The world’s busiest airport in 2014 first opened on this day in 1955. Named after Edward “Butch” O’Hare, a World War II pilot who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism, the airport was originally an Air Force base and manufacturing center for military aircraft. Once commercial flights began taking off, operations at nearby Midway Airport, once the world’s busiest in its own right, began to decrease. Midway would eventually go through a series of renovations and become a secondary reliever airport for the region. 

Today, O’Hare is a major hub for Chicago-based United Airlines as well as American Airlines and Air Choice One. The airport offers direct service to 210 destinations with an average of 2,400 flights per day.

Learn more:
Read more about the recent opening of a new runway and control tower at O’Hare

Mason County, located in Central Illinois between Peoria and Springfield, is located in what many call the “Imperial Valley of the Midwest.” In contrast to other farming areas around the state, Mason County fields include a large amount of sand. With modern irrigation technology, the fields have become plentiful for crops not commonly found in Illinois, including popcorn.

Nearly 20,000 acres of land in Mason County is dedicated towards producing popcorn, more than any other county nationwide. The county also is number one statewide in the number of acres dedicated to vegetables, snap beans and watermelon.

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Nation’s top popcorn-producing county in Illinois (AgriNews)

Steven Nagel was born in Canton on October 27, 1946. After graduating from Canton High School, Nagel received a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois and joined the Air Force. He logged nearly 10,000 hours of flight time and served a one-year tour as flight instructor in Southeast Asia in 1971 and 1972 while serving in the military.

After receiving his master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Nagel joined NASA and became an astronaut in the summer of 1979. He first entered space aboard the Discovery on June 27, 1985, and would return three other times aboard the Challenger in 1985, Atlantis in 1991 and Columbia in 1993.

In total, Nagel spent 30 days, 1 hour and 34 minutes in space. He orbited the earth more than 100 times, performed repair missions on broken satellites and assisted in numerous scientific experiments and tests.

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Read more about the life and achievements of Steven Nagel

Nearly 5,000 runners turned out to the very first Chicago Marathon, then named the Mayor Daley Marathon, on September 25, 1977. The attendance made the inaugural marathon the largest marathon in the world at the time.

In 2006, marathon organizers teamed with four other races in Boston, London, Berlin and New York to create a series of qualifying competitions worldwide. Tokyo was recently added to that list, creating six World Marathon Majors.

The Bank of America 2015 Chicago Marathon was held October 11 and featured nearly 50,000 participants.

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Read more about the history of the Chicago Marathon

Did you know the fields surrounding Morton in Central Illinois supply much of the nation’s canned as well as ornamental pumpkins? The area is so well known it is commonly referred to as the “Pumpkin Capital of the World.” With an amiable climate and high-quality soils needed for pumpkin growth, Illinois produced a record 278,000 tons of pumpkins in 2013, making up 90 percent of the nation’s pumpkin production.

In celebration of pumpkins, the Morton Pumpkin Festival is held every year and draws more than 75,000 attendees to a four-day celebration offering all kinds of pumpkin-inspired treats as well as the infamous Punkin Chuckin’ Contest.

Learn more:
Read more on the impact pumpkin production has on Illinois’ economy
Illinois: The Great Pumpkin State