Portal:Illinois/Did you know

... that a mock funeral was held outside company headquarters during the 1986–1987 John Deere strike in which 700 union workers ceremoniously burned a coffin and a Christmas tree covered in company hats?
... that landscape architect Harriet Pattison collaborated with her lover Louis Kahn on the design of Four Freedoms Park and the grounds of the Kimbell Art Museum?
... that according to campus legend, the English Building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is haunted by the ghost of a female student who drowned in the building's pool?
... that 1980's Space Encounters video game was the first that Midway Games offered in their "mini myte" arcade game cabinet?
... that astronaut James McDivitt saw a UFO during his first spaceflight?
... that distance education in Chicago Public Schools in 1937 took place via radio broadcasts (pictured) during school closures that were spurred by a polio outbreak?
... that Bill Pinkney was the first African American to sail around the world solo via the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn?
... that Columbia Eneutseak (pictured), named for the World's Columbian Exposition where she was born into one of the exhibits, starred in her film The Way of the Eskimo?
... that Candace Brightman was the Grateful Dead's longtime lighting engineer?
... that Ava Cherry (pictured), David Bowie's partner and muse, spent a year searching for him in Europe after he cancelled a tour of Japan on which she was to be a backup singer?
... that a former owner of Illinois radio station WRBA carried an expired police badge to allow him to get to its transmitter site quickly if need be?
... that when Lurie Children's Hospital moved within Chicago to a new location in June 2012, it took more than 10 hours to transfer nearly 200 children?
... that when the fireman's pole was invented at Chicago's Engine Company 21, other firefighters thought its use was crazy—until 21 started being the first crew to arrive at fires?
... that the tugboat Robert C. Pringle (pictured) was discovered "remarkably intact" 86 years after it sank?
... that the cover of Red Meat Republic, a book on the history of beef production in the United States, has the look and texture of butcher paper?
... that although Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln never met, Whitman once wrote "I love the President personally"?
... that Joseildo da Silva beat Roy Dooney at the 1991 Chicago Marathon by six seconds in the slowest winning time for 10 years?
... that in the 1948 Illinois gubernatorial election, Adlai Stevenson II (pictured) won with a 572,067-vote margin of victory, a record at the time for Illinois gubernatorial elections?
... that pioneering Chicago abolitionist Mary Richardson Jones (pictured) helped hundreds of people escape slavery via the Underground Railroad?
... that the lake freighter Edward L. Ryerson (pictured) is not only the last steam-powered freighter built on the Great Lakes, but also the last built without a self-unloading boom?
... that City of Champaign v. Madigan was the first decision by an Illinois court addressing whether the private emails of government officials are subject to public disclosure?
... that in the 1930 United States Senate election in Illinois, Ruth Hanna McCormick (pictured) was the first woman ever nominated for the U.S. Senate by a major party?
... that Vine-Glo sold during Prohibition carried a warning telling people how to make wine from it, and Al Capone allegedly threatened to force it out of Chicago?
... that Walt Whitman called one of his lectures on Abraham Lincoln "the culminating hour" of his life?
... that in The Trouble With Gravity, Richard Panek suggests that our universe's gravity originates in a parallel universe and is leaking into our own?
... that Elaine Van Blunk finished third at the 1994 Chicago Marathon, her second marathon event?
... that Majestic Radios (model pictured) were so highly regarded in 1929 that the Graf Zeppelin's navigator bought one when his airship landed in the U.S. to take back to Germany?
... that Faith Smith, who grew up on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin, became the founding president of the first urban institute of higher learning led by and serving Native Americans?
... that one former monument to Ludwig van Beethoven was a bust (pictured) stolen from Lincoln Park?
... that in 825 feet (251 m) of water, the composite-hulled bulk carrier S.R. Kirby is one of the deepest shipwrecks ever discovered in the Great Lakes?
... that This American Life producer Sean Cole spoke with an affected British accent from age 14 to 16?
... that upon taking command of the Fourth United States Army at Fort Sheridan in 1989, James R. Hall (pictured) became the highest-ranking military officer in the Midwestern United States?
