Clint Cargile
History Correspondent, Host of "Drinkin' with Lincoln" and "This Week in Illinois History"Clint Cargile has worked as an English instructor, freelance writer, magazine editor, academic conference coordinator, landscaper, dish washer, car washer, dog washer, and veterinary assistant. He has a BA in English from the University of Alabama, an MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University, and an MA in history with a concentration in public history from Northern Illinois University. At WNIJ, he is the creator and host of the podcast Drinkin’ with Lincoln and the series This Week in Illinois History. He is the author of two history books, Five Mile Spur Line: A Railroad History of Sycamore, Illinois (2014) and In Search of a Fair Wind: The Sea Letters of Georgia Townsend Yates, 1891-1892 (2017). He lives with his wife and daughters in DeKalb, Illinois.
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In the 1930s, Wheaton, Illinois, native Pearl Kendrick created a vaccine that has saved millions of lives and is still standard for American children today. -
How do you convince fast-moving Americans that driving slow will conserve rubber and help the war effort? You call the new speed limit “Victory Speed." -
When a deadly polio outbreak hit Chicago in 1937, the city shuttered its schools. But kids didn’t get a free pass. They took part in a remote learning experiment with the best technology available: the radio. -
In 1846, an Illinois militia laid siege to Nauvoo, one of the state’s largest cities. Their goal? Drive out the last members of the Mormon Church. -
Sooooouuuuuuullllllllll Train! Before it became one of the longest-running syndicated shows in television history, before it propelled up-and-coming Black artists to worldwide fame, "Soul Train" debuted as a small, local dance show in Chicago. -
Nazi spy or hapless traveler? Chicago’s Herbert Hans Haupt and his conspirators set off a national sensation when they were rounded up as part of a Nazi spy ring. -
While he's not a household name like Edison or Bell, Highland Park's Elisha Gray cranked out some of the 19th Century's most creative inventions, including the first electronic synthesizer and — some argue — the first telephone. -
A 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention propels Illinois State Senator Barack Obama into the national spotlight. -
He was Illinois' first governor, ushered the frontier territory into statehood, and enacted reforms considered radically progressive for the time. He also owned and sold slaves and led campaigns to expel Native Americans from the state. -
On an overcast afternoon in 1927, three violent explosions shook the sky over southern Illinois. What some residents feared to be an air invasion turned out to be the state's first recorded meteor strike.
