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A
Chronology of Illinois History
By Janice A. Petterchak
A
century ago, as the United States advanced from an agrarian to an industrial
nation, one historian described Illinois as having a more significant
history than any other state "west of the Alleghenies." Throughout the
twentieth century, Illinois has sustained that prominence—in subject
areas that encompass agriculture, architecture, the arts, business and
labor, communications, education, government and politics, medicine
and science, the military, recreation and sports, religion, social reform,
and transportation.
A Chronology of Illinois
History is reprinted with permission
from:
Illinois History:
An Annotated Bibliography
BC:
10,000 8000
500
AD:
900
1673 1675
1703 1730
1763 1778 1800
1825 1850
1876 1900
1925 1950
1974 1999
| 10,000
BC-
8000
BC |
Paleo
Indians roam the area, briefly occupying small camps in coniferous
forests and subsisting on large game and wild plants. |
| 8000
BC-
500
BC |
Archaic
period Indians inhabit deciduous forests in small groups, hunt
deer and small game, weave baskets, and grind seeds with stones. |
| 500
BC-
AD
900 |
Woodland
culture Indians develop maize agriculture, build villages and
burial mounds, invent the bow and arrow for hunting, and begin
making pottery. |
| 900-
1500 |
Indians
of the Mississippian culture improve agricultural methods, build
temple mounds and large fortified villages. Most of the settlements
are abandoned prior to the historic period. |
| 1673 |
French
explorers Jacques Marquette (1637-1675) and Louis Jolliet (1645-1700)
descend the Mississippi to the Arkansas River and return to Wisconsin
via the Illinois River—the first Europeans to reach the Illinois
country. |
| 1675 |
Marquette
founds a mission at the Great Village of the Illinois, near present
Utica. |
| 1680 |
French
traders René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687)
and Henry de Tonty (1650-1704) build Fort Crèvecoeur on
the Illinois River, near present Peoria. |
| |
Iroquois
Indians destroy the Great Village of the Illinois. |
| 1682 |
La
Salle and Tonty build Fort St. Louis across the Illinois River
from the Great Village of the Illinois site. |
| 1696 |
Jesuit
priest Pierre François Pinet (1660-1704?) establishes the
Guardian Angel mission at present Chicago. |
| 1699 |
Priests
of the Quebec Seminary of Foreign Missions found the Holy Family
mission at Cahokia, the first permanent settlement in the Illinois
country. |
| 1703 |
Jesuit
priest Gabriel Marest (1662-1714) moves the Immaculate Conception
mission from present St. Louis to Kaskaskia. |
| 1717 |
Illinois
becomes part of the French colony of Louisiana. |
| 1718 |
John
Law (1671-1729) is granted a French charter for colonizing the
Mississippi Valley; his "Mississippi Bubble" scheme bursts in
1720. |
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| 1720 |
Fort
de Chartres in Randolph County becomes the seat of military and
civilian government in Illinois. |
| 1730 |
In
a major battle, hostile Fox Indians are massacred in east-central
Illinois by French troops and Indian allies. |
| 1763 |
French
and Indian (Seven Years’) War ends; Illinois country is ceded
to Britain by the Treaty of Paris. |
| 1769 |
According
to legend, northern tribes besiege and starve Illinois Indians
tribes at Fort St. Louis, now known as Starved Rock. |
| 1778 |
George
Rogers Clark (1752-1818) defeats the British at Kaskaskia, securing
the Illinois country for Virginia. |
| 1779 |
Jean
Baptiste Point du Sable (1745?-1818) establishes a trading post
at present Chicago. |
| 1783 |
Treaty
of Paris extends the United States boundary to include the Illinois
country. |
| 1784 |
Virginia
relinquishes its claim to Illinois. |
| 1787 |
Northwest
