X-Nico

100 unusual facts about Illinois


18th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment

The 18th Illinois Infantry was organized at Aurora, Illinois and mustered into Federal service on May 28, 1861 for a three year enlistment.

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.

Archeophone Records

Archeophone Records, LLC, based in Champaign, Illinois, specializes in preserving recordings of the acoustic era of the recording industry by remastering phonograph cylinders and gramophone records from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and releasing them on compact disc.

Bismarck Henning High School

Bismarck Henning High School or BHHS is a high school located in Bismarck, Illinois, and is currently hosting students from Rossville, Alvin, Bismark, Henning, and parts of Danville.

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.

Buda, Texas

Others suggest that like the town of Buda, Illinois, the town name is a nod to the exiles of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 who settled in the area.

BYD Company

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

Calvin B. Hoover

Hoover was born in Berwick, Illinois to John Calvin Hoover and Margaret Delilah Roadcap Hoove.

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.

Carlisle Trost

Admiral Carlisle Albert Herman Trost, USN (born April 24, 1930 in Valmeyer, Illinois) is a retired United States Navy officer who served as the Navy's twenty-third Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1 July 1986 to 29 June 1990.

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.

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.

Cy Touff

Cyril James Touff (March 4, 1927, Chicago – January 24, 2003, Evanston, Illinois) was a jazz bass trumpeter.

Dunkle

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

E. Woolsey Peck

In 1867, he moved to Sycamore, Illinois then to Rockford, Illinois and then back to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.He was elected chairman of the Military Reconstruction Convention of 1867.

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.

Edwin R. Ridgely

Born near Lancaster, Illinois, Ridgely attended district school in the winter months.

Elgin–O'Hare West Bypass

Building the highway would affect the villages of Elk Grove Village, Wood Dale, Itasca and Bensenville.

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.

Francena H. Arnold

Francena Harriet Long was born Sept. 9, 1888, on a farm near Literberry, Illinois, to James Harvey Long and Hannah Cox Long.

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.

Furniture Style

The magazine was based in Lincolnshire, Illinois, at Vance Publishing's corporate headquarters; it was founded in October 1996.

Genoa-Kingston High School

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

George E. Coghill

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

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.

Halsted Street

The road continues intermittently and ends, marked as Halstead Street, at 287th street north of Beecher, Illinois.

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.

Illini West High School

Illini West High School, or IWHS, is a public four-year high school located at 600 Miller Street in Carthage, Illinois, a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, in the Midwestern United States.

Illinois Route 103

Route 103 begins at a junction with U.S. Route 24 in Woodstock Township in southern Schuyler County, northeast of Ripley.

Illinois Route 119

Illinois 119 begins at a junction with US 136 and Illinois 1 in rural South Ross Township east of Henning.

Illinois Route 163

At Booker T. Washington Cemetery, the route heads northwest into Centreville Township, where it meets Illinois 157.

Illinois's 19th congressional district

The district became obsolete for 2013's 113th Congress, as population growth in Illinois was slower compared to other states.

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.

Jerusalem University College

The company that operates Jerusalem University College has an office in Rockford, Illinois.

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 DeRoss

As of October 2011, DeRoss is serving his life sentence at the United States Penitentiary (USP) in Terre Haute, a maximum security unit in Terre Haute, Illinois.

John Wilson Ruckman

Biographies, however, usually list his place of birth as Sidney, Illinois (Champaign County).

Jonathan Blitstein

Jonathan Blitstein (born 1982 Lincolnshire, Illinois) is an American playwright, and indie filmmaker.

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.

Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards

The awards have been restricted to teachers in Cook County in Illinois, but beginning in 2008, the honor will be extended to DuPage County as well.

Kumler

Kumler, Illinois, ghost town in West Township, McLean County, Illinois, USA

Lake Township, Illinois

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

Ledyard Tucker

Ledyard R Tucker (19 September 1910 Glenwood Springs, Colorado – 16 August 2004 Savoy, Illinois) was an American mathematician who specialized in statistics and psychometrics.

Legality of piggybacking

David M. Kauchak was the first person to be charged with "remotely accessing another computer system" in Winnebago County.

