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  #  Entered Union  Year Settled 21st       Dec. 3, 1818        1720  Nickname Land of Lincoln  Rank     Population 5th         12,901,563  Rank     Square Miles 25th      57,914  State Bird  State Flower  State Tree  State Motto State sovereignty, national union The state of Illinois entered the Union on December 3, 1818. The 21st state takes its name from Native American tribes of the area. In Algonquian, "Illinois" means "tribe of superior men."  Illinois can boast of many outstanding citizens in its long history, going back to a sophisticated, prehistoric society in the southwestern part of the state that had developed limited agriculture. The French claimed, explored, and settled Illinois in the 1600s. They passed the Illinois Territory onto Great Britain in 1763, and in 1783, the United States acquired the land. Nicknamed "Land of Lincoln," the state is very proud of its famous son, Abraham Lincoln, who came to Illinois in 1830.  After playing a major role in moving the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield, Lincoln married socially prominent resident Mary Todd, and settled into his new home to practice law and build a political career that would bring him the presidency in 1861. Lincoln was not the only famous citizen of Illinois.  The city of Chicago became one of the three largest cities in the U.S. because inventors such as John Deere, with his steel plow, and Cyrus Hall McCormick, with his wheat reaper, set up manufacturing plants in the "Windy City." Rand McNally of Chicago became the world's largest mapmaking company by 1880.  Illinois, particularly Chicago, has many "firsts" and "biggests," like Sears Tower, the tallest building in the United States, and African American Daniel Hale Williams, who performed the first open-heart surgery in 1893. He also helped found Provident Hospital in Chicago in 1891 as an interracial institution where black doctors and nurses, denied access to white institutions, could receive medical training, and where members of Chicago's growing black community could receive care.  What other famous events happened in Chicago? What other people do you know from the great state of Illinois? Named for the Illinois Indians, Illinois became the 21st state in 1818. Known as the “Prairie State, Land of Lincoln.†Its capital is Springfield, which is the home of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Illinois is the fifth most populous state in the union.  "Abraham Lincoln his hand and pen he will be good but [God] knows When"  These are the words Lincoln wrote in his schoolbook when he was a young boy. In his autobiography, Lincoln estimated that his time in school totaled one year. His teachers in the pioneer schools in Indiana didn't have any arithmetic textbooks, so Lincoln found some paper, which was hard to come by, tied it together, and created his own "sum book."  Even though Lincoln had very little formal education, he loved to read, and neighbors remembered how he would walk for miles to borrow a book. Some of his favorite books included Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, and Aesop's Fables. How far would you go to borrow a book?  Lincoln's childhood was rough. His mother died when he was nine and his family moved several times; from Kentucky, where he was born, to Indiana, and then on to Illinois in his early 20s.  After he arrived in Illinois, he had no interest in being a farmer and instead started splitting rails and clearing his father's farm. Then he enlisted in the Black Hawk War (a fight to move the Indians westward) as a volunteer. He was elected to lead his company of soldiers. He later admitted that this gave him more satisfaction than any election he had ever won. After the Black Hawk War, Lincoln did a number of different things. Do you know what some of them were?  Lincoln worked on a riverboat, ran a store, and thought about becoming a blacksmith. Instead, he decided to study law and started his own successful law practice. He also served in both the Illinois and U.S. legislatures.  Lincoln was not successful at everything he attempted. He lost several law cases, was passed over as the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, and in 1858 when he ran for the U.S. Senate against Stephen Douglas, he lost. But he didn't let these defeats stop him. In 1860, Lincoln ran for president and won.  If you woke up and your house was on fire, what would you take with you before getting out? You might be surprised at some of the things you might grab in the middle of the night.  On October 8, 1871, a huge fire started near Chicago's downtown area and burned four square miles to the ground before it was extinguished. The blaze burned homes and shops and left 300 people dead and 500,000 people homeless. As the fire spread, people ran out of their homes, taking with them whatever they could grab. One woman carried a big frame that held her wedding veil, while another carried a pot of soup!  Can you imagine how a cow could set such a huge fire? No one is sure how the Chicago blaze began, but one eyewitness saw the first flames leaping out of Mr. And Mrs. O'Leary's barn. Rumor, and now legend, has it that their cow kicked over an oil lamp, setting straw on fire. Mrs. O'Leary's cow may well be the most infamous cow in American history!  Firefighters brought the fire under control the next day, on October 9, 1871, but only with the help of a rainstorm. It had been unusually warm and dry that year, and the city's wood buildings burned like matches until finally the rain came down.  One Chicago resident described jumping out of bed as the fire approached. "Everybody in the house was trying to save as much as possible. I tied my clothes in a sheet. With my clothes under my arm and my pack on my back, I left the house with the rest of the family.  Everybody was running north. People were carrying all kinds of crazy things . . . cats, dogs and goats. In the great excitement people saved worthless things and left behind good things." It's easy to panic and not think clearly in a fire. Most possessions can be replaced, so it is very important to leave a burning building as quickly as possible. |