Ordinance places Illinois in the Northwest Territory. |
| 1788 |
Arthur
St. Clair (1734-1818) becomes the first governor of the Northwest
Territory. |
| 1800 |
Congress
creates the Indiana Territory, which includes Illinois. |
| 1803 |
Kaskaskia
Indians cede nearly all of their Illinois lands to the United
States. |
| |
United
States Army establishes Fort Dearborn at present Chicago. |
| 1804 |
William
Clark (1770-1838) and his troops depart from Camp Dubois, Madison
County, to join Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) for westward explorations. |
| 1809 |
Congress
organizes the Illinois Territory, with Kaskaskia the capital,
Ninian Edwards (1775-1833) the governor. |
| 1811 |
The
first coal mine in Illinois is opened in Jackson County. |
| |
New
Madrid, Missouri, earthquake, the largest in United States history,
damages southern Illinois (recurs in 1812). |
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| 1812 |
Potawatomi
Indians massacre fifty-two troops and civilians in destroying
Fort Dearborn. |
| 1813 |
Land
offices are opened at Kaskaskia and Shawneetown. |
| 1814 |
The
first newspaper in the state, the Illinois Herald, is published
at Kaskaskia. |
| 1816 |
Fort
Armstrong is built at Rock Island, and Fort Dearborn is rebuilt
at Chicago. |
| |
The
first bank in Illinois, at Shawneetown, is chartered by the territorial
legislature. |
| 1817 |
Morris
Birkbeck (1764-1825) and George Flower (1780-1862) establish an
English settlement at Albion. |
| |
War
of 1812 veterans begin receiving 160-acre land warrants in the
Illinois Military Tract, a region between the Illinois and Mississippi
rivers. |
| 1818 |
Illinois
becomes the twenty-first state, with Kaskaskia the capital and
Shadrach Bond (1773-1832) the first governor. Population of the
state is 34,620. |
| 1819 |
Kickapoo
Indians move west of the Mississippi, relinquishing most claims
to central Illinois lands. |
| 1820 |
Vandalia
becomes the state capital. |
| 1821 |
General
Assembly charters a state bank at Vandalia, with branches at Shawneetown,
Edwardsville, and Brownsville. |
| 1823 |
Galena
becomes a center for lead mining. |
| 1824 |
Voters
defeat a constitutional convention call to permit slavery in the
state. |
| 1825 |
Gurdon
S. Hubbard (1802-1886) establishes the Vincennes Trace from southern
Illinois to Lake Michigan. |
| |
General
Assembly enacts the first public school law and levies a school
tax. |
| |
Marquis
de Lafayette (1757-1834) visits Kaskaskia and Shawneetown on a
tour of the United States. |
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to Top
| 1827 |
John
Mason Peck (1789-1858) founds Rock Spring Seminary, the first
college in the state. |
| 1829 |
Chippewa,
Ottawa, and Potawatomi cede lands in northern Illinois by treaty
at Prairie du Chien. |
| 1830 |
The
first state prison is built at Alton. |
| |
Abraham
Lincoln (1809-1865) moves to Illinois from Indiana. |
| |
James
Hall (1793-1858) launches Illinois Monthly Magazine, the
first literary periodical published west of Ohio. |
| 1832 |
Black
Hawk War ends with Sauk and Fox Indians leaving the Illinois lands
they had ceded in 1804. |
| 1833 |
Treaty
of Chicago provides for United States acquisition and settlement
of the last remaining Indian lands in Illinois. |
| 1835 |
General
Assembly grants a charter for the Jacksonville Female Academy,
the first institution in the state for women’s education. |
| 1836 |
Illinois
and Michigan Canal construction is begun between Lake Michigan
and the Illinois Valley; completed in 1848. |
| |
Galena
and Chicago Union Railroad is chartered; completed twelve years
later. |
| 1837 |
Chicago
receives a city charter; William Ogden (1805-1877) becomes the
first mayor. |
| |
At
Alton a pro-slavery mob murders abolitionist editor Elijah P.
