Illinois leads the Midwest in number of Fortune 500 companies

• Economy
• Business

A new report shows that Illinois remains one of the best states for big-name companies to set up shop.

The 2021 ranking of Fortune 500 companies includes 38 companies with their headquarters located in Illinois. With 38 of the nation’s top companies calling Illinois home, the state has more Fortune 500 companies that any other state in the Midwest. This number is the highest number of Fortune 500 companies in Illinois since 2001.

Several of Illinois’ companies that rank in this top tier include State Farm Insurance, Boeing, Kraft Heinz, and McDonalds. Illinois’ highest ranked company is Walgreens Boots Alliance which is ranked 16th. Companies are ranked based on revenue brought in over the last year.

The full 2021 report of Illinois based Fortune 500 companies can be found on the Fortune website.

Did you know: Singer and actor Burl Ives was born in Hunt City, Illinois

• Arts & Culture
• Did you know?

The popularity of folk music in Illinois can be traced back to the folk and gospel musician that Carl Sandburg described as “America’s mightiest ballad singer.” Illinois’ own Burl Ives was born this day in 1909.

Burl Ives was born in Hunt City, a small town in Jasper County, as one of seven siblings in a farming family. Ives took to singing early and would perform in public, either alone or with his siblings. As a teen, he learned to play guitar and banjo, and learned scores of English, Irish, and Scottish folk ballads passed down through his family over their years in the United States.

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Happy Pride Month 2021

• Arts & Culture

Happy Pride Month! June is a month-long celebration of LGBTQIA+ culture and their contributions throughout history. Illinois has a notable history of celebrating pride, particularly in Chicago.

A year after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, inspired by what occurred there, activists in Chicago put on the first ever major pride event in the city. A lot of Pride events, including the ones in Chicago, initially started out as protests with LGBTQIA+ people fighting for equality. The pride events in Chicago have grown over the years, going from hundreds of attendees to hundreds of thousands of attendees.

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Did you know? Today is renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday!

• Arts & Culture
• Did you know?
• Architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright is known as the pioneer of Prairie Style architecture, and many of his famous buildings are right here in Illinois, including his own home and studio in Oak Park. He was born on this day in 1867.

Wright grew up in southwestern Wisconsin, but by age 20, he had arrived in Chicago, where his childhood love of nature collided with the unique life of the city. He landed a job at the Adler & Sullivan firm, and his time working with Louis Sullivan, known for his organic and fluid style, inspired Wright’s own abstract designs he is known for.

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