• Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, was the first state to abolish slavery.
• Twinkies were first invented in River Forest, IL in 1930.
• The name “Illinois” means “ordinary speaker.”
• Feral parakeets from South America have made Chicago their home.
• The Chicago River is one of the few rivers of the world that flows backward.
• Des Plaines - Wheelbarrows with For-Sale signs may not be chained to trees.
• Cicero - Humming on public streets is prohibited on Sundays.
• Chicago - It's illegal to serve liquor to the feeble-minded.
• You may be arrested for vagrancy if you do not have at least one dollar bill on your person.
• Normal - it's not or legal to make faces at dogs.
• Chicago - Women over 200 pounds to ride horses in shorts.
• Eureka - A man with a moustache may not kiss a woman.
• Galesburg - There is a $1,000 dollar fine for beating rats with baseball bats.
• Kenilworth - A rooster must step back three hundred feet from any residence if he wishes to crow.
• Park Ridge - Trucks may only park inside closed garages.
• Aurora - Lifesize Mastodon Statue - A lifesize Mastodon statue resides at Phillips Park Zoo in Aurora Illinois. Mastodon fossils and bones have been found here.
• Alton - Ruins of Civil War Military Prison - Limestone blocks made up a corner wall of the first Illinois State Penitentiary opened in 1833.
• A replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa stands in the town of Niles.
• Cahokia, the first permanent settlement in Illinois, was a fur-trading post established in 1699.
• Collinsville - The world's largest bottle of catsup is a national landmark.