I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Linda from Lime in the Coconut  to show you five things to love about my state, the state of Illinois.

I've never lived anywhere but Illinois.  I have considered moving to these three places at some point of my life; Las Vegas, Florida, and Texas.  My heart belongs in Chicago though because it has so much to offer. (plus all my family is here - hmmm... is that a good thing? )

I've decided to share some unusual facts (stuff ya might not now or want to know) just because I'm kookie that way.

1. The  ice cream "sundae" was named in Evanston. The piety of the town resented the dissipating influences of the soda fountain on Sunday and the good town fathers, yielding to this churchly influence, passed an ordinance prohibiting the retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. Ingenious confectioners and drug store operators obeying the law, served ice cream with the syrup of your choice without the soda. Objections then was made to christening a dish after the Sabbath. So the spelling of "sunday" was changed. It became an established dish and an established word and finally the "sundae".

2.  Metropolis the home of Superman really exists in Southern Illinois.

3.  The Chicago Post Office at 433 West Van Buren is the only postal facility in the world you can drive a car through.

4.  Des Plaines is home to the first McDonald’s. (And everyone certainly celebrates that historic happening!)

5.  The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair), a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World. Chicago bested New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, Missouri, for the honor of hosting the fair. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism.

Notable firsts at the fair

Cracker Jack

Congress of Mathematicians, precursor to International Congress of Mathematicians

Elongated coins

Frederick Jackson Turner lectured on his Frontier thesis.

Ferris wheel

John T. Shayne & Company, the local Chicago furrier helped America gain respect on the world stage of manufacturing

Juicy Fruit gum

Quaker Oats

Cream of Wheat

Shredded Wheat

Aunt Jemima pancake mix

The hamburger was introduced to the United States

Milton Hershey bought a European exhibitor's chocolate manufacturing equipment and added chocolate products to his caramel manufacturing business.

The United States Post Office Department produced its first: Picture postcards and Commemorative stamp set.

United States Mint offered its first commemorative coins: a quarter and half dollar.

The term "midway" came into common use to define an area where park rides, entertainment and fast food booths are concentrated at parks and fairs, after the area of that type located on Chicago's Midway Plaisance at the World Columbian Exposition.

Contribution to Chicago's nickname, the "Windy City". Some argue that Charles Anderson Dana of the New York Sun coined the term related to the hype of the city's promoters. Other evidence, however, suggests the term was used as early as 1881 in relation to either Chicago's "windbag" politicians or to its weather. See Windy City.

Scott Joplin's performance at the Exposition introduces ragtime to new audiences.[11] The Exposition attracted attention to the Chicago ragtime scene, led by patriarch Plunk Henry and exemplified in performance at the Exposition by Johnny Seymour.[12]

Violinist Joseph Douglass achieved wide recognition after his performance there, and became the first African-American violinist to conduct a transcontinental tour, and the first to tour as a concert violinist.[13][14]

The first Indonesian music performance in the United States was at the Exposition.[15]

The ensemble of musicians with a dancer known as Little Egypt was the first exposure to Middle Eastern culture for many Americans.[16]

A group of hula dancers led to increased awareness of Hawaiian music among Americans throughout the country.[17]

Stoughton Musical Society, the oldest choral society in the United States, presented the first concerts of early American music at the Exposition.

As an added bonus, here are some fun factual informational things about the city in Illinois that I live in - Schaumburg.

The Village of Schaumburg was incorporated on March 7, 1956, but the heritage of Schaumburg dates back to the much earlier times when the first inhabitants of the area were members of the Sauk, Fox, Pottawatomie, and Kickapoo Indian tribes. By the mid-nineteenth century, settlers first began to arrive from Germany and the eastern United States. Legend has it that the earliest settler was Trumball Kent from Oswego, New York. Kent, a "Yankee," as settlers from New England were called in the west, founded a settlement in 1835 not far from what is now called Olde Schaumburg Centre, formerly known as Sarah's Grove. However, the first recorded settler of Schaumburg Township was German born Johann Sunderlage. According to legend, Sunderlage was a member of a survey team that divided Cook County into townships around 1833. He liked the area so much that, upon completion of the project, he brought his family from Germany and settled in the area around 1836.

Sunderlage and his family occupied their land in the Township until the federal land sale of 1842 allowed them to purchase the property and obtain the deed. Sunderlage and Kent represented the predominant groups that settled Schaumburg Township in its early days. In 1840, 56 percent of the Township households originated from the eastern United States, while 28 percent were German-born. By the 1850s, the population mix had settled to 28 percent “Yankee” and 48 percent German.

By 1870, Schaumburg Township had become completely German. Land records show that all the property in the Township was owned by German immigrants or their descendants. This pattern emerged as many Yankee settlers continued to travel west for the promise of newly opened lands on the Great Plains. The land they occupied in Schaumburg was then purchased by German-born immigrants.

Schaumburg Township remained almost exclusively under German ownership until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression caused the foreclosure on some German-owned farms which were then purchased by non-German individuals and companies. Nonetheless, German heritage remained important in the area. German was the first language of the majority of households until the 1950s. St. Peter Lutheran Church, the community's oldest church which was constructed in 1847, held services in German as late as 1970.

Now, I have to tag 5 People who can share about THEIR fabulous states.

Tanya ~ The Honeysuckle Tree

Mary Kathryn ~ e-Handcrafts Stitching Room

Nikki ~ Blah, Blah, Blah Blog

Cindy ~ My Romantic Home

meme ~ ScreaminMeme

A final note...thanks again to EVERYONE who has been so compassionate about my whinin'.  Valuable lesson learned...

Don't sweat the petty stuff...

Pet the sweaty stuff!