Long time Chicagoan - really appreciate the conglomeration of all the early history of Illinois and the territories and populations throughout the ages. Enjoy your site!
I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago and it is such a wonderful city. Nothing beats the variety of food, activities, architecture, cleanliness, cost of living… I could go on and on. I moved to Cleveland for school then decided to stay (most underrated city in the country IMO), but Chicago will always have my heart.
Illinois certainly has its problems and downsides, but you cannot deny its place as one of the most influential and accomplished states in the country! I was born in Aurora, IL. Only lived there 3 years total, but I go back to Chicagoland all the time. The history of Chicago is absolutely fascinating. Like many great cities of the world such as Rome or London, it came from the humblest of beginnings. A festering swamp in the most sparsely populated area in the country to the national rail hub of the US to a global economic power teeming with skyscrapers, art and some of the finest universities in the world. How many cities do you know that have raised the city up a story, reversed the flow of a river or rose like a phoenix out of one of the most devastating fires in history? It’s only Chicago. Chicago is excellence and innovation personified! And what’s hilarious is I find most Illinoisans I know to be a self-deprecating folk, but they have to always be thinking they have something very special in Illinois. Illinois and Chicago in particular are under a lot of scrutiny by the media and people of the US outside of Illinois, but if you just go to downtown Chicago in June and experience it for yourself, I don’t see how you don’t just fall in love with that city. You may be able to tell, I really like Illinois! Illinois rocks!
Your description of why Illinois is so good only includes seeing Chicago, and the Chicagoan achievements.... Where I live, we all hate our state. We feel like everyone pays attention to Chicago while forgetting about the people who live in the rest of the state. Hospitals are closing, schools are underfunded, essential services are breaking down. The median income for Illinois is floated pretty high by Chicago. If you take a look at the state while excluding Chicago, we're in a very very sad position. I'm a Democrat and all for taxes, but a lot of our state taxes go toward funding Chicago, the rural areas of Illinois see little to no benefit from state taxes because they're funneled into Chicagoan programs. In my small town of less than 10k people, our elementary schools are legally owed 10's of thousands of dollars by the state. Illinois doesn't pay it's schools or hospitals like they're legally supposed to, the taxes are commonly misappropriated for Chicago. The "Education Budget" turns into "Chicago Education". From a Democratic Rural perspective, Illinois is sucking us dry while propping up a failing city. I've lived 2hrs from Chicago my whole life, and I've only been there twice, because I cannot barely afford to stay alive.
@@baileescott401Moved out Naperville IL and Into Carmel, IN. Illinois has very bad roads outside of chicago and bloomington. It’s funny taking I-74 into danville, IL because that’s where road maintenance stops 🤣
@@baileescott401and Chicago I-94 on the southside is garbage and full of potholes, they haven’t even bothered to fix the southside I-94 since I lived there in the 2000s, I still occasionally take I-65 into chicago and I-94 southside is still a shitty road.
Chicago is hands down my favorite city in the country. Such a cool city that manages to still be Midwestern at its core. Chicago in the summer is the best city in the world
@@venomlink2033, but you don’t live here. You live in the wasteland that is indiana. You are a troll who hates his life. I lived in Hawaii, Kansas, Chicago and a couple places but for short times for work. Chicago is dope. With its rough edges (I admit). Hawaii was obviously better because it’s freaking paradise. But $3k just for a studio and having to make new friends every 3 years lost it for me. It’s all relative.
I wish I could agree with Chicago summers being the best but I can't at the moment. I moved here about two months ago and it's been rain, wildfire smoke, and tornados lol
I’m from Columbus, but a lot of my friends from college have moved to Chicago since graduating, whether they were already from there or from elsewhere. Needless to say I am very jealous of them as Chicago seems like an amazing city for young people
It was pretty well done and balanced. Nice job. You did forget a few famous people from Illinois, but there's so many that I'm really not gonna hold that against you. I'm Indiana-born, but moved to Illinois in 1997. It is my home now. Lived for 23 years in Chicago, LOVED the city. It's big, loud, beautiful, violent, vibrant, world class, arrogant and diverse. Part of the reason I loved living there for so long. I loved being able to hear five different languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Hindi) just walking to the corner store. The only reason I did leave was because of a major personal loss. As much as I love the city, it held too many memories and wasn't home anymore. I do still visit though. I'm in Central Illinois and have fallen in love with it too. The culture is very different, more similar to what I grew up with in Indiana, but still surprisingly welcoming and dynamic. It's great that the different areas of the state are so different. Illinois does have a lot of problems. Trust me, we are VERY aware of them. But it's home. I honestly wouldn't change that for the world.
