Illinois Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

Looking for Illinois trivia? Try our list Illinois little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Father of Ecology Henry Chandler Cowles, a botanist at the University of Chicago, studied changes in plants in the late 1800s at what now is Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near Porter, Ind. (pop. 4,972).

first appeared: 9/14/2003

Founded by German immigrant Jacob Maeys in 1852, Maeystown (pop. 148) still resembles a 19th-century village with 60 historic buildings, including Maeys’ log house, a mill, and a one-lane stone bridge. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward established a Chicago mail-order business and sent out a single-sheet price list with ordering instructions. By 1904, his Montgomery Ward catalog weighed 4 pounds and 3 million copies were being mailed.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

About 40 white deer roam the preserve at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. The fallow deer, a light-colored species native to North Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia, sprang from an estate owner’s imported herd.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

“Mr. Checkers” Richard Fortman, renowned checkers analyst and author of Basic Checkers, was born in 1915 in Springfield.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

Built as a stagecoach stop in 1841, the Archer House in Marshall (pop. 3,771) is the state’s oldest hotel.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

Volo Bog State Natural Area at Ingleside preserves the state’s only quaking bog with an open water center. Formed during ancient glacier activity, the once 50-acre lake is covered with a floating mat of unstable vegetation that “quakes” when walked upon.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

Archaeologists found remnants of a 1,200-year-old village and keyhole-shaped house last April near Damiansville (pop. 368).

first appeared: 7/27/2003

Jim and Marian Jordan of Peoria starred on Fibber McGee and Molly, a popular radio comedy show broadcast from 1935 to 1959.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

A memorial in Moweaqua (pop. 1,923) honors 54 coal miners killed in a mine explosion there on Dec. 24, 1932.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

Lombard (pop. 42,322) boasts 35 all-steel Lustron prefab homes built after World War II for returning servicemen. About 2,500 Lustrons were sold nationwide.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Created in 1928 at the Leland Hotel in Springfield, the Horseshoe is the city’s signature sandwich. The original: toasted bread, ham steak, cheese sauce, and upright French fries to look like nails in a horseshoe.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

Mark Samp of Peoria caught the state’s record smallmouth bass—6 pounds, 7 ounces—in a strip-mined lake in Fulton County (pop. 38,250) in 1985. The live bass entertained at a city sports show before visiting the taxidermist.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

Kewanee (pop. 12,944) sprang up in 1854 alongside the Central Military Tract Railroad. Settlers wanted to name the town after railroad engineer Colonel Berrien, but he suggested Kewanee, a Winnebago Indian word for “prairie chicken.”

first appeared: 6/15/2003

James Frank Duryea, born in 1869 in Washburn (pop. 1,147), sputtered across 50 miles in nine hours to win America’s first automobile race, sponsored by the Chicago Times-Herald in 1895.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

Fulton (pop. 3,881) paraded its Dutch heritage in May with a Wooden Shoe Walk—34 giant decorated wooden shoes placed around town. The 150-pound shoes will be displayed through October.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

Founded in 1884 by a visiting Scotsman, the Waltham Curling Club in Triumph near Troy Grove (pop. 305) is the state’s oldest curling club. Curling is played on ice with stones slid toward a target circle with brooms.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

Founded in 1904, Belleville Shoe Manufacturing Co. in Belleville (pop. 41,410) is the nation’s oldest manufacturer of government-specification military boots.

first appeared: 5/18/2003

Author Clarence Mulford, born in 1883 in Streator (pop. 14,190), lassoed childhood memories of playing cowboys and Indians to create his best-known character, Hopalong Cassidy.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

Founder of the women’s liberation movement, Betty Friedan, was born in 1921 in Peoria. Her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, protested that society pressured women into being housewives only.

first appeared: 5/4/2003

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