Portal:Illinois

The John J. Glessner House in Chicago, Illinois.

Prairie Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th street in the Near South Side community area to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the residence of many of Chicago’s elite families and an additional four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block section includes the historic Prairie Avenue District.

Several of Chicago's most important historical figures have lived on the street. This is especially true of the period of recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the street. Residents of the street have influenced the evolution of the city and have played prominent national and international roles. They have influenced the political history, architecture, culture, economy, and the law and government of Chicago. The street has changed over time reflecting the demographics of Chicago.

The importance of the street has declined, but it still has landmark buildings and is the backbone of an historic district. Recently, developments have extended the street north to accommodate new high-rise condominiums along Roosevelt Road (12th street). The redevelopment has extended the street so that it has prominent buildings bordering Grant Park with Prairie Avenue addresses. (Read more...)

1837 illustration of Black Hawk from History of the Indian Tribes of North America

Black Hawk, or Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak in the Sauk language, (1767 – October 3, 1838) was a war leader of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now the Midwest of the United States. He earned his status as a war chief or captain by leading raiding and war parties as a young man, and a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

Black Hawk was born in 1767 in the village of Saukenuk on the Rock River (present-day Rock Island, Illinois). During the War of 1812, Black Hawk had fought on the side of the British against the U.S., hoping to push white American settlers away from Sauk territory. Later he led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors, known as the British Band, against European-American settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin in the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by U.S. forces and taken to the eastern United States. Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter; aided also by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation.... Black Hawk died in 1838 in what is now southeastern Iowa. He has been honored by an enduring legacy: his book, many eponyms, and other tributes. (Read more...)

• ... that a mock funeral was held outside company headquarters during the 1986–1987 John Deere strike in which 700 union workers ceremoniously burned a coffin and a Christmas tree covered in company hats?
• ... that landscape architect Harriet Pattison collaborated with her lover Louis Kahn on the design of Four Freedoms Park and the grounds of the Kimbell Art Museum?
• ... that according to campus legend, the English Building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is haunted by the ghost of a female student who drowned in the building's pool?
• ... that 1980's Space Encounters video game was the first that Midway Games offered in their "mini myte" arcade game cabinet?
• ... that astronaut James McDivitt saw a UFO during his first spaceflight?
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  ... that distance education in Chicago Public Schools in 1937 took place via radio broadcasts (pictured) during school closures that were spurred by a polio outbreak?

• November 17, 2021:
  
  The John Deere strike (pictured) ends after more than a month when workers approve a third contract offer.
• November 14, 2021: The last department store in Illinois belonging to Hoffman Estates-based Sears closes in Woodfield Mall.
• November 4, 2021: J. B. Pritzker speaks alongside Governors David Ige, Kate Brown, and Jay Inslee at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
• October 26, 2021: Workers for Chicago-based McDonald's in ten cities go on strike to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment in the workplace.
• October 18, 2021: The Chicago Police Department reports that more than a third of its officers have failed to meet a deadline for reporting whether they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
• October 17, 2021: The Chicago Sky win the 2021 WNBA Finals, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in four games to win the team's first-ever championship.
• October 14, 2021: 10,000 UAW workers go on strike (pictured) in Midwestern plants of Moline-based John Deere.
• October 12, 2021: The Chicago White Sox lose the American League Division Series to Houston in four games.
• October 11, 2021: David Card, former professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.