interred in the Bloomington Township Old City Cemetery, Bloomington, Illinois.

Union Pacific North Line

The Union Pacific North Line (UP-N) is a Metra commuter rail line in the Chicago metropolitan area that runs between Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois, with some trains continuing to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Union Pacific Northwest Line

The line runs from the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago to endpoints in McHenry, Illinois and Harvard, Illinois, with the McHenry branch served only during weekday rush periods.

WBKM

WBKM-LP, a low-power television station (channel 46) licensed to Chana, Illinois, United States

WHBF

Where Historic Black Hawk Fought, a reference to Chief Black Hawk whose tribe occupied the land that is now Rock Island, Illinois, United States, and the namesake for the WHBF broadcasting stations in Rock Island

William McKendree

In 1830, he lent his support to the Lebanon Seminary, Lebanon, Illinois.

WLMM

WLMM-LP, a low-power radio station (103.9 FM) licensed to Channahon, Illinois, United States

WQAD-DT3

Over-the-air, the station airs a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 38.3 (or virtual channel 8.3 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Orion, a village of Western Township, Illinois.

WVMC

WVMC (AM), a defunct radio station (1360 AM) formerly licensed to Mount Carmel, Illinois, United States

WXJO

In March 2000, the station changed call signs to the current WXJO, previously used on what is now WFUN-FM 95.5 Bethalto, Illinois.

Yorkville High School

Yorkville High School, or YHS, is a public four-year high school located in Yorkville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.


1921 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

An Illinois team of the great Robert Zuppke was the opponent.

Alexander Girard

Girard was commissioned to create a mural for the John Deere Company, in the entrance to their administration building designed by Saarinen near Moline, Illinois.

Cal Pritner

Students from the Illinois State University Department of Theatre, which Pritner served as founding department chair, include: a majority of the founding members of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble; Tony winners Judith Ivey and Rondi Reed; Oscar nominee John Malkovich; former Steppenwolf Theatre artistic directors Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Randy Arney; and film and television stars Gary Cole and Jane Lynch.

Charles E. Freeman

In September, 1973 governor Dan Walker named Freeman to the Illinois Commerce Commission, a rate regulatory agency with power over telephone, electricity and gas companies.

Christen Craig

While attending Southern Illinois University, Craig worked as an anchor, reporter and executive producer for River Region Evening Edition on WSIU-TV, the university-owned news station.

Classical 24

WNIU, broadcasting from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, is another full power FM that carries Classical 24 on a full-time basis.

Cook County Courthouse

Richard J. Daley Center, the location of the Court of Cook County, Illinois

Douglas Otto

Otto then was the superintendent of schools for the North Scott School Community District in Eldridge, Iowa and the Rockridge Community Unit School District in Taylor Ridge, Illinois.

Eric Sedler

As a leading member of the Issue Department for the Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, Sedler worked with House leadership and state legislators to develop communications programs to advance the caucus agenda.

Frank Bonilla

Bonilla spent his first years of high school attending a Franciscan high school in Illinois, where he showed academic and leadership skills.

Grant Park Symphony Orchestra

The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra or simply the Grant Park Orchestra is a publicly sponsored symphony orchestra that provides free performances in the Grant Park Music Festival during the summer months in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois.

Hopewell, Illinois

Hopewell, Illinois is the location used by author Terry Brooks in his fantasy novel Running with the Demon.

Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago

The Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago is part of The Art Institutes, a system of for-profit proprietary colleges focusing on creative industries.

Illinois Route 31

The bypass was even featured on the front cover of IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation)'s Capital Improvements Plan during the Republican George Ryan years but was completely taken off the project list under Democrat Rod Blagojevich's administration.

Jacques Gravier

In 1696 Gravier was named to found the Illinois mission among the Illinois, Miami, Kaskaskia and others of the Illiniwek confederacy situated in the Mississippi River and Illinois River valleys.

James Harrod

A contemporary of better known explorers like Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, Benjamin Logan, and Simon Kenton, Harrod led many expeditions into the regions that now form Kentucky and Illinois.

Janet Lewis

Lewis was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was a graduate of the University of Chicago, where she was a member of a literary circle that included Glenway Wescott, Elizabeth Madox Roberts, and her future husband Yvor Winters.

Jehan Gordon-Booth

She defeated Joan Krupa, but Krupa was appointed to the seat to fill the remaining nine days of Schock's term when Schock became U.S. Representative for Illinois' 18th congressional district.

Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn and Marlon Brando and their sister Frances grew up mostly in the Midwest—in Omaha, Nebraska, Evanston and Libertyville, Illinois, though the family also spent time in California.

Labor and Employment Relations Association

It originally consisted of about 100 researchers (economists; management, human resources, and labor relations researchers; attorneys, historians and sociologists) from 30 universities, including California-Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Illinois, Massachusetts (several campuses), MIT, Michigan, Michigan State, Northeastern, Rutgers, Stanford and UCLA, as well as universities in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Lou Black

Born in Rock Island, Illinois, he began playing banjo during early childhood and became professional in 1917.

