Social Squares · Illinois · Land of Lincoln
Illinois, town by town
One calm page for each Illinois town: what’s on this weekend from the library, the schools, the churches and the city or village hall, its history, and every local shop on one hand-drawn map. Free, no ads, kept by neighbors. The county fair, the pancake breakfast and the Friday night game, all in one place.
Tap a pin to step into that town’s Square.
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Every Illinois Square, A to Z
Made in Illinois
Illinois firsts
- 1837John Deere's steel plow Grand Detour
Blacksmith John Deere settled in Grand Detour and in 1837 made the first cast-steel plow to sell well. Source
- 1858The first Lincoln-Douglas debate Ottawa
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven debates in Ottawa on August 21, 1858, before a crowd newspapers put at about 12,000. The others were in Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy and Alton. Source
- 1874Barbed wire DeKalb
DeKalb farmer Joseph Glidden got his patent for barbed wire in 1874 and made it there with Isaac Ellwood as the Barb Fence Company. Source
- 1893The first Ferris wheel Chicago
George Ferris built the first Ferris wheel for the 1893 world's fair in Chicago. It opened on June 21, 1893, and stood 264 feet tall. Source
- 1911A president's birthplace Tampico
Ronald Reagan was born in an apartment above a Main Street storefront in Tampico on February 6, 1911. His boyhood home is in Dixon. Source
- 1929Popeye's hometown Chester
Chester is the hometown of E. C. Segar, whose Popeye first sailed into his comic strip in 1929, and several of his characters are said to come from people he knew there. A bronze Popeye stands in the park by the bridge, and new statues of his friends keep joining him. Source
- 1930The Twinkie Schiller Park
Baker Jimmy Dewar came up with the Twinkie in Schiller Park on April 6, 1930. The first ones were filled with banana cream. Source
- 1942The first nuclear chain reaction Chicago
On December 2, 1942, a team led by Enrico Fermi started the first human-made nuclear chain reaction, under the stands of the University of Chicago's Stagg Field. Source
- 1955Ray Kroc's first McDonald's Des Plaines
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines in April 1955. It is often called the first McDonald's, though it was really the chain's ninth; the museum copy of it was torn down in 2018. Source
- 1982Cahokia Mounds Collinsville
Near Collinsville lies Cahokia, the biggest city north of Mexico before Columbus. Its Monks Mound is about 100 feet tall, the largest earthen mound north of Mexico, and the site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. Source
Your town next?
Each Square opens with its own history, photos and calendar, and a neighbor to keep it. If your Illinois town isn’t here yet, tell us, or add your church’s, school’s or club’s calendar and help it open.