... that American fashion designer Michelle Smith created the dress chosen for Michelle Obama’s official portrait?
... that Ernest Hemingway watched the television adaptation of For Whom the Bell Tolls from a flea-bitten motel as the screenwriter held the "rabbit ears" for him?
... that in Public Access Opinion 16-006, the Illinois Attorney General ordered Chicago police officers to release their private emails about the police-involved murder of Laquan McDonald?
... that horn player Helen Kotas Hirsch began performing with the Woman's Symphony Orchestra of Chicago at the age of 14?
... that the Builders Building (pictured), originally built to house construction industries, would eventually be home to the Chicago Board of Education and later be renovated into a hotel?
... that on their display in Chicago in 1893, the vases of the Khalili Imperial Garniture (pictured) were described as "the largest examples of cloisonné enamel ever made"?
... that the producers of the 1990 film Home Alone were threatened with legal action by the French director of 3615 code Père Noël, who alleged that it was a remake of his film?
... that in 1963, a majority-black Loyola-Chicago team and an all-white Mississippi State team defied segregationists to play a historic college basketball game (pictured)?
... that the former seal of Zion, Illinois (pictured) was ruled unconstitutional because it contained the phrase "God reigns"?
... that Julia Azari has shown that U.S. presidents increasingly defend their legitimacy by claiming to have a political mandate?
... that Edward Ardolino sculpted and carved Art Deco architectural works including Rockefeller Chapel?
... that Quincy native Max C. Starkloff (pictured) used social distancing to fight the 1918 flu pandemic in St. Louis?
... that Richard J. Daley suffered his only electoral defeat when he ran for sheriff of Cook County in 1946?
... that the Holden Block (pictured) is the best-preserved example of Italianate architecture in Chicago's Near West Side?
... that no fungi or algae are listed as endangered or threatened by the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board?
... that Eugene W. Chafin (pictured), the Prohibition Party presidential candidate in 1908 and in 1912, had a brick thrown at him during the Springfield race riot?
... that Magnolia native Charles E. Mills had dual careers in banking and explosives?
... that Dorothy Doolittle, winner of the inaugural Chicago Marathon, was later an assistant coach for the U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympics?
... that at the party convention in the International Amphitheatre, John F. Kennedy came in second to Estes Kefauver in the 1956 Democratic vice-presidential ballot?
... that WCAE, the first educational television station in Indiana, received more support from viewers in Illinois than in its own state?
... that Chicago-based Nazi propagandist and Abwehr agent Oscar C. Pfaus (pictured) once served in the U.S. Army?
... that Ulysses S. Grant, known for his excellent horsemanship, bought his horse Jack, or "Old Nuisance", while encamped with the 21st Illinois Infantry Regiment?
... that Thomas Jefferson Vance Owen, the first school commissioner of Cook County, Illinois, and Chicago's first town president, was responsible for indirectly naming Grand Avenue?
... that James Thompson, who made the first plat of Chicago, declined an offer of land in the city in favor of $300?
... that Chelsea McClammer (pictured) was the youngest member of Team USA's track-and-field team at the 2008 Summer Paralympics?
... that Andre Dawson (pictured) is one of only five baseball players to hit two home runs in a single inning on two separate occasions?
... that former residents of Chicago's Aldine Square held a reunion at a hotel?
... that the director of The Feeling of Being Watched uncovered evidence of FBI surveillance of Arab-American families in her hometown of Bridgeview, Illinois?
... that John Moutoussamy is the only African-American to have designed a high-rise building—which featured "colorful walls and psychedelic carpets"—in the Chicago Loop?
... that the Northwestern Lumberman (pictured), known originally as the Lumbermen's Gazette, was the first trade magazine for the U.S. lumber industry?
... that after Ruth Darrow's son died from hemolytic disease of the newborn, she was inspired to study the disease, and became the first person to identify its cause?
... that adult apple maggot flies (pictured) use their wing patterns defensively to mimic spiders?
... that Harry Caray called his first Major League Baseball game on radio station WTMV in the Metro East area?