I moved out Naperville, Illinois for Carmel, Indiana. Illinois is corrupt, governors getting caught in misallocations of funds and shitty roads. It’s funny taking I-74 in Illinois because that’s where road maintenance stops
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm an Army brat and grew up in Washington, D.C., by way of other places. My ex and I visited to Chicago to check out the University of Chicago, where he had been accepted in the MBA program. We flew into Midway Airport. After the plane taxied to the gate, we walked down the jetway. When my feet hit the ground, I looked around, turned to my ex and said, "This is the place". That was in 1978 and I've been here ever since. My family and college friends think I'm nuts, but I love the mid-west, and I love Chicago. From here I've been able to visit the beautiful eastern shore of Minnesota, the Apostle Islands in Northern Wisconsin. In fact, I've been able to see much of what the rest of the country considers 'fly-over' country. Illinois and Chicago do have serious problems but, I would rather live here than any other state EXCEPT Montana and Wyoming. Can't move cuz I'm too old now! Thanks, again.
WELCOME BACK SIR.. 🎉 I appreciate the time and respect you put into each and every one of these state history videos. We know it takes a lot of time and research. Thank you and blessings to you and your family.
I've lived in central Illinois my entire life but have been lucky enough to travel the country extensively and still feel for your money it is the most balanced and perfect state. Yes, down state whines about Chicago but deep down we know we are extremely lucky to have her and her $. We are lucky to be just a couple of hours from St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago so we can enjoy rural life or city life whenever we like. The state is perfect for raising a family and overall very safe. I have visited Chicago hundreds of times and never once felt in danger. Don't go looking for trouble and you won't find it.
This 1000 times: I lived in Atlanta for 7 years because it was the hip and trendy thing to do but the quality of life just isn't the same as Illinois. I moved back and felt my time in Georgia was a learning experience that went on too long. From living in Chicago or going to the state fair every year in Springfield, to taking the Amtrak to explore different parts of the state I feel like Illinois is a very underrated state with terrible PR. It has its many problems but so do other states; the others are just better at covering them up with glitzy cover stories.
Wow, as a former tour guide atop Chicago’s double decker buses, that was a lot of details on Illinois, if this was a college project I’d give you an A+. From southern Illinois with its beautiful views of Shawnee National Forest , historic Springfield with its Abraham Lincoln sites, Cahokia Mounds (ancient pyramid like structures), charming Galena in the northwest to Chicago. Illinois has an abundance of rich diversity, and rich farmland.
Excited to see my state finally featured! I really enjoyed this one, and learned a lot that I feel like I should've already known. A few bits: 15:38 "Elgin" is pronounced EL-jin, with a soft G. 18:08 Confusingly, there are actually 5 quad cities. Seriously. On the IL side are Rock Island, Moline, & East Moline, along with Bettendorf & Davenport on the IA side. I was surprised to see you didn't mention the Haymarket Riots & Chicago's role in the American labor movement in your Chicago history section. I feel like the Burnham Plan & its effect on the city we see today also deserved a quick mention. Awesome video!
I also thought the Haymarket Riot deserved a mention, but overall the creator (and his brother) did a great job, especially for an out-of-stater. P.S. El-jin with *hard g*
@@pocketsnickers "hard g" means the g is pronounced like it is in the word "giraffe", i.e. like a J. Soft g would like pronounced like it is in the word "good."
Interesting --you made me research the term 'driftless region' and I learned a lot. You've done an exceptional job really exploring the identity of the State of Illinois.
Lifelong downstate resident here. LOVED this video, very balanced perspective, and I learned a lot from it. It is easy to forget or take for granted the sheer size and impact of Chicago in comparison to other U.S. or world cities.
As a southern illinoisan who has spent a good amount of time in Chicago, it’s hard to diminish the importance of Chicago on the state, yet it is endlessly annoying to be treated as “the rest of illinois”. You did a fantastic job highlighting all aspects of Illinois in a balanced manner and I wish more people would explore more corners of the state. You nailed it when you talked about the diversity of the state, it’s really staggering and I don’t thing Chicago natives like to acknowledge it like they should.
