Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States with the abbreviation of IL. Illinois became the 21 state on December 3, 1818, which makes the state 205 years old, as of December, 2023. The name Illinois came from the Illini word for men or warriors, with the addition of the French adjective ending -ois.
Illinois is the 25th largest state and the 6th most populous. The capital of Illinois is Springfield; the state’s demonym is Illinoisan. Illinois is bordered by Lake Michigan and the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan (over water).
The motto of the state of Illinois is State Sovereignty, National Union.
The nickname of Illinois is the Prairie State, which refers to vast prairies that used to extend across a large portion of the state.
The landscape of Illinois is covered in fertile plains and rolling hills, but the northwestern corner of the state is part of a region known as the Driftless Area, which is characterized by its ridges, ravines, forests, deep river valleys, steep hills and karst geology.
Illinois is known as the land of Lincoln, it is also known for deep dish pizza and Chicago style hot dogs, for opening the first McDonald’s, and for producing more pumpkins than any other state. Illinois possess metal ores such as galena, sphalerite, and pyrite (also known as fool’s gold), which contain lead, zinc, and iron, respectively.
On August 15, 1959, Scott Altman was born in Lincoln, Illinois. After being rejected by the Air Force for being too tall, Altman enlisted in the Navy as a fighter pilot; he was later selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in late 1994. Altman completed four Space Transport System (STS) flights: STS-90, STS-106, STS-109, and STS-125. During his space flights, Altman helped prepare the International Space Station for its permanent crew and he helped service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
A woman by the name of Josephine Cochrane was frustrated after an event when she discovered that her servants had chipped some of her porcelain dishes while washing them. She was determined to wash all of her dishes on her own to protect them from being damaged, however, she soon realized how much she hated the work of washing so many dishes. Cochrane thought that somebody should have invented a machine to do the work of washing dishes, so she decided to invent the machine herself. In 1886, she received a patent for her hand powered dishwasher, which she developed with the assistance of George Butters in her tool shed in Shelbyville, Illinois.
The Illinois campaign occurred in Illinois Country, which is now the states of Illinois and Indiana, from July 1778 until February 1779. The campaign was part of the Revolutionary War; it resulted in an American victory and the capture of British leaders Henry Hamilton and Rocheblave. The United States also formed Illinois County, Virginia, after occupying Illinois Country.
An Interesting fact about Illinois is that the city of Aurora, Illinois, became the first city in the United States to use electric street lights throughout the entire city.
A Strange fact about Illinois is that it is apparently illegal in Chicago to eat inside a burning building. Next time you find yourself eating inside a building in Chicago, you better check the building to make sure it is not burning.
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Source: Origins of State Names
Source: Demonyms for US States
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