... that the murder of Chicago alderman Benjamin F. Lewis was considered unsolvable for having too many suspects?
... that the correct spelling of "liliifolia" in the name of the orchid Liparis liliifolia has been debated for decades?
... that the 56-story Essex on the Park (pictured) in the Chicago Loop was built on a former swimming pool?
... that Aurora postmaster George Bangs's cemetery memorial features a mail car (pictured), carved to scale, commemorating his leadership of the Railway Mail Service?
... that in 1979, fifteen-year-old Laura Michalek became the youngest athlete ever to win the Chicago Marathon?
... that a young woman who went missing in a Rosemont, Illinois, hotel was later found dead inside a walk-in freezer?
... that Edgecliff, an Illinois estate completed in 1930, had the highest residential property tax in Cook County in 2014 and 2015?
... that a book chapter by Clara Lanza about the women clerks of New York was published as a souvenir of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair?
... that Narcissa Niblack Thorne commissioned approximately 100 miniature rooms replicating historical interiors from Europe and North America on a 1:12 scale (detail of chandelier pictured)?
... that Bill "Maverick" Golden drove the Little Red Wagon, drag racing's first wheelstander?
... that for his role in the Holocaust, Adolf Eichmann was described as a desk murderer by Hannah Arendt?
... that Joan L. Mitchell co-invented JPEG?
... that Chicago alderman Dorsey Crowe survived falling 800 feet (240 m) from a plane and being thrown through the roof of a car?
... that the spot-winged glider (pictured) is a migratory dragonfly?
... that in 2017, Renee Rabinowitz successfully sued El Al after the airline forced her to move at the request of a Haredi Jewish man who refused to sit beside her?
... that Sam Hornish Jr. of Panther Racing won the 2002 Delphi Indy 300 by 0.0024 seconds, the closest margin of victory in Indy Racing League history?
... that University of Chicago surgeon Dallas B. Phemister created a bone grafting technique which now bears his name (pictured)?
... that Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 song "It Came Out of the Sky" describes a mysterious object falling near Moline, Illinois?
... that Chicago pediatrician Frank Spooner Churchill (pictured) believed that breast milk could be spoiled if the mother was anxious?
... that paper wheels (pictured) provided a quiet and smooth ride in Pullman dining and sleeping cars?
... that the first NCAA Basketball Championship Game at Northwestern's Patten Gymnasium was attended by James Naismith, the inventor of basketball?
... that if completed, the proposed 1,422-foot (433 m) Tribune East Tower would be the second tallest building in Chicago, behind the Willis Tower?
... that Slovene-American Katka Zupančič (pictured) wrote children's poetry about the austerity of immigrant life?
... that before the reversal of Times Film Corporation v. City of Chicago in 1965, U.S. states and municipalities could legally censor films?
... that Marco Mena, the governor-elect of Tlaxcala, was the first Mexican to pursue a master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago?
... that Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner became a plural wife to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young at the Nauvoo Temple?
... that Chicago Justice's backdoor pilot from Chicago P.D. was based on a true story?
... that bolete mushrooms of the genus Chalciporus, such as C. pseudorubinellus (pictured), are thought to be parasitic?
... that Dwight L. Bush, Sr. was a banker, a bundler, and a businessman before serving as an ambassador?
... that Emily Temple-Wood (pictured) says she will create a Wikipedia article about a woman scientist for every harassing email she receives?
... that an album recorded at Guitar Center was named after a line from the film Wayne's World?
... that the Kankakee mallow is known from a single 700 m (0.4 mi) long island in the Kankakee River?
... that President Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to conduct a Passover Seder in the White House (pictured), which he has done annually since 2009?
... that by the end of her life, Gerri Major held joint positions as an editor at both Ebony and Jet?
... that Dr. George Fell, a pioneer of life-saving mechanical respiration techniques in the 1880s, also had a role in designing the first electric chair used for an execution?
... that pitcher Ned Garvin (pictured) was fined US$100 and released by the Chicago White Stockings in 1902 after he shot a bar owner and pistol-whipped a policeman?