In my experience, many Chicagoans have little awareness of southern Illinois or even central Illinois. I once told a Chicagoan that I was from southern Illinois, and he asked if I meant Joliet.🙂 I've also heard a Chicagoan say that it's hard to imagine Illinois extending further south than Mattoon. (Credit to him for at least being aware of Mattoon though!)
I lived half my life in Chicagoland. As I grew up and matured, I learned to hate cities generally, and regret never having learned much about the rest of my state. You're right; none of us city folk know a damn thing about real Illinois. Of course city folk don't know a damn thing about anything anyway..
As a Chicago native, the treatment of the "rest of Illinois" is not an intentional thing. After all Chicagoans, provides most of the State's revenue and our property taxes subsidize a lot of spending in Central and South Illinois. The truth is the divide is purely political. It is easy to say it is Chicago fault when the local politician fails to deliver for his constituents while fundraising in the Chicago market. There is a reason that splitting Illinois is forgotten after every election. If they did that Chicago would be one of the richest states in the Union, while greater Illinois would emerge one of the poorest.
@@deangraves7462The idea that central/southern Illinois is benefiting from Chicago taxes is something that I think many residents of central and southern Illinois would be surprised to hear (and I'm skeptical as to how much it's true). I grew up in southern Illinois and still have relatives there. Over the past 20 years or so, I have seen a significant degradation in basic road maintenance, extended closures of interstate highway rest areas, and a failure of Illinois state employee medical coverage to pay bills in a timely manner. And all of this has happened while the state income tax increased from 3% to 5%. Federal Covid stimulus money may have led to some improvements, but my perception is that southern Illinois residents (and probably all Illinois residents) are paying higher taxes and getting less for those taxes. I think a substantial number of Illinoisans from the southern and central part of the state would be OK with splitting off from Chicago, with the south/central part of the state becoming more like Indiana, politically and economically. But the process of splitting a state is so difficult that I don't think it will happen, and I don't know of anyone who is seriously pushing for it (mainly because it's probably not achievable). But having said that, I'm not anti-Chicago. I have family in Chicago too, and I love visiting Chicago. The many cultures that have combined in that one city have resulted in some of the greatest food and greatest music of any city anywhere, and there are lots of interesting things to see and do.
@@deangraves7462Your property taxes are 100 percent local. Your property taxes do not go to other parts of Illinois. The city of Chicago is in debted $43,000 per capita - that's why Cook County property taxes are high. Here in Texas the state debt in Austin is only $1,500 per capita, but local Texas government is indebted $15,500 per capita. Texas property taxes are high - to avoid the debt burden that Illinois has acquired. It can be difficult to find a low property tax County in Texas - the TX counties that I can find lack any towns greater than 2,000 population. There are very low property tax counties in far southern Illinois - some of the lowest in the U.S. Pulaski County, Illinois has very low property taxes. If initially only Cook County was a separate state, and the new Illinois was low tax, it could soon look like Tennesee. Chicago business would move to suburbs. It would be very bad for Chicago over the long term.
Naperville resident here. Very interesting video, and told me about a good amount of things that I didn’t know as someone who has lived in this state my whole life. One other tiny tidbit of information as far as native companies. Quickly-rising Electric Vehicle company Rivian is located in Normal, Illinois.
Milwaukee resident here. I love being so close to Chicago and having frequent train service to get there. Illinois is one of my favorite states. Like others have said in the comments, people from Illinois seem to not have much state pride. People that live there should be proud of their state. Illinois has great history, decent politics, a world class city, friendly people, nice beaches along Lake Michigan, respected universities, important exports that help the US and the World, and more!
That’s them other Illinois folks who don’t have pride, but have you met a true Chicagoan? Pride in our city is an understatement. We love it all, even the bad parts.
Decent politics??????????? Chicago is the corruption capital of the world. Illinois has had more 20th century governors land in jail than any other state. Time for little education.
When talking about agriculture, you left out that we're the number one producer of pumpkins by a landslide as well. Great video though! Our state has a lot of problems, but overall it is a great place.
