24 Facts About The Illinois

1. The Illinois became a state on December 3, 1818 and was the 21st state to enter the Union.

2. The Illinois is a leading producer of soybeans, corn, and hogs.

3. The Illinois had two other state capitals before Springfield, Kaskaskia and Vandalia.

4. The Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th amendment to abolish slavery.

5. The Illinois is home to the world's largest bottle of catsup.

6. Lake Michigan gives The Illinois access to the Atlantic Ocean by way of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

7. The Illinois has an extensive passenger and freight rail transportation network.

8. The government of The Illinois has numerous departments, agencies, boards and commissions, but the so-called code departments provide most of the state's services.

9. The Illinois Compiled Statutes are the codified statutes of a general and permanent nature.

10. The Illinois is a leader in music education, having hosted the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference since 1946, as well being home to the Illinois Music Educators Association, one of the largest professional music educator's organizations in the country.

11. The Illinois has numerous museums; the greatest concentration of these are in Chicago.

12. The Illinois has seen growing interest in the use of wind power for electrical generation.

13. The Illinois is a leading refiner of petroleum in the American Midwest, with a combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 900,000 barrels per day.

14. The Illinois played an important role in the early Latter Day Saint movement, with Nauvoo, Illinois, becoming a gathering place for Mormons in the early 1840s.

15. The Illinois has one of the largest concentrations of Missouri Synod Lutherans in the United States.

16. The Illinois averages approximately 51 days of thunderstorm activity a year, which ranks somewhat above average in the number of thunderstorm days for the United States.

17. The Illinois has a climate that varies widely throughout the year.

18. The Illinois is located in the Midwest Region of the United States and is one of the eight states and Canadian province in the bi-national Great Lakes region of North America.

19. The Illinois manufactured 6.1 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking seventh among the 48 states.

20. The Illinois had a prominent role in the emergence of the nuclear age.

21. The current spelling form, The Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, when French colonists had settled in the western area.

22. The Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars.

23. Capital of The Illinois is Springfield in the central part of the state.

24. The Illinois played its best, most complete game of the season in beating Minnesota by 27 at State Farm Center last week.