... that during the start up of Chicago Pile-1, Norman Hilberry (pictured, on left) stood ready with an ax to cut the scram line?
... that Robert Parish's 1996–97 season with the Chicago Bulls allowed him to break the record for most NBA seasons played?
... that Doris Calloway studied farts, space food, and broccoli?
... that the 113 East Roosevelt development will host the tallest building in the South Side of Chicago?
...that the Shadows of Knight (pictured), an early garage rock band from Mount Prospect, were influenced by Chicago blues and the Rolling Stones?
... that Chicago's 1000 South Michigan is a supertall skyscraper planned to rise to over 1,000 feet (300 m), even though it is in a historic district zoned for buildings up to 425 feet (130 m)?
... that Louise Hay (pictured) was the only woman to direct a math department at a major research university in her era?
... that despite being ranked 158th out of 164 in his West Point class, A. Arnim White (pictured) still managed to reach the rank of major general?
... that prior to the 2015–16 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame named 14 players to its preseason watch lists?
... that biological anthropologist David Tab Rasmussen (pictured) of Edwardsville enjoyed working in the Neotropics because it allowed him to study both primates and birds, his two favorite subjects?
... that Playboy magazine's lavishly designed and illustrated Little Annie Fanny (1962–1988) began as a male character?
... that Martha E. Sloan of Aurora was the first female president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers?
... that the 1922 Princeton vs. Chicago football game, won by Princeton's "Team of Destiny", was the first to be nationally broadcast on radio?
... that Harley A. Wilhelm, a chemistry professor who worked on the Manhattan Project, was one of 80 players selected in 2006 as part of Drake University's all-decade basketball teams?
... that gadgets (rotary evaporator pictured) used by Moto's chef Homaro Cantu include a class IV laser, a centrifuge, and a hand-held ion particle gun?
... that an investigation into the case of Juan Rivera uncovered proof of evidence tampering when his shoes, which had the victim's blood on them, also bore DNA from the real killer?
... that in The Machine Question, David Gunkel of NIU argues that the other minds problem implies that a proper understanding of consciousness is impossible?
... that the d-CON founder Lee Ratner (pictured) started Florida's first planned community, created a mail-order computer programming class, and was involved in oil exploration?
... that the 1995 All-Big Ten Conference football team included two Heisman Trophy winners and a future head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats?
... that Rockford DJ Neal Howard's debut EP contained mixes by Bad Boy Bill, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson?
... that Alex Behring, slated to become chairman of the newly merged Kraft Heinz Company, has a BS degree in electrical engineering?
... that unusual dishes at Moto have included edible menus, "inside out bread", carbonated fruit, and experiments with levitating food?
... that Time Crash of Chicago claims to be the first Time Lord rock band in the United States?
... that Illinois schoolteacher Abbie Lathrop's mouse number 57 was the origin of the C57BL/6 laboratory mouse (pictured)?
... that eight months after launch, d-CON was selling US$100,000-worth of rat poison per week, a feat that was called "as brilliant a record for a new product as you're likely to find anywhere, anytime"?
... that the recently-designated Pullman National Monument (building pictured) is the first unit of the National Park Service in Chicago?
... that the Nobel laureate James Rainwater collapsed after a lecture but a student revived him via CPR?
... that triple amputee Bryan Anderson credits his smoking habit with saving his right hand?
... that the book Three Came Home by Oak Park native Agnes Newton Keith was made into a film featuring Claudette Colbert?
... that despite having "little film-industry credibility", Brenda Sexton increased filmmaking-related spending in Illinois by 147 percent in her first year at the Illinois Film Office?
... that basketball coach Jason Rabedeaux of Aurora died the day after winning a game with the Saigon Heat?
... that William Fithian, an Illinois State Senator and Civil War Provost Marshal, practiced medicine well into his late eighties?
... that Abraham Lincoln defended a slave-owner against a slave family during the Matson Trial?
... that Great Depression-era economist and Northwestern alumnus E. Wight Bakke (pictured) focused on the social and psychological aspects of unemployment in addition to the economic ones?