Lemuel Milk

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

Litchfield and Madison Railway

The Litchfield and Madison was incorporated on March 1, 1900 by James Duncan to take over an isolated line of the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad between Litchfield, Illinois and Madison, Illinois.

Macon County, Illinois

Milam (former, now defunct, after merger with Mount Zion Township)

Megan Kane

Kane attended Lutheran High School in Springfield, Illinois.

Mercer County High School

Aledo residents began offering educational opportunities to their children in the mid-19th century.

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

The first national tallgrass prairie ever designated in the U.S. and the largest conservation site in the Chicago Wilderness region, it is located on the site of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant between the towns Elwood, Manhattan and Wilmington in northeastern Illinois.

Mike Errico

Errico also showcases his skill as a guitarist in an intricate arrangement of the Tom Waits classic, "Johnsburg, Illinois." "The song has such an aching quality to it, and I just needed to arrange it, so I'd always have it with me," Errico says.

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.

Milledgeville High School

MHS serves the communities and surrounding areas of Milledgeville, Chadwick, Lanark, Mt. Carroll, Savanna, and Thomson.

Minooka High School

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

Mount Lowe Railway

The railway was sold at auction to a Mr. Valentine Peyton of Danville, Illinois, who personally came to California to run the operation.

Muskego, Wisconsin

When Marriott's Great America (now Six Flags Great America) opened in 1976, it lured people away from Muskego, and into Gurnee, Illinois.

Nation of Celestial Space

The Nation of Celestial Space (also known as Celestia) was a micronation created by Evergreen Park, Illinois, resident James Thomas Mangan.

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.

Ogden Avenue

ends when U.S. Route 34 leaves Aurora at the intersection of U.S. Route 34 and U.S. Route 30 on the border of Aurora; Montgomery, Illinois; and Oswego, Illinois.

Oscar Albuquerque

He is currently the president of Pro Soccer International, an ownership group which holds the rights to American Indoor Soccer League teams in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois.

Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

Paul Simon lived for many years in the small town of Makanda, south of Carbondale, where he was a professor and director of the SIU Public Policy Institute.

Penny Bernard Schaber

Schaber was raised in Mundelein, Illinois and remained in Illinois to complete her Associate and Bachelor’s of Science degree from Southern Illinois University.

Peotone High School

Peotone High School or PHS, is a four-year high school located approximately 1 mile east of Interstate 57 near the intersection of Corning Ave and Rathje Rd in Peotone, Illinois, a village located 43 miles (69 km) south of Chicago, Illinois and 16 miles (25 km) north of Kankakee, Illinois, in the United States.

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.

Popcorn

At least six localities (all in the Midwestern United States) claim to be the "Popcorn Capital of the World": Ridgway, Illinois; Valparaiso, Indiana; Van Buren, Indiana; Schaller, Iowa; Marion, Ohio; and North Loup, Nebraska.

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.

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.

Reuben Ellwood

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

Rock Creek, Illinois

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

Ron Wells

Ron Wells, (born October 2, 1961, in Rantoul, Illinois) is a former American football player.

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.

Roy Vernon Scott

Scott was born to Roy J. Scott and the former Edna Dodson in Wrights, an unincorporated community in Greene County in west-central Illinois.

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.

Ryan Weemer

Ryan G. Weemer is a former Marine from Hindsboro, Illinois, who was tried in a military court for war crimes that were allegedly committed while he was on active duty during the Iraq War.

Schreder HP-15

In the April 2011 the sole HP-15 prototype, registered N5488, still existed and was privately registered in Peoria, Illinois.

SGSM Network

To reflect this expansion, South Grand Senior Ministry became SGSM Network in 2008, and the organization has expanded throughout the St. Louis Metro area to include Grand Center, Northeast County Deanery, South County, South Grand, and the Lindenwood area (now independent).

Sherman Barton

Sherman "Bucky" Barton (born February 2, 1875 in Normal, Illinois - July 11, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois) was an Outfielder in the Negro Leagues.

Sverre Lassen-Urdahl

Sverre Lassen-Urdahl (1913–2005) was a Norwegian alpine skier, born in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States.

Titanine Ltd.

DeSoto Inc., of Des Plaines, Illinois, purchased a 50% interest in Dufay Titanine plc for £4m.

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.