Lovejoy (b. 1802). |
| |
John
Deere (1804-1886) of Grand Detour designs a self-scouring steel
plow. |
| 1838 |
Northern
Cross Railroad construction is begun between Meredosia and Springfield;
the line is completed in 1842. |
| 1839 |
Cherokee
Indians pass through southern Illinois on the "Trail of Tears"
to Oklahoma. |
| |
Springfield
becomes the state capital. |
| |
National
Road is completed from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia. |
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| 1839 |
Joseph
Smith (1805-1844) chooses Nauvoo as headquarters for the Mormon
church. |
| 1841 |
Chicagoan
John S. Wright (1815-1874) begins publishing Prairie Farmer
magazine. |
| 1842 |
British
author Charles Dickens (1812-1870) visits southern Illinois, described
in his American Notes (1842). |
| 1844 |
Anti-Mormons
assassinate Mormon leaders Joseph and Hyrum (b. 1800) Smith at
Carthage. |
| 1846 |
Mormons
leave Nauvoo for the Great Salt Lake Basin in Utah. |
| |
Donner
party leaves Springfield by wagon train for California; forty-two
perish in Sierra Mountains snowstorms. |
| |
Erik
Jansson (1808-1850) and Jonas Olson (1802?-1898) establish a Swedish
religious colony at Bishop Hill. |
| 1847 |
Joseph
Medill (1823-1899) founds the Chicago Tribune. |
| |
Jacksonville
educator Jonathan Baldwin Turner (1805-1899) introduces Osage
orange hedges as farm fencing. |
| |
Inventor
Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809-1884) opens a plant in Chicago for
manufacturing wheat reapers. |
| 1848 |
Chicago
Board of Trade is organized; it is now the largest and oldest
commodity futures exchange in the world. |
| 1849 |
Ètienne
Cabet (1788-1856) establishes a French Icarian communal settlement
at Nauvoo. |
| 1850 |
Population
of the state is 851,470. |
| |
Illinois
Central Railroad receives the first federal land grant for rail
construction. |
| 1853 |
The
first state fair is held at Springfield. |
| |
General
Assembly enacts legislation to prevent free blacks from settling
in the state. |
| 1855 |
General
Assembly adopts a free public school system. |
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| 1856 |
The
first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River is completed
between Rock Island and Davenport, Iowa. |
| |
Illinois
Central Railroad is completed between Chicago, Galena, and Cairo. |
| |
Rand
McNally is established in Chicago; by 1880 it is the world’s largest
mapmaking company. |
| |
Chicago
Historical Society is founded, with William H. Brown (1796-1867)
the first president. |
| 1858 |
Republican
Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) hold
seven debates in the United States Senate contest; Douglas wins
the election. |
| 1860 |
Lincoln
is elected President of the United States, defeating three other
candidates. |
| |
Luxury
steamer Lady Elgin sinks in Lake Michigan; nearly three
hundred perish. |
| 1861 |
Civil
War begins; Cairo becomes a troop and supply center for the Union
Army. |
| 1862 |
Union
League of America is founded in Pekin for the promotion of patriotism
and Union loyalty. |
| 1864 |
Lincoln
is reelected President. |
| 1865 |
General
Assembly repeals measures against black settlement (Black Laws);
is the first state legislature to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment
abolishing slavery. |
| |
Lincoln
is assassinated in Washington, D.C.; buried in Springfield. |
| |
Chicago
Union Stock Yards opens; by 1900 employs more than one third of
packing industry laborers in the nation. |
| 1866 |
Grand
Army of the Republic is established in Decatur; the first GAR
convention is held in Springfield. |
| 1867 |
General
Assembly establishes the Illinois Industrial University at Champaign-Urbana,
renamed the University of Illinois in 1885. |
| |
George
M. Pullman (1831-1897) founds the Pullman Palace Car Company in
Chicago, manufacturing railroad sleeping cars. |
| |
Illinois
Normal University geologist John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) begins
surveys of the Rocky Mountain region; becomes director of the
United States Geological Survey in 1880. |
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to Top
| 1868 |
Ulysses
S. Grant (1822-1885), Civil War general from Galena, is elected
President of the United States. |
| |
Marshall
Field & Co. department store opens in downtown Chicago; at