... that the blue-fronted dancer damselfly (pictured) is not always blue?
... that while playing for the Marlins, future Cub Bret Barberie missed a game after getting chili pepper juice in his eye?
... that President Warren G. Harding appointed Louise DeKoven Bowen to represent the United States at the 1922 Pan-American Conference of Women?
... that feminist artists invented the WEB in 1971?
... that Arizona Territorial Justice John H. Campbell of Tuscola married the widow of his law partner and fellow Associate Justice, Frederick S. Nave?
... that ornithologist Robert Ridgway (artwork pictured) consulted with inventor Milton Bradley and Smithsonian head Samuel Pierpont Langley to create a new dictionary of color names for naturalists?
... that Naomi Sager helped develop the first computer program to parse English?
... that George Weil withdrew the control rod from Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor, initiating the first man-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction?
... that advertising executive Jane Trahey persuaded Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, and Judy Garland to pose for an ad campaign, giving them each a mink coat as payment?
... that Sinah Estelle Kelley helped mass-produce penicillin in Peoria for the U.S. Department of Agriculture following the Second World War?
... that physicist Warren Elliot Henry (pictured) learned quantum mechanics from Arthur Compton, nuclear theory from Wolfgang Pauli, and molecular spectra from Robert Millikan—and played tennis with Enrico Fermi?
... that the first woman elected to the Geological Society of America, Rockfordian Mary Emilie Holmes, was also one of the cofounders of a historically black college?
... that the heroic antislavery painting The Captive Slave (pictured) was not seen in public for 180 years before its acquisition by the Art Institute?
... that Jerry Lester was the host of the first successful network late-night television show, Broadway Open House?
... that film producer and Art Institute graduate Anne Rosellini wrote her first screenplay because "I didn't have the money to hire a writer, so I just decided to do it myself"?
... that God's Choice was the fruit of a late-1970s 18-month ethnographic study of a 350-student Christian fundamentalist Baptist K–12 day school in Illinois?
... that the 2015 McDonald's All-American Boys Game is the 38th annual McDonald's All-American Game and 5th consecutive at Chicago's United Center?
... that SpotHero is a mobile app that allows motorists to reserve parking spaces at a discount?
... that the 1880 Greenback National Convention (building pictured) nominated James B. Weaver for President of the United States and passed a resolution supporting women's suffrage?
... that the Northwestern Wildcats field hockey team (pictured) won four of its six Big Ten regular-season titles in the 1980s under head coach Nancy Stevens?
... that prior to becoming Kraft Foods' chief executive officer, Tony Vernon worked for Johnson & Johnson for over two decades?
... that in 2012, French film composer Alexandre Desplat received three nominations for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score?
... that Cubs coach Dave Martinez played for four Major League Baseball teams during the 2000 season, tying a record?
... that the stop-time musical phrase from Muddy Waters' (pictured) Chicago blues standard "Hoochie Coochie Man" was later used in pop songs and film scores?
... that Jesse K. Dubois complained that Abraham Lincoln "has for 30 years past just used me as a plaything to accomplish his own ends"?
... that 21st-century economic migration of Poles is comparable in size to the century-old migration of Poles to the United States?
... that Joseph Gillespie jumped out of a State Capitol window with Abraham Lincoln?
... that the murder of Atcel Olmedo in DuPage County remains unsolved because the suspects have never been located?
... that the Harriet F. Rees House (pictured) in Chicago was recently moved one block north to make room for a basketball stadium and a 1,200-room hotel?
... that Abraham Lincoln encouraged physician Robert Boal (pictured) to run as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives?
...that all Turboliners based out of Chicago were pulled from service in 1981?
... that anti-Greek riots occurred in Chicago in 1904?
... that John A. Kennicott, the founder of Kennicott Grove in Glenview (pictured), gave free scions of his plants to interested nurserymen?
... that the Chicago Fire of 1874 led to the reorganizing of the city's fire department along military lines?
... that Cubs outfielder Jacob Hannemann is a cousin of Mufi Hannemann, the former Mayor of Honolulu?
