Illinois is a Midwestern U.S. state bordering Lake Michigan, the Mississippi River, and the Wabash and Ohio rivers. It boasts the fifth-largest GDP and sixth-largest population among the fifty states. Springfield serves as the capital city, while Chicago is the largest city, located in the northeastern part of the state.
By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe to Illinois.
In 1908, the Chicago Cubs began the longest championship drought in major American sport.
In 1908, the Illinois state parks system began with Fort Massac State Park, becoming the first park in the system.
In 1909, the Cherry Mine disaster occurred, resulting in an underground fire that killed 259 miners. This was the third-worst disaster in the history of American coal mining.
In 1912, William Lorimer, the GOP boss of Chicago, was expelled from the U.S. Senate for bribery.
Illinois supported the winner in every election in the 20th century, except for 1916 and 1976.
In 1917, was the year the Chicago White Sox last won the world series prior to 2005.
In 1921, Governor Len Small was found to have defrauded the state of a million dollars.
In 1923, state law in Illinois gave official status to "the American language".
The Tri-State Tornado of 1925 killed 695 people in three states; 613 of the victims died in Illinois.
In 1928, Illinois became the first state to elect a Black person, Oscar De Priest, to the U.S. House of Representatives in the post-reconstruction era.
In 1933, the Century of Progress World's Fair was held in Chicago.
In 1937, oil strikes in Marion County and Crawford County led to a boom in Illinois.
By 1939, Illinois ranked fourth in U.S. oil production.
After 1940, there was a slow decline in coal mining in Illinois.
In 1942, the world's first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction occurred in Illinois with the Chicago Pile-1, the world's first nuclear reactor, built on the University of Chicago campus.
Since 1946, Illinois has hosted the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference.
On July 14, 1954, the all-time high temperature of 117 °F (47 °C) was recorded at East St. Louis, Illinois.
In 1957, Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago, activated the first experimental nuclear power generating system in the United States.
In 1959, Chicago became an ocean port with the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, connecting it to both the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean.
By 1960, the first privately financed nuclear plant in the United States, Dresden 1, was dedicated near Morris, Illinois.
In 1960, Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois.
In 1961, Illinois became the first state in the nation to adopt the recommendation of the American Law Institute and pass a comprehensive criminal code revision that repealed the law against sodomy.
In 1962, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport became the busiest airport in the world, measured by total flights and passengers.
In 1967, Fermilab, a national nuclear research facility near Batavia, Illinois, opened a particle accelerator, which was the world's largest for over 40 years.
In 1969, state law in Illinois ended the official status of "the American language".
In 1970, the non-Hispanic white population in Illinois was 83.5%.
In 1970, the state's fourth constitution was adopted, replacing the 1870 document.
Since 1971, the John Deere Classic has been a regular PGA Tour event played in the Quad Cities.
In 1973, the Illinois Resource Equalizer Formula was adopted with the hope of distributing funds more equitably to Illinois schools.
From 1976 to 2011, the LPGA State Farm Classic was an LPGA Tour event.
Illinois supported the winner in every election in the 20th century, except for 1916 and 1976.
The first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, which opened in 1960, was demolished in 1984.
In 1985 a replica of the first McDonald's franchise was built on the same site to recreate how the original one looked.
The first Farm Aid concert was held in Champaign, Illinois, in 1985 to benefit American farmers.
On January 26, 1986, the Chicago Bears won Super Bowl XX.
In 1990, Asian-Americans only made up 2.5% of the total population of Illinois.
In 1990, the Illinois state income tax rate was set at 3%.
In 1992, Illinois became the first state to elect a Black woman, Carol Mosley Brown, to the US Senate.
Since the 1992 election, Illinois has trended more toward the Democratic Party.
The worst upper Mississippi River flood of the century, the Great Flood of 1993, inundated many towns and thousands of acres of farmland in Illinois.
In 1998, 21 million tons of coal burned for power in Illinois was mined in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.
Prior to 2019, the previous record low temperature of −36 °F (−38 °C) was recorded on January 5, 1999, near Congerville, Illinois.
In 1999, Illinois produced 40.4 million tons of coal, but only 17 million tons (42%) of Illinois coal was consumed in Illinois.
In 2000, 41% of children in Illinois were minorities.
In 2000, George W. Bush became the first Republican to win the presidency without carrying either Illinois or Vermont.
The 2002 election brought Democrat Rod Blagojevich to the governor's mansion. It also brought future president Barack Obama into a committee leadership position in the Illinois Senate, where he drafted the Health Care Justice Act.
