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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.

2005–06 St. Louis Blues season

Peoria Rivermen (AHL) - Peoria, Illinois Posted 46-26-0-8 Record, lost in 2nd round of playoffs

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.

Ayers, Illinois

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

Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold

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

Bremen, Illinois

Bremen, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Jo Daviess County

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.

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.

Canadian Martyrs

The martyrs are honored at Camp Ondessonk, a Catholic summer camp in Ozark, Illinois, where each unit of cabins is named after one of the martyrs.

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.

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.

Chester R. Davis

Davis died in 1966 of a heart attack in his home in Wayne, Illinois.

Chicago Business College

The Chicago Business College (founded as the Gondering and Virden Business College in 1888) was a for-profit business school located on Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

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.

Clint Frank

Clinton E. Frank died at the Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Illinois after a brief illness.

Cy Touff

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

Dale Barnstable

Dale Barnstable (born 1925) is an American retired basketball player from Antioch, Illinois who was banned from the NBA for life in 1951 for point shaving.

Danville New Tech High

Danville New Tech High School is a school located in Danville, Illinois.

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

Elgin Racers

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

Frederick J. Kapala

He was an assistant state's attorney of Winnebago County, Illinois from 1976 to 1977, and was in private practice in Rockford, Illinois from 1977 to 1982.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Herb Hake

Herbert V. Hake, son of Henry and Louisa Hake, was born August 10, 1903, in Hoyleton, 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.

Howie Crittenden

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

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 179

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

Illinois Route 4

Illinois Route 4 is a long state road that runs south from the Interstate 55 business loop around the state capital of Springfield, south to Illinois Route 13 just north of Murphysboro.

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.

James Bullough Lansing

James Martini was born on January 14, 1902, in Greenridge, Nilwood Township, Macoupin County, Illinois to parents Henry Martini of St. Louis, Missouri, and Grace Erbs Martini of Central City, Illinois.

Jerusalem University College

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

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 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.

Justin Tranter

Justin Tranter and his three older brothers were raised by his parents in Lake Zurich, 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.

Kevin Stevens

Not only did he rarely see the ice during this season, but after a game against the St. Louis Blues, he was caught in an East St. Louis, Illinois motel with a prostitute and crack cocaine.

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.

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.

Lou Black

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

Madison Kocian

Kocian's senior career started in 2013, at the Secret U.S Classic, held at the Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where she placed 7th all-around but managed a silver on the bars, scoring 14.450.

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.

Megan Kane

Kane attended Lutheran High School in Springfield, Illinois.

Midwest League

In 1976 the Midwest League contracted from ten teams to eight when teams in Danville and Dubuque were eliminated.

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.

Milledgeville High School

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

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.

Newton Gang

Notable enough for the 1924 train robbery near Rondout, Illinois (the world's largest at the time), the brothers gained a second round of fame in retirement, when they participated in a 1975 documentary film, and then a more in-depth oral history project that eventually was published in book form, possibly one of the clearest records of a criminal career of the period, as told by the participants.

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.

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.

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.

Peoria, Illinois City Council election, 2003

In Peoria, Illinois, each elector casts five votes in the At-Large elections.

Peru, Nebraska

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

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.

Pleasant Rowland

Rowland was born in the Chicago area and grew up in Bannockburn, a suburb north of Chicago.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Spray pool

The spray pool at Phillips Park in Aurora, Illinois dates from the 1930s and has closed and reopened several times.

Stanley Girard Schlarman

After serving as chaplain to a local Catholic hospital, he became a pastor in St. Rose Township and later in Cairo.

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.

Nearing the end of his life, William D. Gates constructed a residence just north of Crystal Lake, Illinois named "Trail's End" symbolizing his decreasing involvement in the company.

Trend Is Dead! Records

Records (stylized as tREND iS dEAD! records) is an independent record label based out of Normal, Illinois, United States.

Ulysses F. Doubleday

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

Uncle Tupelo discography

The discography of Uncle Tupelo, an alternative country band from Belleville, Illinois, consists of four studio albums, two compilation albums, three demo tapes, and five singles.

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 Township, Lake County, Illinois, a township in Lake County, Illinois, United States

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

William Burton Roy

William Burton "Bill" Roy (born on 4 December 1958 in Versailles, Illinois) is a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force and former U.S. Olympian in skeet shooting.

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


1921 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Connecticut's 4th congressional district election, 2008

Shays grew up in Darien, Connecticut, attended Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, and received an MBA and MPA from New York University.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Greens/Green Party USA

The Clearinghouse has operated from various locations, including (originally) Kansas City, Missouri; Blodgett Mills, New York; Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois.

Hopewell, Illinois

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

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 Edgar

Jim Edgar, former secretary of state and governor of Illinois

Jewelers Building

35 East Wacker - in Chicago, Illinois, built in 1925-1927, designed by Joachim G. Giaver and Frederick P. Dinkelberg

Johan Engholm

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

John Burgmeier

John Burgmeier (born October 24, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American anime voice actor, ADR script/head writer and the son of voice actress, Linda Young.

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.

Lakeview College of Nursing

An affiliation with the Illinois Teacher's College in Charleston (now Eastern Illinois University) provided additional on-campus instruction.

Luke Stannard

After college, Stannard continued training at Illinois for another year, working as an assistant for Justin Spring.

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.

Mary Odilia Berger

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

May 26–31, 2013 tornado outbreak

The tornado continued causing damage in residential areas before crossing the Missouri River into St. Louis County and Earth City, Bridgeton, and the northern side of Maryland Heights as it moved along Interstate 70 near its intersection with Interstate 270.

Mitchigamea

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

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.

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.

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.

Spalding High School

Spalding Institute, later Academy of Our Lady-Spalding Institute, now consolidated as Peoria Notre Dame High School in Peoria, Illinois

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.

Step pyramid

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

Sylvester Millard House

Illinois Governor Shelby Moore Cullom appointed Millard a trustee of the Illinois Industrial University, where he served for twelve years including a six-year stint as President of the Board.

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

WGEN

WGEN-FM, a radio station (88.9 FM) licensed to serve Monee, 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 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.