his death, Field (1834-1906) is the city’s wealthiest citizen. |
| 1871 |
Chicago
Fire destroys eighteen thousand downtown buildings, with losses
estimated at $200 million. |
| 1872 |
Chicagoan
John Jones (1816-1879) becomes a Cook County commissioner, the
first African-American to hold elective office in Illinois. |
| |
Chicago
merchant Aaron Montgomery Ward (1844-1913) establishes the first
large-scale mail order business. |
| |
General
Assembly grants communities taxing authority to establish and
maintain public libraries. |
| 1873 |
Frances
Willard (1839-1898) founds the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
in Evanston. |
| |
Joseph
F. Glidden (1813-1906) of DeKalb develops barbed wire fencing,
patented in 1874. |
| 1876 |
United
States Supreme Court establishes in Munn v. Illinois
the principle that business of a public nature is subject to state
regulation. |
| 1877 |
General
Assembly establishes the Illinois National Guard. |
| 1878 |
Bell
Telephone Company of Illinois begins service in Chicago. |
| 1880 |
Leslie
E. Keeley (1832-1900) and John R. Oughton (1858-1925) establish
the Keeley Institute in Dwight for treatment of alcoholism; by
1900 franchised sanitoriums are operating in many states. |
| 1883 |
General
Assembly enacts the first compulsory school attendance legislation. |
| |
William
LeBaron Jenney (1832-1907) designs the ten-story Home Insurance
Building in Chicago, generally known as the world’s first skyscraper. |
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| 1886 |
Haymarket
Square bombing and riot in Chicago during a labor rally cause
several deaths; eight anarchists are convicted, four are hanged,
and one dies in prison. |
| 1888 |
Chicago
attorney Melville W. Fuller (1833-1910) is named Chief Justice
of the United States Supreme Court. |
| 1889 |
Jane
Addams (1860-1935) and Ellen Gates Starr (1859-1940) open Hull
House, one of the nation’s first settlement houses, for foreign-born
residents of Chicago. |
| |
Evangelist
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) founds the Chicago Bible Institute
for training missionaries to foreign lands. |
| |
Illinois
State Historical Library is established by the state legislature. |
| |
John
Mitchell (1870-1919) of Spring Valley becomes president of the
United Mine Workers of America (to 1908). |
| 1890 |
University
of Chicago is incorporated, with William Rainey Harper (1856-1906)
the first president. |
| |
Chicago
Symphony Orchestra is established, with Christian Theodore Thomas
(1835-1905) the first conductor. |
| |
African-American
surgeon Daniel Hale Williams (1858-1931) organizes Provident Hospital
in Chicago, the first black hospital in the United States; performs
the first open-heart surgery in 1893. |
| 1892 |
Chicago
attorney Myra Bradwell (1831-1894) becomes the first woman admitted
to practice before the United States Supreme Court. |
| |
Canal
construction to reverse the Chicago River flow is begun; completed
in 1900. |
| |
Illinois
and Mississippi (Hennepin) Canal construction is begun between
the Illinois and the Rock rivers; completed in 1907. |
| |
Adlai
Stevenson I (1835-1914) of Bloomington is elected Vice President
of the United States on the ticket with Grover Cleveland. |
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| 1893 |
World’s
Columbian Exposition is held in Chicago, commemorating the 400th
anniversary of European exploratory voyages to the western hemisphere. |
| |
General
Assembly establishes regulations for child labor and factory inspections. |
| |
Governor
John Peter Altgeld (1847-1902) pardons three imprisoned Haymarket
anarchists. |
| 1894 |
Pullman
factory strike in Chicago becomes a national railway strike; federal
troops are called to quell mob violence. |
| |
Chicago
attorney Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) unsuccessfully defends socialist
leader Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) on charges relating to the Pullman
strike. |
| 1896 |
Salem
native William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) wins the first of three
presidential nominations; is defeated each time. |
| 1898 |
United
Mine Workers win labor disputes at Pana and Virden, after eleven
miners and guards are killed. |
| 1899 |
General
Assembly creates the first juvenile court system in the nation. |
| 1900 |
Population
