This Week in Illinois History

October 8, 1871
The Great Chicago Fire started in an area said by some to be a barn owned by the O'Learys. By the time the fire was under control, 300 Chicagoans were dead, and 90,000 residents were left homeless. Four square miles, including the central business district, were completely leveled.

October 15, 1858
The final Lincoln-Douglas Debate was held on the banks of the Mississippi River near Alton. It was here where Abraham Lincoln said "it is the eternal struggle between two principles-right and wrong-throughout the world..." Douglas won the debate.

October 18, 1924
On this date, Red Grange became a University of Illinois football legend with a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Michigan. This game earned him the nickname "The Galloping Ghost"

October 26, 1825
The Erie Canal opened today to allow ships from the Atlantic Ocean to have a direct water connection to the Great Lakes. This allowed for a 50 percent decrease in commodities travel time to Illinois.

October 28, 1950
Waukegan native Jack Benny (aka Benjamin Kubelsky) and The Jack Benny Show moved to television on this date. The previous radio show had run from 1932 and the TV show lasted until 1965.

November 4, 1842
Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd. Eighteen years later this week, Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States.

November 17, 2004
Waukegan native Ray Bradbury received the National Medal of Arts on this date. Bradbury, who has also won an Emmy, is the author of Farenheit 451.

November 19, 1863
On this date, President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address honored the 45,000 men killed, injured, captured or went missing in the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War. The Address is only 272 words long.

December 3, 1818
On this date, President James Monroe signed the congressional resolution admitting Illinois as the 21st state in the union.

December 15, 1970
Illinois voters today approved a new State Constitution. The previous constitution had survived for 100 years.

December 25, 1865
On this date the Union Stock Yard opened. It eventally became the largest stockyard in the country, employing more than 25,000 persons at its peak in 1924.

January 2, 1900
After eight years of construction, on this date, the Sanitary and Ship Canal opened, forcing the reversal of the flow of the Chicago River.

January 6, 1878
In a three room cottage in Knox County, Carl Sandburg was born. The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet later labeled Chicago "City of Big Shoulders."

January 21, 1972
DC Comics, creator of "Superman", grants Metropolis permission to call itself "Home of Superman."

February 1, 1865
Illinois became the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery became illegal on December 6, 1865 when Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the ban.

February 8, 1910
William Boyce, a Chicago publishing magnet, founded the Boy Scouts of America. He gave a lead $4,000 gift to the new organzation.

February 15, 1855
Legislation is passed to create a free public school system. The right to quality education is now enshrined in the state constitution.

February 22, 1918
Robert Wadlow, the world's tallest man (8 feet, 11 inches), was born on this date in Alton.

March 4, 1837
The General Assembly passed a charter establishing the City of Chicago.

March 12, 1867
The Chicgo Blackhawks win their first National Hockey League title.

March 25, 1931
Suffragist, social-justice fighter, civil rights crusader and anti-lynching advocate Ida B. Wells died on this date.

April 6, 1866
On this day, the Grand Army of the Republic was founded in Macon County to honor Union war veterans.

April 10, 1848
On this day, the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened, connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River.

April 15, 1955
The first McDonalds resturant opened on this date in Des Plaines.

April 22, 1862
Gov. Yates commissioned a Peoria woman, Belle Reynolds, to the rank of major during the Civil War.

May 1, 1893
The World's Columbian Exposition opened near Jackson Park in Chicago.

May 5, 1875
Dr. Alonzo Kenniebrew of Jacksonville, IL., who established the first African-American owned surgical hospital in the U.S., was born on this day in 1875.

May 14, 1804
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark started their famous cross-country journey from Camp Dubois, near present-day Hartford, IL.

May 26, 1926
Miles Davis, jazz great, was born in Madison County. He spent 20 years in Illinois, but died in New York City in 1991.

June 3, 1861
Stephen Douglas, famed debator of Abraham Lincoln, died on this day at the age of 48.

June 7, 1917
On this date, Illinois Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Books was born. She soon moved to Chicago and lived there till her death in 2000.

June 20, 1673
Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet arrived in Illinois on this date. Their journey is the first recorded trip by Europeans to Illinois.

June 27, 1844
Mormon leader Joseph Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage.

July 2, 1917
On this date, hundreds of African-Americans were killed in race riots in East St. Louis.

July 10, 1830
On this day in Illinois history, Chief Keokuk sold more than 26 million acres of Sauk (Indian) and Fox (Indian) land for three cents an acre. This led to the start of the Black Hawk War in Illinois.

July 19, 1964
The Cahokia Mounds remains of a ancient Native American settlement were designated a National Historic Landmark.

July 21, 1899
On this date, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author, Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park.

August 6, 1998
Jack Brickhouse, the five-decade voice of the Cubs, Bears and White Sox, died on this date.

August 15, 1967
On this date, Pablo Picasso's untitled sculpture was unveiled in Chicago.

August 23, 1911
On this date, Betty Robinson, the first Woman Olympian, was born in Cook County.

September 4, 1846
Happy Birthday Daniel Burnham. Make no little plans.

September 10, 1892
On this date, the University of Chicago was chartered.

September 18, 1889
On this date, Jane Addams founded Hull House, the legendary settlement house in Chicago.

October 4, 1931
On this day, Woodstock-native Chester Gould's Dick Tracy went into mass syndication.

October 14, 1906
On this date the Chicago White Sox beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series.

October 15, 1947
On this date, Carlos Morton, the most published Hisplanic playwright in the US, was born in Chicago.

October 28, 1926 On this day in Illinois history, distinguished WWI U.S. Army Major General George Bell Jr, who commanded the all Illinois 33rd Infantry Division, died.

November 11, 1925
On this date, Municipal Grant Park Stadium was re-named Soldier Field in honor of all American casualties of war.

November 21, 2006
On this date, decorated Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Tammy Dukworth became the first woman and Asian-American to hold the post of Illinois Director of Veteran's Affairs.

November 25, 1987
On this date, World War II decorated veteran Harold Washington died. Washington was also Chicago's first African-American mayor.

December 3, 1818
On this date, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state in the union.

December 16, 2007
On this date, the Second City comedy troupe debuted in Chicago.

January 3, 1985
On this date, Paul Simon entered the U.S. Senate with his trademark bowtie and wide-rimmed glasses.

January 9, 1857
On this date, Henry Blake Fuller was born. Fuller later wrote The Cliff Dwellers, the first true Chicago novel.

January 16, 1844
Abraham Lincoln buys the only house he will ever own. Now it is a National Historic Landmark in Springfield.