... that following the 2014–15 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, CBS will broadcast the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament for the 18th consecutive year?
... that while testifying in a 2004 lawsuit involving the meaning of the word steakburger (pictured), a corporate CEO was grilled on the witness stand?
... that before he was Illinois Secretary of State, George H. Harlow was personal secretary to Governor Richard J. Oglesby?
... that Trib columnist and "Father of Logology" Dmitri Borgmann earned $10,000 for coining the name Exxon, making him (at $2000 per letter) the world's highest-paid writer?
... that when Walter Zinn attempted to demonstrate the safety of the boiling water reactor in the BORAX Experiments for Argonne National Laboratory, things did not go according to plan?
... that if built as planned, the Old Chicago Main Post Office Twin Towers (pictured) will be the tallest building in North America?
... that the podcast Serial, a spinoff of WBEZ's This American Life, was number one on the iTunes Store even before it debuted?
... that in World War II, Chicagoan Zenon B. Lukosius and his crew mates captured the U-505 submarine (pictured), which had an important German code book on board?
... that John Messinger, the first Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, helped to set the state line between Illinois and Wisconsin?
... that University of Illinois professor Tami Bond (pictured), known for her study of black carbon, became interested in engineering after her car broke down?
... that bowfins, which live in the Great Lakes, can survive up to five days' exposure to air because they can breathe both air and water?
... that the horror novel Something Wicked This Way Comes was inspired by Ray Bradbury's childhood encounter with a carnival magician visiting Waukegan?
... that motorists driving past Resurrection Cemetery (pictured) in Justice have reported stories of Resurrection Mary since the 1930s?
... that reports of the Enfield Monster were used as a case study for a paper on social contagion?
... that the Watseka Wonder, the alleged spiritual possession of Lurancy Vennum (pictured) of Watseka, was called "the most remarkable case of spirit return and manifestation ever recorded in history"?
... that on November 7, 2006, twelve employees at O'Hare International Airport witnessed a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Gate C-17?
... that students in EIU's Pemberton Hall claim that the fourth floor is haunted by the dormitory's first matron?
... that the name of the piasa (pictured) may be derived from the Miami-Illinois name for small, supernatural dwarves said to attack travelers?
... that Ashmore Estates in Coles County, an abandoned almshouse and private psychiatric care facility, has been open for tours since 2006?
... that Illinois State Senator Lorenzo D. Whiting was the father of journalist Lilian Whiting?
... that although he was the leading Democratic candidate for most of the 1885 U.S. Senate election in Illinois, William Ralls Morrison only received one vote on the legislature's final ballot?
... that the 1971 Salem, Illinois derailment (pictured) was Amtrak's first fatal accident?
... that the bio-hacker and Art Institute instructor Heather Dewey-Hagborg collects discarded hair, gum, and cigarette butts, sequences the DNA, and turns it into a 3-D sculpture?
... that the physicist Edward Creutz, who helped develop Chicago Pile-1, later published a paper on a rare flower found only on the island of Raiatea in French Polynesia?
... that in the Bellevue War, Iowa Territory politician Thomas Cox led a posse of several former fellow Black Hawk War veterans from Galena?
... that John Calhoun, publisher of the first newspaper in Chicago, was originally apprenticed to be a carpenter in Watertown, New York?
... that a Strati (pictured), the world's first 3D-printed electric car, was printed in 44 hours in McCormick Place?
... that the Chicago-born trans woman activist Miss Major (pictured) was meeting with her girlfriend at the Stonewall Inn during the police raid that precipitated the Stonewall riot?
... that U of C alumnus Darol Froman was the scientific director of the Operation Sandstone nuclear tests at Enewetak Atoll in 1948?
... that the Illinois Terminal Railroad's Streamliners (pictured) were the last interurbans built in the United States?
...... that the composition "Abraham Lincoln, what would you do?" was intended to build support for U.S. involvement in World War I?
... that the physician Conrad Will is the namesake of Will County, Illinois?
... that Susan Leeman was the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences in physiology and pharmacology?
... that aviator John Robinson (pictured), initially a janitor at his aviation school in Chicago, later opened his own school in Robbins, Illinois?