No matter how you slice it, Illinois is one of the most influential, historic and mesmerizing states in the United States. Of course I’m biased, I’m from the city in the Midwest, best city in the whole wide world! Southside 4 life! Also glad you shouted out my alma mater, Illinois State, go Redbirds
As an Illinois resident, I truly did enjoy the video. Personally, I've lived in Illinois for most of my life, and in three seperate, yet distinct, parts of it: southern, south-central, and north-central. I grew up in southern Illinois, and much of what you said about it was correct. While I understand that its importance in the state is rather low, I sorta wished you had gone into more detail about it lol. I will say, it was a little surprising to not hear Carbondale mentioned once, considering how it is one of the largest cities (if you can call it that lol) in southern Illinois. That, and how much of the coal industry has moved away from the state. While obviously it still is there, much of the southern portions of the state (where I was from at least) are filled with abandoned strip mines that are now filled with water, making extremely deep lakes pocketing the landscape--at least one of which areas was even turned into a state park. Shawnee National Forest is also something deserving of mention I believe. While you did talk about the Garden of the Gods and southern Illinois's rocky landscape, the Shawnee National Forest expands much of southern Illinois has quite a few beautiful locations for hiking and camping. Again, I really did love the video--please do not take my criticisms as the only thing I took away from it. As many have said, it is hard to talk about this state without mentioning the sheer importance of Chicago to it. I just like to see more light shown on lesser known areas of places, as there are so many beautiful places throughout the world and especially the US :)
I think it would be cool to do a “Cities Explained” series, to focus more on the big cities in North America and even around the world (although doing big cities around the world would be a lot more work).
Chicago is my second favorite American big city (San Diego #1). Great architecture, lots to do, good food, and friendly people. I would live there if it was not so cold 🥶 in the winter.
Great job and thanks for your work. I was constantly thinking "he should mention this or that" and then you do mention it. Of course you missed famous people, but you did a great job. I grew up in the Chicago area and was amazed when I moved away and saw the skyline of other major cities and also the small size of other city's museums. Made me appreciate where I grew up even more. Keep up the good work.
As much as illinoisans rag on our own state, and often times deservedly so, it still has many wonderful parts and a fascinating history in the Nation’s Heartland
My extended family was divided between the city folk around Chicago and the farm folk west of Peoria. They hated Chicago with a passion. Cardinals and Packers were their teams. All gone now, one cousin left on a farm in an empty county. Rural Illinois is in a hard place.
Rural Illinois is where you find all the morons that dream about moving to Y'allquaeda shithole states despite demonstrably worse human development there, hense the population decline. The idiots moving across the river to Methssouri have made by formerly deep red town purple and edging towards blue, so I guess I can't complain too much.
My experience is mainly in the northern rural areas west of Rockford (and I like in the nw burbs) but man I fuckin love it. The rolling hills meeting huge flat areas. Reminds me of Colorado and the rest of the Midwest at the same time. (Glaciers... fuck yeah) Trees and corn everywhere. About a month ago I drove through a swarm of dragonflies somewhere near the Kishwaukee river and it literally brought me to tears. Both because I probably killed hundreds of them with my delivery van but also because it was just fucking jaw dropping and you'd never ever see something like that living in the city.
Great video! Chicago is clearly one of the best cities in North America. Great point about Chicago/Illinois being a microcosm even in our climate we have all the seasons while having little to no extreme weather
Yeah, where there is no definitive answer to the question, there's room for lots of interesting speculation. Probably not only one factor was to blame. Theories I personally favor: new diseases spreading from early contacts with Europeans (sure, the Europeans landed thousands of miles away, but the people here had wide trade networks), a possible long drought, increased political (and maybe also religious) conflict in a highly stratified society when resources dwindled, drastic change in the course of the Mississippi River away from Cahokia's center.
Excited for this one. I love learning about different parts of the world and especially our continent. I grew up in Alberta, Canada and used to work briefly on a project with a team from Chicago. Now I live on the Canadian side of the southern border with Washington state. I’ve been to over 20 states, but it’s been years now since I last travelled.