Near the end of his term in January 2003, following a string of high-profile exonerations, Governor George Ryan commuted all death sentences in the state of Illinois.
In 2003, Olympia Fields hosted the U.S. Open.
Each summer since 2004, Southern Illinois University Carbondale has played host to the Southern Illinois Music Festival.
In 2005, Illinois was ranked 14th in oil production among states, with a daily output of approximately 28,000 barrels.
In 2005, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series, their first since 1917.
In 2006, Illinois boasted annual value-added productivity by manufacturing of over $107 billion.
In 2006, former governor George Ryan was convicted of racketeering and bribery.
In 2006, the Chicago Sky began playing in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
As of 2007, wind energy represented only 1.7% of Illinois's energy production.
In 2007, 48% of Illinois's electricity was generated using nuclear power.
Following his victory in the 2008 presidential election, Illinois senator Barack Obama became the first Black president of the United States.
In 2008, Barack Obama, who had made Illinois his political base, was elected president.
In 2008, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport served 59.3 million domestic and 11.4 million international passengers, while Midway Airport served 17.3 million domestic and international passengers.
In 2008, Illinois' soybean harvest was 427.7 million bushels.
Prior to the Mount Carroll record, a temperature of −37 °F (−38 °C) was recorded on January 15, 2009, at Rochelle, but at a weather station not subjected to the same quality control as official records.
As of September 2009, Illinois had 1116.06 MW of installed wind power nameplate capacity with another 741.9 MW under construction, ranking ninth among U.S. states in installed wind power capacity.
In 2009, the Chicago Red Stars were formed and began playing at the top level of U.S. women's soccer.
In 2009, the Solheim Cup was held at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois.
As of August 2010, six Illinois universities ranked in the "first tier" among the top 500 National Universities, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings. These included the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, among others.
As of 2010, Illinois was ranked third in recoverable coal reserves at producing mines in the nation.
Illinois' population slightly declined in 2020 from the 2010 United States census by just over 18,000 residents.
In 2010, 47% of children in Illinois were minorities.
In 2010, Catholics in Illinois numbered 3,648,907.
In 2010, Mark Kirk became the last Republican elected to the Senate.
In 2010, after a number of setbacks, the city of Mattoon backed out of the Department of Energy's FutureGen project, a 275-megawatt experimental zero emission coal-burning power plant.
In 2010, the Illinois General Assembly voted for a temporary increase in the state income tax rate to 5%.
The Hispanic population in Illinois grew by 15% between 2010 and 2020, while the overall population of the state declined.
On January 1, 2011, the new income tax rate of 5% went into effect in Illinois.
On December 7, 2011, former governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison for allegations that he conspired to sell the vacated Senate seat left by President Barack Obama.
As of 2011, Illinois is ranked as the 4th-most productive manufacturing state in the country.
From 1976 to 2011, the LPGA State Farm Classic was an LPGA Tour event.
In 2011, Illinois was the third largest producer of ethanol in the United States, with a production capacity of 1.5 billion gallons per year.
In 2011, the Quad Cities region, located along the Mississippi River in northern Illinois, had a population of 381,342.
In 2012, Medinah hosted the Ryder Cup.
Since 2013, the Encompass Championship has been a Champions Tour event.
Blagojevich's replacement Pat Quinn was defeated by Republican Bruce Rauner in the 2014 election.
Illinois' prison incarceration rate has declined by almost 50% since 2014.
The personal income rate partially sunset on January 1, 2015, to 3.75%, while the corporate income tax fell to 5.25% in Illinois.
In 2015, disagreements between the governor and legislature over budgetary policy led to the Illinois Budget Impasse, a period in which the state had no budget and struggled to pay its bills.
In 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks won their sixth Stanley Cup.
In 2016, Donald Trump became president without carrying Illinois or Vermont.
In 2016, the Chicago Bandits of the NPF, a women's softball league, won their fourth league title.
In 2016, venture capitalists invested approximately $62 billion in the U.S. economy, with Illinois-based companies receiving about $1.1 billion. Additionally, in FY 2016, the federal government spent $461 billion on contracts in the U.S., with Illinois-based companies receiving approximately $8.7 billion.
On August 28, 2017, Governor Rauner signed a bill into law in Illinois that prohibited state and local police from arresting anyone solely due to their immigration status or due to federal detainers.
As of 2017, Chicago had the highest state and local sales tax rate for a U.S. city with a population above 200,000, at 10.250%. Also in 2017, the state of Illinois had the second highest rate of real estate tax: 2.31%.
