One hundred years ago this week, Illinois became the first state in the nation to ratify the 19^th Amendment, and one Illinois woman played a key role in its success.

Although the amendment was named after Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, an activist from Evanston, provided major contributions in the fight for women’s suffrage by linking women’s political empowerment to the temperance movement.  

Born in upstate New York, Willard moved to the Midwest with her family and settled in Evanston where she attended North Western Female College and began studying to become a teacher.

In 1871, she became the first president of Evanston College for Women, which later merged with Northwestern University where she became the dean of women.

After working at Northwestern, Willard co-founded and led the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which is still headquartered in Evanston to this day. There, she advocated for giving women access to the ballot to stop their husbands from wasting money from the weekly pay check to drink.

Her argument was convincing for many women who decided to join the movement and the two causes gained steam simultaneously as anti-alcohol legislators realized that by allowing women the right to vote, they could more easily achieve their goal of prohibition.

Willard did not live to see her goals of temperance and women’s suffrage become a reality, but her work was critical to the success of both causes and was instrumental to the ratification of two amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Each state is entitled to the placement of two statues in the U.S. Capitol, and in 1905, Illinois honored Willard by commissioning a statue of her to be placed there.

March 14 is National Ag Day, an opportunity for Illinois farmers to celebrate and take pride in their craft. Ag Day is celebrated by associations, corporations, universities, government agencies and across the country. Illinois is home to more than 72,000 farms, covering nearly 27 million acres of land – about 75 percent of the state’s land area. The leading producer of soybeans, corn, and swine, Illinois’ climate and varied soil types also enable farmers to grow and raise many other agricultural commodities, including cattle, wheat, oats, fruits and vegetables.

Did you know?  The zipper was invented in Chicago by Talon Zipper, founded in 1893.

Before creating the zipper, Talon Zipper was best known for producing a hook-less fastener for shoes and boots. They observed a need in the fashion world for an easier method of fastening clothes than the dozens of buttons on fashionable high-button boots, and the zipper was born.

Did you know? The first handheld cell phone was developed by Martin Cooper of Schaumburg.

Martin left his first job at Teletype Corporation in Chicago in 1954 and joined Motorola, Inc. (Schaumburg, Illinois) as a senior development engineer in the mobile equipment group. He developed products including the first cellular-like portable handheld police radio system, produced for the Chicago police department in 1967. His inspiration for a cordless phone came from an episode of Star Trek when Captain James T. Kirk opened his communicator.

John G. Shedd Aquarium, currently Shedd Aquarium, is an indoor public aquarium that opened in Chicago Illinois in 1930. The aquarium has up to 1,500 different species of not only aquatic animals but other species such as birds, snakes, amphibians and insects. It had the first inland aquarium with a saltwater fish collection.

Shedd Aquarium was designed by one of Chicago’s most prestigious architectural firms, Graham Anderson, Probst & White. The firm has created buildings such as the iconic Terminal Tower in Cleveland and Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. The design of the aquarium was in the Beaux-Arts style, with elements of classical Greek architecture to make it a better structural match with the neighboring Field Museum.

It was the most visited aquarium in the U.S in 2005 and in 2007. It is now a National Historic Landmark because of its expansions and additions. These expansions included exhibits such as vast habitats for marine animals and large sharks and rays.

For More information on this amazing aquarium and its legacy Click Here