This Week in Illinois History
This Week in Illinois History provides a 90-second snapshot of an event significant to Illinois history. Join Host Clint Cargile as he covers big events while also exposing little-known pieces of Illinois history.
Latest Episodes
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The term “March Madness,” used in connection with basketball, originated in Illinois. This is the story of H. V. Porter, who popularized “March Madness” and created many of basketball’s rules still in use today.
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He is remembered as one of the nation’s most notorious gangsters, but Al Capone’s career as head of Chicago organized crime came to a sudden and ignominious end after only six years.
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What's the connection between Red Stripe Beer from Jamaica and Red Stripe Beer from Galena, Illinois? It's an Illinois history mystery.
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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.
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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."
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During World War II, the United States Army built sprawling hospital complexes across the country to treat wounded soldiers. One of the largest was built in Galesburg, Illinois.
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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.
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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.
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Illinois has a state fossil, the Tully Monster, a strange sea creature that swam over Illinois 300 million years ago.
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In the early 1900s, the city of West Chicago celebrated its history as the site of a historic Lincoln-Douglas debate. The only problem? The debate never happened.