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The State of Illinois is a state of the United States of America and the 21st state admitted to the Union. Illinois is the most populous state in the Midwest and the fifth most populous in the nation, and has a large and cosmopolitan population. Its balance of vast suburbs and the great metropolis of Chicago in the northeast, rural areas, small industrial cities, and renowned agricultural productivity in central and western Illinois, and the coal mines of the south give it a highly diverse economic base. Its central location, connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River via the Illinois River, made it a transportation hub for 150 years. It is this mixture of factory and farm, of urban and rural, that makes Illinois a microcosm of the United States.
About 2,000 Native American hunters and a small number of French villagers inhabited the area at the time of the American Revolution. American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s; they achieved statehood in 1818. Yankees arrived a little later and dominated the north, founding the future metropolis of Chicago in the 1830s. The coming of the railroads in the 1850s made highly profitable the rich prairie farmlands in central Illinois, attracting large numbers of immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. Northern Illinois provided major support for Illinoisans Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War. By 1900, factories were being rapidly built in the northern cities, along with coal mines in central and southern areas. This industrialization attracted large numbers of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, and also led to the state's material contribution as a major arsenal in both world wars. In addition to immigrants from Europe, large numbers of blacks left the cotton fields of the South to come to Chicago, where they developed a famous jazz culture.

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Riding the Web into college

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

Over the summer, 13-year-old Diamon McKelvin estimates he spent five to 10 hours a day on MySpace. Like Diamon, an eighth-grader at the Woodson Middle Campus of the University of Chicago Charter Schoo...

Chef says Peraica ad half-baked

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

Homeless left out as food kitchen closes

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

There's Steve, the Richard Pryor look-alike, who always has a grin on his face and carries a shabby notebook he says is part of a plan to get his GED. Or the lady with the hair that sticks straight up...

Funeral home saves memories online

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

With a few clicks of her computer mouse, Darlene Stoffa can relive her husband's funeral. The rows of American Legion members, firefighters and police officers paying respects. The sweet eulogies of h...

One dead, one hurt after car hits pole on S. Side

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

A male motorist was killed and his female passenger critically injured after their vehicle crashed into a pole early Sunday near Jackson Park on the South Side.

You can still get a raise

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

Despite a sickly economy and research showing salary increases will be pretty flat next year, there are steps workers can take to boost their odds of landing a bigger raise.

Church welcomes special cross

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

Standing near the altar in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple is a striking sculpture: "Crucifixion," by Chicago artist John Kearney. But it is the unde...

Kraft Foods to announce layoffs

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

A spokesman says Kraft Foods is slated to announce layoffs in its North American operations, a cost-cutting move that could result in the loss of several hundred jobs.

Bank of America settles lawsuit over bad mortgages

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, a Bank of America Corp. subsidiary has agreed to modify tens of thousands of loans to keep people in Illinois, California and n...

Nine hurt in Lake Forest collision

Oct 6, 2008 10:00 am

Nine people were hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries after a two-vehicle collision in north suburban Lake Forest Sunday night.

Illinois News from BigNewsNetwork.com

City to pay $700,000 in woman

Oct 6, 2008 6:54 pm

FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter The family of a 69-year-old woman who was run over in a mid-block crosswalk and killed by a Chicago firefighter driving too fast for the rainy conditions would get $70...

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