of the state is 4,821,550. |
| |
Chicago
Sanitary & Ship Canal opens between Chicago and Lockport. |
| |
Frank
Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) establishes a studio in Oak Park for
designing "prairie style" architecture. |
| |
Chicago
newspaperman Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) launches his literary
career with Sister Carrie, the first major novel set in
Chicago. |
| 1903 |
Fire
destroys the Iroquois Theater in Chicago; nearly six hundred perish. |
| |
Joseph
G. Cannon (1836-1926), Danville, elected to the United States
House of Representatives in 1872, begins the first of four successive
terms as Speaker of the House (to 1911). |
| 1905 |
Paul
P. Harris (1869-1947) and other Chicago businessmen organize the
Rotary Club. |
| |
Eugene
Debs, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1843?-1930), and others found
the Industrial Workers of the World union in Chicago. |
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| 1906 |
Chicago
White Sox defeat crosstown rival Chicago Cubs in the baseball
World Series. |
| 1908 |
Springfield
race riot leads to formation of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. |
| 1909 |
Coal
mine fire at Cherry, resulting in 259 deaths, is one of the worst
mine disasters in history. |
| |
Architect
Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) designs the "Chicago Plan" for development
of the lakefront and business district. |
| 1910 |
William
D. Boyce (1858-1929), Chicago and Ottawa businessman, founds the
Boy Scouts of America. |
| |
Winchester
native and Northwestern University Dental School dean Greene V.
Black (1836-1915) receives the first International Miller Prize
in dental science. |
| 1911 |
Chicago
sculptor Lorado Taft (1860-1936) completes his most famous work,
"The Indian" (later called "Black Hawk"), a massive statue overlooking
Rock River in Ogle County. |
| 1912 |
Harriet
Monroe (1860-1936) launches Poetry: A Magazine of Verse
in Chicago; includes writings of Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay
(1879-1931). |
| 1913 |
General
Assembly grants women the right to vote for presidential electors
and provides state aid for county road construction. |
| 1915 |
Poet
and novelist Edgar Lee Masters (1869-1950) publishes Spoon
River Anthology, a volume on small-town Illinois. |
| |
Excursion
steam Eastland capsizes in the Chicago River; 1812 perish. |
| 1917 |
With
support from Governor Frank O. Lowden (1861-1943) General Assembly
adopts a modern civil administrative code for state government. |
| |
In
May and July Illinois National Guard troops are sent to East St.
Louis to quell race riots. |
| |
Chicago
White Sox defeat the New York Giants in the World Series. |
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| 1918 |
Influenza
epidemic causes thirty-two thousand deaths in the state. |
| |
Voters
approve a $60 million bond issue for paving state roads. |
| |
Robert
Paul Prager (b. 1886), a German-born socialist suspected of disloyalty
to the United States, is lynched by a pro-war mob in Collinsville. |
| 1919 |
Chicago
White Sox players (the "Black Sox") are accused of gambling on
the World Series, which they lost to the Cincinnati Red Legs. |
| |
Chicago
race riots leave thirty-eight dead and more than five hundred
injured; a thousand residents are left homeless. |
| 1920 |
John
L. Lewis (1880-1969) of Springfield is elected president of the
United Mine Workers of America (to 1960). |
| |
Governor
Lennington Small (1862-1936) pardons twenty members of the Communist
Labor party convicted under the Illinois Sedition Act. |
| 1921 |
George
Halas’s (1895-1983) football team, the Staleys, moves from Decatur
to Chicago, and wins the national championship; in 1922 the Staleys
become the Chicago Bears. |
| 1922 |
Decatur
manufacturer A. E. Staley (1867-1940) opens the first commercial
soybean-processing plant. |
| |
In
the "Herrin Massacre," three union miners and twenty strikebreakers
are killed in mob violence at a strip mine in Williamson County. |
| 1924 |
At
the University of Illinois’ new Memorial Stadium, Harold "Red"
Grange (1904-1991), the "Galloping Ghost," scores four touchdowns
in twelve minutes against the University of Michigan. |
| 1925 |
Charles
Gates Dawes (1865-1951) of Evanston becomes Vice President with
President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933); receives the Nobel Peace