In 2017, after a 736-day budget impasse, a budget was passed in Illinois after lawmakers overturned Governor Bruce Rauner's veto; this budget raised the personal income rate to 4.95% and the corporate rate to 7%.
In 2017, the replica of the first McDonald's franchise was demolished due to repeated flooding of the building.
In the 2018 election, Bruce Rauner was replaced by J. B. Pritzker, returning the state government to a Democratic trifecta.
The Illinois Budget Impasse, a 793-day period stretching from 2015, came to an end in 2018.
The all-time low temperature of −38 °F (−39 °C) was recorded on January 31, 2019, near Mount Carroll, Illinois, during the January 2019 North American cold wave.
On January 31, 2019, the all-time low temperature of −38 °F (−39 °C) was recorded near Mount Carroll, Illinois, during the January 2019 North American cold wave.
As of February 2019, the unemployment rate in Illinois reached 4.2%.
On March 5, 2019, the all-time low temperature recorded on January 31, 2019, was confirmed.
On May 1, 2019, the Illinois Senate voted to approve a constitutional amendment that would have stricken language from the Illinois Constitution requiring a flat state income tax.
On May 27, 2019, Governor J. B. Pritzker approved the bill regarding the constitutional amendment to allow a graduated income tax.
According to a Gallup survey from 2019, 4.3% of adults in Illinois identify as LGBTQ.
In 2019, Bruce Rauner and Evelyn Sanguinetti, the last republicans to hold statewide office left office.
In January 2020, the state of Illinois legalized marijuana.
On March 9, 2020, Governor Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois.
As of 2020, 21.4% of Illinois' population was living in the city of Chicago itself.
By 2020, the number of Catholics in Illinois had declined to 3,099,544.
In 2020, the amendment was not approved by Illinoisans, with 55.1% of voters voting "No" on approval and 44.9% voting "Yes".
In 2020, the largest Protestant denominations in Illinois were the United Methodist Church with 235,045 members and the Southern Baptist Convention with 222,589 members.
In a 2020 study, Illinois was ranked as the 4th easiest state for citizens to vote in.
In the 2020 United States census, the population of Illinois was found to be 12,812,508.
The Hispanic population in Illinois grew by 15% between 2010 and 2020, while the overall population of the state declined.
2021 estimates show that almost 10% of the state's Hispanic population also reported a non-Spanish European ancestry, with this group making up 1.7% of the state's total population.
According to 2022 data from the Prison Policy Initiative, an estimated 53,000 people were imprisoned in local jails, state prisons, federal prisons, or detention centers in Illinois.
According to 2022 estimates from the American Community Survey, 16% of the population in Illinois had German ancestry, 14% had Mexican ancestry, 10.4% had Irish ancestry, 7.1% had English ancestry, and 6.2% had Polish ancestry.
According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 9,212 homeless people in Illinois.
According to a 2022 study from the Williams Institute, an estimated 0.44% of adults in Illinois identify as transgender.
As of 2022, the gross state product for Illinois reached US$1.0 trillion.
At the 2022 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 1,810,100 foreign-born inhabitants of Illinois, making up 14.4% of the population.
In 2022, Illinois scored 0.932 on the UN's Human Development Index, placing it in the category of "very high" Human Development.
In 2022, the non-Hispanic white population in Illinois had declined to 58.5%.
Governor Pritzker ended the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois in May 2023.
According to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Illinois' population was 60.7% White, 13.3% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American or Alaskan Native, 6.0% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 8.1% Some Other Race, and 11.8% from two or more races.
As of 2023, 21.5% of the population of Illinois is under the age of 18.
As of 2023, Catholics account for nearly 25% of the state's population of Illinois.
As of 2023, the per-capita income in Illinois is $45,043, and the median income for a household in the state is $80,306. 11.6% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Census data from 2023 reports an estimated 59,254 people (0.47%) imprisoned in adult correctional facilities in Illinois.
In 2023, 7,260,529 Illinoisans identified as non-Hispanic white alone, making up 57.9% of the population.
In 2023, Pacific Islanders numbered 17,982 in Illinois, making up only 0.1% of the population.
As of 2024, the five most populous counties in Illinois are Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, and Kane, all located in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Illinois's minimum wage will rise to $15 per hour by 2025, making it one of the highest in the nation.
In 2007, the Illinois General Assembly mandated that by 2025, 25% of all electricity generated in Illinois is to come from renewable resources.
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