Illinois Bicentennial

Illinois Industrial University was established on February 28, 1867 in Urbana. Its name would later be changed to University of Illinois in 1885.

On the morning of February 25, 1779, Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, elder brother of explorer William Clark, accepted British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton's unconditional surrender of Fort Sackville at Vincennes, Indiana.

Actor, writer, director, and comedian Harold Ramis, known for his roles in the Ghostbusters franchise passed away in Chicago on February 24, 2014.

Robert Wadlow, known as the Alton Giant or the Giant of Illinois was born on February 22, 1918. Due to a rare disorder of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He passed away at the age of 22 on July 15, 1940.

On February 21, 1861, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill protecting women's property rights in case their husbands were reckless or criminal. The rights would be expanded 8 years later.

With many professional baseball players serving during World War II, Phillip K. Wrigley formed the All American Girls Baseball League on February 20, 1934. The league would be memorialized in the 1992 film, A League Of Their Own.

On February 19, 1934, the Illinois State Arsenal burned to the ground after a 10-year-old pyromaniac named Cecil Kiper set fire to a paper bag and tossed it onto the Arsenal stage.

Illinois State University, Illinois' first public university was founded on February 18, 1857.

A. Montgomery Ward was born on February 17, 1844, and was an American entrepreneur based in Chicago who made his fortune through the use of mail order for retail sales of general merchandise to rural customers. He founded Montgomery Ward & Company in 1872.

Ward Christensen along with his partner Randy Suess, started development during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois, and officially established CBBS, the first online bulletin board on February 16, 1978.

Anton Cermak was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1931 but on February 15, 1933, while in Miami with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt he shot by an assassin, and would die from his wounds 2 weeks later.

George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. was born on February 14 in Galesburg, Illinois. The engineer is best known for creating the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

On February 13, 1920, Hall of Famer Andrew “Rube” Foster and his fellow team owners came together to create the Negro National League.