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Celebrating the Workers Who Built Illinois This Labor Day

For many Illinoisans, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, a long weekend filled with cookouts, community events and one last chance to enjoy the season. But behind the holiday is a history of American workers advocating for safer conditions, fair wages and reasonable hours – and Illinois played an important role in that story.

Labor Day traces its roots to the late 19th century, when the labor movement was growing across the country and in Illinois. It was at this time that Chicago became a focal point of the nationwide movement for an eight-hour workday, with tens of thousands of workers joining demonstrations and strikes.

In May 1894, workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company on Chicago’s South Side walked off the job after the company cut wages amid an economic downturn. The Pullman Strike and corresponding lock-out of union workers grew into a major national railroad dispute and became a defining chapter in the history of America’s labor movement, culminating in both the official declaration of Labor Day by President Grover Cleveland amid the strike and the rise of the nation’s first African American union: the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

The legacy of Illinois workers stretches well beyond those historic events. Generations of farmers, factory workers, teachers, tradespeople and countless others have helped build our communities and keep Illinois moving forward.

Today, Labor Day gives us an opportunity to recognize those contributions and remember the generations of workers who fought to improve workplaces for those who came after them.

Looking for some fun? Illinois is the place to be

• Tourism
• Most Fun State
• Rankings

Illinois is known for its accolades and for holding many titles. Thanks to a new WalletHub analysis, Illinois can now boast that it is the third most fun state in the country. Only trailing behind California and Florida, Illinois ranks number three in the “Entertainment and Recreation” category and number two in the “Nightlife”’ category.

In order to determine the most fun states in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states across two key categories, “Entertainment & Recreation” and “Nightlife.” With fun and affordability in mind, WalletHub compared 26 key indicators of enjoyable experiences that won’t break the bank. These range from movie costs to accessibility of national parks to nightlife options per capita.

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Northwestern University’s The Garage named a top entrepreneur organization by TIME Magazine

• Northwestern University
• Time Magazine
• The Garage
• Startup Companies
• Incubators
• Accelerators

TIME Magazine recently released its inaugural ranking of the top 80 startup incubators and accelerators in the United States, which included The Garage at Northwestern University.

The Garage was ranked No. 5 on TIME Magazine’s list, behind New York’s TechStars, Massachusetts’ MassChallenge, Florida’s Tampa Bay Wave and California’s Y Combinator. The list included six organizations that are headquartered in Illinois, with The Garage being the highest-ranked of them. The other Illinois-headquartered organizations that were included on TIME Magazine’s list are The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (No. 7), mHUB (No. 14), the University of Illinois Research Park (No. 27), MATTER (No. 61) and 1871 (No. 63).

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Artist of the Month: Gene Deitch

Gene Deitch was born in Chicago, Illinois on Aug. 8, 1924, later moving to California with his family and attending school in Hollywood. Deitch’s passion for the arts and drawing was apparent as a kid, making his first animated cartoon when he was only 13 years old. However, after graduating high school, the United States was in the midst of World War II, and Deitch ended up working for North American Aviation. He used his artistic talent to draw industrial parts and catalogs in aircraft factories. He was eventually drafted and served for about a year before he contracted pneumonia and was honorably discharged. This moment allowed Deitch to pursue his artistic career, which originally consisted of mostly music and sound engineering.

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