Prize for the "Dawes Plan" to restore the German economy after
World War I. |
| |
The
worst tornado in United States history devastates parts of Illinois,
Missouri, and Indiana; 695 deaths. |
| |
Chicago
Cardinals win the professional football championship; repeat in
1947. |
| 1926 |
Aviator
Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974) begins daily mail delivery flights
between Chicago and St. Louis. |
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| 1929 |
Gunmen
of Alphonse Capone (1899-1947) murder seven rival Chicago mobsters
in the "St. Valentine’s Day Massacre." |
| 1930 |
Utilities
founded by Chicagoan Samuel Insull (1859-1938), and valued at
more than $2 billion, produce one tenth of the nation’s electric
power. |
| 1931 |
Jane
Addams wins the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1932 |
Disgruntled
United Mine Workers organize the Progressive Miners of America
at Gillespie and Benld, eventually enlisting twenty thousand members. |
| |
The
number of unemployed Chicago workers during the Great Depression
reaches 750,000. |
| |
Chicago
Bears win the professional football championship; repeat in 1933,
1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1963, and 1986. |
| 1933 |
Century
of Progress International Exposition commemorates the centennial
of the incorporation of Chicago (held again in 1934). |
| |
Chicago
mayor Anton J. Cermak (b. 1873) dies in Miami, Florida, in an
assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945). |
| |
Chicago
Tribune sports editor Arch Ward (1896-1955) organizes the first
baseball All-Star Game, played at Comisky Park and won by the
American League. |
| |
Illinois
and Michigan Canal is closed to river traffic. |
| 1934 |
Chicago
Black Hawks win the National Hockey League championship (Stanley
Cup); repeat in 1938 and 1961. |
| 1937 |
General
Assembly creates an unemployment compensation system. |
| |
On
Memorial Day, Chicago police fire on strikers at Republic Steel,
resulting in ten deaths. |
| 1939 |
Chicago
author Richard Wright (1908-1960) publishes Native Son,
set in Chicago and the first major novel about the black experience
in America. |
| 1940 |
Chicago
theater-chain owner John Balaban (1894-1957) establishes WBKB,
the first television station in Illinois. |
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| 1942 |
University
of Chicago scientists, led by Nobel Prize winner (1938) Enrico
Fermi (1901-1954), achieve the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction. |
| 1945 |
Chicago
Cubs win the National League pennant, lose the World Series to
the Detroit Tigers. |
| |
American
Airlines inaugurates direct air service from Chicago to London. |
| 1949 |
Orchard
Place Airport in Chicago is renamed O’Hare Field, Chicago International
Airport in honor of Lieutenant Commander Edward H. O’Hare (1914-1943),
Congressional Medal of Honor recipient killed in World War II. |
| 1950 |
Population
of the state is 8,712,176. |
| |
Gwendolyn
Brooks (b. 1917) becomes the first African-American woman to win
a Pulitzer Prize; is named Illinois poet laureate in 1968. |
| 1951 |
Illinois
and Mississippi Canal is closed to river traffic. |
| 1952 |
Governor
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) is the Democratic nominee for president;
defeated by Republican Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969). |
| 1953 |
State
Auditor Orville Hodge (1904-1986) is convicted of $1.5 million
theft of state funds. |
| 1954 |
In
Des Plaines, Raymond A. Kroc (1902-1984) opens the first in a
chain of McDonald’s fast-food restaurants. |
| 1955 |
Richard
J. Daley (1902-1976) is elected to the first of six terms as Chicago
mayor. |
| 1957 |
The
nation’s first nuclear power generating station is activated at
Argonne National Laboratory in DuPage County. |
| 1958 |
The
first section of Illinois toll roads is opened from O’Hare International
Airport to the Wisconsin border. |
| |
Fire
at Our Lady of Angels elementary school in Chicago claims the
lives of ninety-two children and three nuns. |
| 1959 |
Everett
M. Dirksen (1896-1969) is elected Republican leader of the United
States Senate. |
| |
Chicago
White Sox win their first American League championship since the
1919 Black Sox scandal but lose the World Series to the Los Angeles
Dodgers. |