Wauconda

Wauconda, Illinois, a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States

Westell

Westell was founded in October 1980 in Willowbrook, Illinois, and initially produced electronic equipment used for signaling and transmission on telephone lines leased to private customers.

William Harrison Holly

He was an assistant state's attorney of Cook County, Illinois from 1914 to 1916, thereafter returning to private practice in Chicago until 1933.

William McKendree

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

Winnetka, Los Angeles

Later Weeks renamed the colony Winnetka, after a farm he owned in Winnetka, 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.


1992–93 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

After sitting out a season, Andy Kaufmann returned for the 1992-93 campaign and helped lead Illinois to a 19-13 record and trip to the

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.

Bessemer Park

Bessemer Park is a public park in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Created in 1904, it was named for Henry Bessemer, the inventor of the eponymous steelmaking process.

Buffalo Grove ambush

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

Chaim Kreiswirth

In 1947, he moved to the United States and from 1947 to 1953 served as Rosh Yeshiva at the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois.

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

Craig Virgin

Additionally, Virgin remains the record-holder in Illinois Boys Cross Country, running a 13:50.6 in 1972, which has only been approached by within five seconds by Chris Derrick in 2007 (13:51.8) and Lukas Verzbicas in 2010 (13:53.8)

Dan Douglas

He is a former president of the Washington County Farm Bureau and a board member of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership though the Illinois River does not reach Arkansas.

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.

Fab Lab MSI

Fab Lab MSI (Fabrication Laboratory at the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago), Illinois) - The Fab lab MSI is a small scale workshop that uses various machines to create both prototypes for individuals and small projects for museum members and visitors.

Frank Bonilla

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

Frederick Lucian Hosmer

Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929) was an American Unitarian minister who served congregations in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and California and who wrote many significant hymns.

Frederick Lundin

In 1908 Lundin was elected as a Republican Congressman to the 61st United States Congress from Illinois' 7th congressional district, a Chicago seat.

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 150

SBI Route 150 originally ran from the U.S. 51/60/62 bridges south of Cairo north to Hamel (located northeast of Saint Louis, Missouri) on what is now Illinois Route 3, the portion of Illinois 150 from Chester to Steeleville, and Illinois Route 4.

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.

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.

Jimtown, Illinois

Jimtown, Champaign County, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Champaign County, Illinois

Johan Engholm

Several descendants of Johan Engholm emigrated to the US (mainly Illinois) in the beginning of the 20th century.

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.

Little Ten Conference

Founded in 1919, it was originally comprised the following small high schools in northern Illinois: Earlville, Hinckley, Leland, Paw Paw, Plano, Rollo, Sandwich, Shabbona, Somonauk, and Waterman.

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 Bartelme

Mary Margaret Bartelme (July 24, 1866 – July 25, 1954) was the first woman appointed Cook County Public Guardian in Illinois, and the first women elected judge in a court of high jurisdiction in that state.

Mary Odilia Berger

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

Northfield, Illinois

This department is Accredited by CALEA, and was one of the first in the State of Illinois to become so accredited.

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.

Robert Kennicott

Kennicott was born in New Orleans and grew up in "West Northfield" (now Glenview), Illinois, a town in the prairie north of the then nascent city of Chicago.

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.

Silver carp

By August 2009, they had become abundant in the Mississippi River watershed from Louisiana to South Dakota and Illinois, and had grown close to invading the Great Lakes via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

Sunset Ridge School District 29

Sunset Ridge was the top middle school in Illinois in ISAT testing in 2005, and is always one of the top two public schools in the State of Illinois.

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.

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.

Transportation in Greater St. Louis

At Missouri Route 367, US 67 turns north, crosses the Missouri River on the Clark Bridge into Illinois, through Madison and Jersey counties, then leaving the region.

Tylman

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

Violence Policy Center

The primary foundation donor to the VPC is the Joyce Foundation, which also supports other gun violence prevention organizations including the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the American College of Preventive Medicine.

WDLM

WDLM-FM, a radio station (89.3 FM) licensed to East Moline, Illinois, United States

William H. Block Co.

Restaurants located within the Illinois Street store included the Fountain Luncheonette, the Terrace Tea Room, the Men’s Grille, and the James Whitcomb Riley Room.