The story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz begins with Dorothy and Toto in Kansas, but where did the idea for one of the best-known tales in American literature take shape?

L. Frank Baum, author of the original book, wrote the story while he was living in Chicago. A New York native, Baum was a lifelong writer, having established two amateur journals by the time he was 17 and publishing his first book at 30 in 1886. From there, he experimented in theater and later worked as a newspaper editor.

When most of us think about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, we picture a beloved holiday icon leading Santa’s sleigh through winter skies, but few realize this famous character actually originated in Chicago.

In 1939, Chicago was home to one of America’s biggest retailers – Montgomery Ward. Trying to boost interest in its toy department and compete with rival Sears, the company turned to a catalog copywriter named Robert Lewis May. May was asked to create a children’s Christmas story to hand out at Montgomery Ward stores during the holiday season.

Beloved stage and screen icon Dick Van Dyke is being honored by his hometown of Danvillein celebration of his upcoming 100^th birthday.

Van Dyke, who was raised in Danville and started his career in the town as a local radio DJ on WDAN, became a household name for starring in the CBS sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s, and went on to great acclaim in movie musicals Mary Poppins, Bye Bye Birdie, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Throughout his illustrious career, Van Dyke has been received a Grammy Award, six Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Disney Legends Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors.  

Long before Illinois became a state it was home to many Native American tribes whose cultures and communities shaped the region’s history.

The land was primarily inhabited by the Illiniwek Confederation, a group of tribes that included the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Cahokia, Michigamea, and Tamaroa.

The word “Illinois” itself comes from “Illiniwek,” meaning “the people.” These tribes built villages along rivers, hunted game on the prairies, and developed extensive trade networks that reached across the continent.

The Smashing Pumpkins stand as one of Chicago’s most important musical exports, blending alternative rock, dream-pop textures, and heavy guitar layers into a sound that came to define the 1990s. 

Originally formed in 1988 by Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky, and Jimmy Chamberlin, the band developed its roots in the vibrant Chicago music scene. Unlike the grunge explosion happening in Seattle at the time, the Smashing Pumpkins carved out a distinctive Midwestern identity by fusing aggression with a lush, almost orchestral sense of melody. Chicago’s diverse underground scene, ranging from punk clubs to blues bars, gave the group both a testing ground and a cultural backdrop that shaped their music’s emotional intensity.