Nickname: Prairie
State.
State Flower: Violet
Motto: State
Sovereignty—National Union
Highest point: Charles
Mound, 1235 ft. (376 m.), in Jo Daviess co.
Chief cities: Chicago,
Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, and Aurora.
Chief products: Corn,
soybeans, dairy products, livestock, oil, coal, manufacturing, electrical and
non-electrical machinery, chemicals, metal products, food products, printing
and publishing.
History: Explored by Père Jacques Marquette and Louis
Jolliet 1673 and by René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle who erected Fort Crèvecoeur
on Illinois River 1680.
The Calumet Region:
It is an area of Northwest
Indiana and Northeast Illinois, Southeast of and adjacent to Chicago, Illinois;
includes chiefly the cities of East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, and Whiting of
Indiana, and Calumet City and Lansing of Illinois. It historically known for its heavy industry.