Illinoisans hold the title for the most state-hating people in the country. It's an incredibly rare thing to hear an Illinoisan say "it's pretty good here, actually!" Our self-loathing has got to be the #1 reason we've lost so many people. It's seen as cool to "escape Illinois," frequently moving west to states like Colorado. Often joking that the Brewers' stadium is "Wrigley North," I now add that the Rockies' stadium is "Wrigley West." I was amazed to discover that Denver has a Lou Malnati's, to support the massive Illinois exodus. (Every single person I know who's left the state says the same thing to me: "I miss the pizza.") As a lifelong Illinoisan who's had the blessing of seeing a lot of the country, I've began to realize how privileged we are for our state-hate. I shudder at the housing prices in America's currently "hot" markets. I couldn't imagine living in the South (Illinois summers are humid enough). Illinois truthfully is not a bad place. You can do a lot worse choosing a state to live in. My personal take is that much of the Illinois hate comes from a sentiment, deep down in our hearts, of knowing how good Illinois *could* be. Whether it be national decisions like the Jones Act or state politicians kicking our state while it's down, it is largely a case of self-destruction. Politicians here run on platforms of "I'll give you candy now so you'll get cavities later," putting us in a politician-induced death spiral. Despite the fact that the "Rust Belt" moniker is running out of style and manufacturing continues to re-grow, most Illinoisans still have this sentiment that we're in a state of decline; in large enough consensus, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have strong faith that Illinois will rebound. With plenty of cheap land, a diverse economy, climate change affecting other parts of the country, and our state's geographic importance as the shipping, transport, and agricultural hub of the nation, it's only a matter of time before Illinois becomes a desirable place to live again. Great video! I couldn't have described my home state any better.
Grew up in Chicago Lived in outlying burbs 2 blocks from Chicago and I'm close to 70 It's the politics That's why people are leaving Former Dem here of 45 years They have lost their minds Many people I know say "Can't fight them might as well leave" This is my state My home they are destroying Hope I live long enough to see it go back to the way it was 😊
Chicago has extended two western commuter rail lines and added a third that goes up to the Wisc border. You must include more collar counties including two in Wisc. Three in Indiana and one in Michigan. The Chicago Metro area has about 10 million people. Excellent video, nicely done.
As someone who grew up in southernmost Illinois, went to college in central Illinois, and has spent lots of time in the Chicago area and the St. Louis area, I think you did a great job of fairly covering the various parts of the state, and of making the very important point that Illinois is essentially two different states, with the Chicago area having very different culture and politics from the rest of Illinois. Some other observations as I watched through the video: * I was impressed by your correct pronunciation of Cairo, though I've always heard Elgin pronounced with a "j" sound rather than a hard "g". * I grew up in the hilly part of southern Illinois, but I've never heard that area called the Illinois Ozarks. * I'm glad that you mentioned Garden of the Gods; it's a beautiful geographical formation. * Collinsville with an "s", not Collinville * I was sorry to see modern-day Cairo featured prominently, considering what a wasteland it has become. But it was correct to include it, given its historical and geographical significance. * Population loss across Illinois can be largely explained by politics and taxes, in my humble opinion (based partly on personal experience). * The only way that the Petronas Towers are taller than the Sears Tower is if you count the decorative spires on the top of the Petronas Towers, but don't count the broadcast antennas on top of the Sears Tower. If you find an image that shows the buildings side by side, you can see that it's very questionable to count the Petronas Towers as taller. * I was glad to see the Superman festival get a mention. * "Guaranteed Rate Field" for the White Sox -- ugh! It seems like they're constantly changing the name of what ought to be called Comiskey Park. * It would have been nice to see more about the history of blues music in Chicago, though I know it was briefly mentioned. Chicago is immensely important to the history of blues music, and Chicago blues music heavily influenced many of the early British rockers, like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton. Overall, you did a great job, and I think you covered all the most important aspects of Illinois. The biggest thing I would recommend to improve future videos is to include more on-site, in-person video footage, like you had for parts of Chicago. But I'm sure that's expensive and time-consuming.
Finally, my state and city are mentioned! If you happen to be in Champaign, IL at any time, really make sure to check out the downtown and campustown areas, they give a very “big metro city” type of feel!
I lived in Champaign by the post office on Green Street for most of a year, with a friend who was attending the university, back in 2000‐2001. I'm a school bus driver these days and occasionally get trips to Champaign/Urbana for sports and academic activities. The cities have changed so much in such a short time. The Garcia's Pizza in a Pan location that I used to work at has been demolished, and lots of tall buildings have gone up. You're right. It's like a tiny urban metropolis in the middle of the farmland. Hopefully, they'll finish the construction on I-57 & I-74 soon!
