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Illinois
Illinois - The Land of Lincoln.

Illinois

Illinois is famous for its types of weather. It is prone to tornados, heat waves and severe blizzards.

The official state tree of Illinois is the white oak which, despite its name, has grey rather than white bark.

Illinois is the 21st US state. It was admitted to the Union on December the 3rd 1818.

Three Presidents of the USA have been elected whilst living in Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Barack Obama. Only one has been born there: Ronald Reagan, who was born in Tampico, Illinois on the 6th of February 1911.

For a closer look at the pictures, please click on them to enlarge.
1 .
This is the Capitol Building of the State of Illinois. Which city is it in?
Chicago
Aurora
Rockford
Springfield
Springfield was originally called Calhoun in honour of Senator John C. Calhoun when it was founded in 1820. It was renamed, in 1832, after the thriving city of Springfield in Massachusetts. Illinois had two other capitals (Kaskaskia and Vandalia) before Springfield was granted the position in 1839.

Springfield is the 6th largest city in the state having an estimated population of 116,250. Rockford and Aurora are the 3rd and 2nd largest having populations of around 153,000 and 198,000 respectively. Chicago is by far the largest city in Illinois with about 2,696,000 inhabitants
2 .
Popcorn was not able to be mass produced until the invention of the Popcorn Machine by Charles Cretors of Chicago in which year?
In 1835
In 1885
In 1935
In 1985
The village of Ridgeway in Illinois claims to be the "Popcorn Capital of the Word" and popcorn was adopted as Illinois' official state snack food in 2004
3 .
Illinois did not have a state flag until 1915 when it adopted a flag very similar to the current one. The design was altered slightly in 1970 with the addition of which feature?
The dates '1818' and '1868'
The banner in the eagle's beak which reads 'State Sovereignty, National Union'
The word 'Illinois'
The rising sun
The name of the state was added underneath the state seal after Bruce McDaniel, a non-commissioned officer in the US Navy, petitioned the state governor because many of his fellow servicemen did not know which state the flag represented.

The flag was first adopted in 1915 following a competition which had 35 entrants. It bears simply the state seal on a white background
4 .
Chicago is the third largest city in the USA after New York and Los Angeles. What is Chicago's nickname?
The Windy City
The Rainy City
The Sunny City
The Snowy City
The city may have got its nickname from its weather. Its position on the banks of Lake Michigan does bring a breeze, though it is not much windier than some other US cities, and Boston has stronger winds. Another possible explanation is that Chicagoans were regarded as braggarts in the 19th century and the nickname was given as an insult.

As well as 'the Windy City' Chicago has many other nicknames including 'the Second City', 'Chi-Town', 'City of the Big Shoulders', 'City by the Lake' and 'the Big Onion'
5 .
What is the official state flower of Illinois, adopted in 1907?
The Blue Violet
The Pansy
The Dog Violet
The Pimpernel
The violet is also the state flower of New Jersey and of Rhode Island, and of Wisconsin.

The common blue violet is also known as the common meadow violet, the purple violet, the woolly blue violet, the hooded violet and the wood violet. It is so common in eastern North America that some gardeners consider it a weed!
6 .
This man served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 - 2004 before going on to serve as a Senator for Illinois in the National Senate from 2005 -2008. He became the 44th President of the USA in 2009. What is his name?
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
An easy one this! He is, of course, Barack Obama who is (at the time of writing) the current President of the USA.

Obama is the first African American to become president, the first President born in Hawaii, first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to receive the majority of the popular vote in two elections, the first serving US president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council and the first US President address both houses of the UK Parliament. That's quite a lot of firsts!
7 .
What is the official state amphibian of Illinois?
The Barred Tiger Salamander
The Western Tiger Salamander
The Banned Tiger Salamander
The Eastern Tiger Salamander
The eastern tiger salamander was adopted by Illinois in 2005. The western tiger salamander is the state amphibian of Colorado and the barred tiger salamander of Kansas. There is no banned salamander!

Amphibians are not popular state symbols. Of all the 50 states in the USA only 20 have an official state amphibian
8 .
This building in Chicago was the tallest in the word between 1973 - 1998. It is currently the 12th tallest. What is its name?
The Aon Center
The Willis or Sears Tower
The John Hancock Center
The Trump Hotel or Tower
The Sears Tower (known as the Willis Tower since 2009) was the tallest building in the world when it was built in 1973, taking the title from the World Trade Center in New York. In 1998 it was surpassed by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Today (autumn, 2014) the world's tallest building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE.

Chicago has a long history of tall buildings. The world's first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building, was built there in 1884. It was demolished in 1931 to make way for the even taller Field Building
9 .
According to legend the city of Evanston, Illinois was where the ice-cream sundae was invented in 1890. Whay was it named 'sundae'?
So as to differentiate it from a rival brand Sunny-Day
Because sundae is Latin for ice cream
So as not to offend religious folk
Because sundae is a Native American word for fruit
The selling of ice cream sodas on Sundays was banned in Evanston in 1890. To get around this ice-cream began to be served with syrup instead of soda on a Sunday and the product was known as a Sunday. Apparently, the Methodist community objected to this and so the product was renamed sundae.

Evanston is not the only place to claim it invented the sundae. Ithaca in New York and Plainfield in Illinois also have cases but at later dates. Two Rivers in Wisconsin also claims to have invented the sundae in 1881 - 9 years before Evanston. However, if this is true then the inventor owned his own shop at the age of 16 - quite a young entrepreneur!
10 .
What is the official state fish of Illinois, like the unfortunate creature pictured?
The Bluemouth
The Bluetail
The Bluefin
The Bluegill
Also called the bream, the brim or the copper nose, the bluegill was adopted by Illinois in 1986. It gets its name from the bright blue colouring which can be seen on its gills
Author:  Graeme Haw

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