Lybster

However, during the American Revolution, following some victories in the Ohio and Illinois territories, Patrick Sinclair felt it was necessary to move Fort Michilimackinac from its exposed location on the northernmost point of the lower peninsula of Michigan to Mackinac Island.

Malcolm X College

Malcolm X College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago, is a two-year college located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA, at 1900 W. Van Buren St. It was founded as Crane Junior College in 1911 and was the first of the City Colleges.

Mary Odilia Berger

The congregation, through SSM Health Care, today operates in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.

Mitchigamea

In 1673, Marquette and Joliet needed a translator from Miami-Illinois to understand the Michigamea; most contact was in Plains Sign Language.

Octodad

The team behind the original Octodad consisted of eighteen students attending the DePaul University of Chicago, Illinois, eight of whom went to form Young Horses Inc, the team behind its sequel Dadliest Catch.

Olney Township, Nobles County, Minnesota

Finally, on June 15, 1874, the board accepted the suggestion of pioneer settler R. W. Moberly that the township be named after Olney, Illinois, county seat of Richland County, Illinois.

One Live Kiss

The live concert was recorded at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL, on November 6, 2006 and features performances of Stanley's songs from his 1978 self-titled solo album and the 2006 release Live to Win, as well as selected songs from various eras of Kiss.

ORDVAC

J. P. Nash of the University of Illinois was a developer of both the ORDVAC and of the university's own identical copy, the ILLIAC, which was later renamed the ILLIAC I. Donald B. Gillies assisted in the checkout of ORDVAC at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Pecatonica, Illinois

Pecatonica is the hometown of Hacks Auction, Northern Illinois premier auction house and J&J Tumbling and Trampoline which has produced several world class athletes, including 1988 Woman's Tumbling World Champion Megan Cunningham Gearhart (later a coach) and National Trampoline Team member Michael Devine.

Roberts Stadium

Lanphier Park, also known as Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Park, Springfield, Illinois, USA

Salpointe Catholic High School

The Board of Members consists of the members of the Provincial Council of the Society of Mount Carmel of Illinois (The Most Pure Heart of Mary Province of the Carmelite Order).

Samuel Mason

By 1797, he moved the base of his river piracy further downriver to Cave-in-Rock on the Illinois shore.

Sergio McClain

McClain's father, Wayne, coached Manual High School during its title run, and after Sergio graduated from Illinois, Wayne joined Bill Self's staff as an assistant coach, where he continued to work under Bruce Weber, eventually following Weber to Kansas State.

Serve Illinois Commission

The Commission is accomplishing this mission through the support of local community-based efforts to enhance volunteer opportunities and the administration of Illinois' AmeriCorps programs.

Stacey Cole

She recorded individual season highs of kills (28 v. Wester Illinois), attacks (3 games; 46 v. IUPUI, 4 games; 66 v. Western Illinois, 5 games; 60 v. UMKC), Digs (14 v. Oral Roberts), Aces (4 games, 6 v. Western Illinois; 5 games, 6 v. UMKC).

State Farm Downtown Building

The building is listed as a contributing property to the National Register of Historic Places listed Bloomington Central Business District, a historic district encompassing much of downtown Bloomington, Illinois.

Steadfast Networks

Steadfast Networks is a Chicago, Illinois-based Internet Service Provider primarily focused on Shared Hosting, Dedicated Servers and Colocation.

Step pyramid

The largest earthen work step pyramid of this type in North America is Monk's Mound, located in present-day Cahokia, Illinois.

The Felix Culpa

For their second release, The Felix Culpa released THOUGHTCONTROL (2005, Common Cloud Records) - an EP/DVD combo that featured 4 new songs, a video for "A Murderer" (Commitment), a live set at the Knights of Columbus, Arlington Heights, IL, and roughly 2 hours of random tour footage.

Thorn Creek Nature Center and Preserve

Thorn Creek Woods Nature Center and Preserve is located in Will County, Illinois near the municipality of Park Forest, Illinois.

Tony Lagouranis

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and graduated from high school in 1987 in New York City, going on to study Ancient Greek as part of his degree program at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.

Tylman

Stanley D. Tylman (1893–1982), professor of dentistry (1920–1962), University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry

WBLN

WYZZ-TV, a television station (channel 43) licensed to Bloomington, Illinois, United States, which used the call sign WBLN from 1982 to September 1985

WDDD

WDDD-FM, a radio station (107.3 FM) licensed to Johnston City, Illinois, United States

WGEN

WGEN-FM, a radio station (88.9 FM) licensed to serve Monee, Illinois, United States

William T. Major

He founded the First Christian Church (affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination) and built the city's first public meeting hall, Major's Hall, which hosted an early convention of the Illinois branch of the Republican Party and became best known as the site of "Lincoln's Lost Speech".