... that the Illinois Central Railroad's Seminole Limited was the first passenger train to provide year-round service between Chicago and Jacksonville, Florida?
... that Marshall Field and Levi Leiter, co-founders of Marshall Field & Co., were both once partners with John V. Farwell at John V. Farwell & Co.?
... that on its 1856 opening, the Illinois Central Railroad's Great Central Station was the largest building in Chicago?
... that the documentary film Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan begins with a horse standing alone in an empty Chicago street?
... that over 210,000 tickets were sold in the 1867 lottery in which Chicago's Crosby's Opera House (pictured) was one of the prizes?
... that the Meadowlark (pictured) was the last Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad passenger train to serve Southern Illinois?
... that Prospect Group's purchase of Illinois Central Railroad in 1989 was part of a plan devised by Edward L. Moyers to return the railroad to profitability?
...that between 1923 and 1969, the official language of Illinois was "American"?
...that the 1911 kidnapping and murder of Elsie Paroubek inspired Henry Darger's 15,000-page fantasy novel The Story of the Vivian Girls, in the Realms of the Unreal?
...that the staircases of the Monadnock Building (pictured), built in 1893, were the first structural use of aluminum in construction?
...that when it was first created, Edwards County, Illinois extended north to Lake Superior? (pictured)
...that Crow Island School in Winnetka is the home of Sebastian Hinton's second prototype jungle gym?
...that the Illinois High School Association was one of the last high school athletic associations in America to retain a one-class competition system, grouping all schools together regardless of size?
...that the Park Grill is the only full-service restaurant in Millennium Park?
...that the Robert Weber Round Barn is one of 31 round barns constructed in a four county area centered on Stephenson County, Illinois?
...that the former Schiller Piano Factory (pictured) in Oregon, Illinois has been a shopping center since 1975?
...that William W. Powers State Recreation Area's Wolf Lake co-hosted a BioBlitz by over 150 scientists who unofficially counted 1,815 species in a day?
...that there are fords at Illinois' White Pines Forest State Park (crossing pictured) allowing visitors to drive through the stream?
...that Frank Lloyd Wright's design for the Francis J. Woolley House was influenced by his first teacher, Joseph Silsbee, and the Arts and Crafts movement?
...that Roseland Christian School changed from a completely Dutch-American student body in 1884 to a completely African American one by the mid 1980s?
...that the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb, Illinois is purportedly haunted by ghosts?
...that two officers have quit their jobs over purported paranormal activity at George Stickney House, home to the Bull Valley, Illinois Police Department?
...that the Illinois Senate passed a resolution confirming Metropolis, Illinois as the "Hometown of Superman"?
...that the original capitol of Illinois was Kaskaskia, which is now a ghost town west of the Mississippi River?
...that the Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic is the largest African American parade in the United States?
...that the Arts Club of Chicago arose from the success of the Art Institute of Chicago's handling of the Chicago showing of the Armory Show?
...the Art Institute of Chicago Building was co-financed by the financiers of the World's Columbian Exposition, which occupied the building for its first six months?
...that Chicago's Crown Fountain (pictured) displays LED images of faces, which typically create the illusion of puckered lips spouting water?
...that 2006 Winter Olympics speedskating champion, Shani Davis', welcome-home celebration was held at the Harold Washington Cultural Center?
...that the Historic Michigan Boulevard District came to be one of the most famous one-sided streets as a result of the legal persistence of Aaron Montgomery Ward?
...that the preservation movement that resulted in the Chicago Landmark designation began with the 1957 adoption of the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House?
...the AT&T Corporate Center is the tallest building built in Chicago in the last quarter of the 20th century?
...that Meigs Field in Chicago, Illinois, sits on the site of Burnham Park (pictured), which was a serious contender to host the United Nations Headquarters?
...that Ronald Reagan announced his engagement to his first wife, Jane Wyman, at the Chicago Theatre (pictured)?
...that 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, the address of the Chicago Board of Trade Building, has been the address of two different buildings that at one point was the tallest building in Chicago?