It came from the future: Tevatron. The villain in the new Michael Bay feature? Actually, the world’s largest particle accelerator once it opened in 1983. But to get there, the giant […]
Tag: 200 Years of Illinois
200 Years of Illinois: The half-eaten bison sandwich of Richard M. Nixon
September 22 is an auspicious date in Illinois history. As this post recounts, boxing history took place on the date. Willie Nelson took time out from his 1985 to team […]
200 Years of Illinois: They Haunt By Night
Forget Halloween. August is the time for monster mashing in Illinois. One peruse of the state’s long history of monster sightings shows that warm summer nights bring the cryptids out […]
200 Years of Illinois: Golden Nature Guides
Born on July 12, 1909, Herbert S. Zim taught at the University of Illinois in the 1950s. It was during his years in Champaign-Urbana that Zim penned or cowrote several of […]
200 Years of Illinois: Cosmic Fireworks
On July 4, 1054, an extraordinary event attracted the attention of peoples around the world. A supernova appeared in the constellation Taurus. This guest star, to use a Chinese term, suddenly […]
200 Years of Illinois: Eads and elephants
The Eads Bridge, named for its designer/builder James B. Eads, materialized in 1874 amidst a blizzard of superlatives. At 6,442 feet, it was the largest arch bridge on earth, and the […]
200 Years of Illinois: The Elwood Ordnance Plant explosion
On June 5, 1942, the Herald-News in Joliet reported on one of the deadliest industrial accidents in state history: the explosion at the Elwood Ordnance Plant. At 2:41 a.m., an explosion […]
200 Years of Illinois: Get your same-sex marriage license
We’re a day late with this bit of recognition, but here goes. On June 1, 2014, a same sex marriage law passed the previous fall went into effect across the […]
200 Years of Illinois: Cal Coolidge, controversy, and Cairo
The 1927 Mississippi River flood disaster had a far-reaching social impact, inspired timeless music, influenced policy that includes what happened during Hurricane Katrina, and received its due in at least one […]
200 Years of Illinois: Starved Rock’s historic lodge
On May 8, 1985, the National Register of Historic Places anointed the famous Starved Rock Lodge and its nearby cabins. Once known as a vacation hotspot with a hotel and […]
200 Years of Illinois: Dutch windmill
On May 5, 2001, the village of Fulton officially opened the majestic De Immigrant, the 100-foot tall Dutch windmill overlooking the Mississippi River. Built in the Netherlands and reconstructed piece-by-piece […]
200 Years of Illinois: Scott Field and the Balloon Man
On May 4, 1927, balloonist Hawthorne C. Gray, a captain in the Army Air Corps, reached new heights in human endeavor. Literally. Taking off from Scott Field near Belleville, Gray […]