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| 1959 |
Chicago
native Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) wins the New York Drama
Critics Circle Award for A Raisin in the Sun, the first
play by an African-American woman to be presented on Broadway. |
| 1962 |
General
Assembly names Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
the first poet laureate of Illinois. |
| |
Governor
Otto Kerner (1908-1976) leads businessmen on the first Illinois
trade mission to Europe. |
| 1964 |
General
Assembly approves an at-large election of 177 representatives
after the 1963 veto of a reapportionment bill. |
| 1966 |
Illinois
for the first time leads the nation in exports of agricultural
and manufactured products. |
| 1968 |
Civil
disorder erupts during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago;
police report 650 arrests. |
| 1970 |
After
the death of Secretary of State Paul Powell (b. 1902), $800,000
is found in shoeboxes in his Springfield hotel room. |
| |
Voters
adopt a new Constitution, the first in one hundred years. |
| |
"Chicago
Seven" defendants are convicted on charges relating to violence
at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; the decision is overturned
in 1972. |
| 1971 |
Chicago
political and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson (b. 1941) founds
Operation PUSH — People United to Save (later Serve) Humanity. |
| 1972 |
Chicago
Union Stock Yards closes. |
| |
Abraham
Lincoln Home in Springfield is designated the first national historic
site in Illinois. |
| |
Two
Illinois Central commuter trains collide in Chicago; forty-five
passengers are killed and more than two hundred are injured. |
| 1973 |
Otto
Kerner is convicted on charges involving the sale of racetrack
stock while governor. |
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| 1974 |
The
world’s tallest building, Sears Tower in downtown Chicago, is
completed. |
| |
General
Assembly approves a state lottery. |
| 1976 |
James
R. Thompson (b. 1936) is elected to the first of four gubernatorial
terms (to 1991), the longest-serving governor in Illinois history. |
| |
Chicago
author Saul Bellow (b. 1915) wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. |
| 1979 |
Jane
Byrne (b. 1934) becomes the first female mayor of Chicago. |
| |
American
Airlines crash at O’Hare International Airport kills 275, the
worst air disaster in United States history. |
| |
Centralia
native Roland Burris (b. 1937) becomes Comptroller, the first
African-American to hold a statewide elective office in Illinois. |
| 1980 |
Ronald
Reagan (b. 1911) in Tampico, is elected United States President;
John B. Anderson (b. 1922) of Rockford is defeated as an Independent
candidate. |
| 1981 |
Morton
Grove ordinance bans the possession of handguns, the most restrictive
gun control measure in the nation. |
| |
Peoria
native John B. "Jack" Brickhouse (1916-1998) retires after broadcasting
more than five thousand Chicago Cubs and White Sox games; receives
the National Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award in 1983. |
| 1982 |
General
Assembly fails to ratify the proposed equal rights amendment to
the United States Constitution. |
| 1983 |
Harold
Washington (1922-1987) is elected the first African-American mayor
of Chicago. |
| 1984 |
Seventeen
Chicago attorneys, police officers, and judges are indicted in
Operation Greylord on charges of improperly influencing court
cases; convictions include the first for a sitting state court
judge in Illinois. |
| 1988 |
Diamond-Star
Motors, an automobile manufacturing venture between Mitsubishi
Motors of Japan and the Chrysler Corporation, opens in Bloomington. |
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| 1989 |
Clarence
Page (b. 1947) of the Chicago Tribune is the first African-American
columnist to win a Pulitzer Prize. |
| 1990 |
Population
of the state is 11,430,602. |
| 1991 |
Chicago
Bulls win the first of three consecutive National Basketball Association
championships. |
| 1992 |
Carol
Moseley-Braun (b. 1947) of Chicago becomes the first African-American
women elected to the United States Senate. |
| 1993 |
The
worst floods in the state’s history ravage western and southern
Illinois. |
| 1994 |
Bonnie
Blair (b. 1964) speed skater from Champaign, wins her fifth Olympic
Games gold medal, the most by an American woman. |
| |