Born and raised in Aurora. Left Illinois for the USAF from 2009 to 2012. Moving to Arkansas next month. 23:22 you said Kendall County. I've lived in Yorkville mostly since 2002 (mostly which excludes the time I had in the USAF) and this town had grown a lot. 1:03:10 you should've mentioned how Ronald Reagan was a WWII Veteran 1:04:30 Blago tried to sell Obama's Senate Seat
great video as always. surprised though that the Second City in Chicago didn't get mentioned in the more cultural discussion, not even here in the comments. in terms of comedy, I don't think anything punches above its weight nor has such national and international influence as that improv venue. a partial list of alums of Second City (some of the names were mentioned in the celebrities section, but these are all specifically Second City folk): Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Dan Castallaneta, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Mike Myers, Amy Sedaris, Bill Murray, Fred Willard, Amy Poehler, Aidy Bryant. List could keep going on.
Hola from Queretaro. I live in Corregidora, and order groceries online for home delivery. Happy I relocated to Queretaro in 2021 at 79. You still must be ALERT, wherever you move. I have been coming to MEXICO for over 61 years, and all 50 states of the USA, and foreign travel on my own dime. Love all your videos, and thank you so much.
I have lived in the Illinois Quad Cities for my entire life (aside from a few months in Champaign, IL and a couple of years in CO) and I enjoyed watching your video. I definitely learned a couple of things. There is one thing which I felt should have been included, but seems to have been missed, when talking about the western border of Illinois. The original capital of Illinois, Kaskaskia is located west of the Mississippi River, in the only part of IL that is not east of the river. If you were to visit the town, you'd have to go through Missouri to get there.
at 6:15 didn't you mix up how you said that? Illinois is smaller than Wisconsin and bigger than Iowa, but how you worded it in the video sounds like it is the other way around.
@@cbjm36Really? 😂 Turn off MSNBC and come visit Things have changed quite a bit but I've lived here close to 70 years How long have you lived here? 🤔 Yea that's what I thought 😂
It’s interesting, illinois is really a great state that punches above its weight both agriculturally and economically and stands out from the rest of the country. Yet, living here for my whole life, Illinois seems to be the least “stateriotic” state in the country. If you ask someone in Illinois to describe the state they would most likely say something negative right off the bat and I wonder why. The results can be seen in the population decline. Perhaps it is because of the fierce rural vs. urban cultural divide. I grew up in an area close to Iowa, and many people associate themselves with Iowan culture over Illinoisan culture. To them the government of Illinois is a corrupt regime that only cares about the affairs of Chicagoland, leaving the rest of the state (which really needs a lot of help) behind. They don’t feel represented by Illinois so instead they choose to associate themselves with a neighboring states culture that is more relatable to their rural lives. I’m sure that the issue is even more profound in the Deep South of the state. And to Chicagoans, I’m sure the culture of rural Illinois seems backwards, irrelevant, and too conservative so they don’t want to associate themselves with the rest of Illinois. I believe we need a leader to unite these sides of Illinois because we are a dying state and we face many of the same problems, but there is hope. As an industrial and agricultural juggernaut the infrastructure is present to sustain great population and economic growth, I believe we need people to be proud to be an Illinoisan and we need to vouch for the State instead of constantly crap talking it, and a leader that can unite the two cultures would certainly help that.
It’s because of corrupt governors and mayors, Governor after governor getting caught in misallocations of funds, not maintaining roads, shitty road infastructure and so many tolls to still have shitty roads. Moved out naperville, IL for carmel, IN and even indiana has better roads. When you take I-74 from indiana into illinois you can see where road maintenance stops at the Illinois border 🤣
Very interesting video. As someone who has lived in Illinois my entire life you did a good job. You actually mentioned a city in Illinois outside of Chicago. I'm surprised you got Cairo pronunciation right, although we still need to work on Elgin. Overall though you did your research and came to the same conclusion most people in Illinois have. The state is pretty good compared to the rest of the union. Chicago is a good city. Does it have its homelessness, drugs, and violence yes but so does every other city. The city does a good job of working on it and keeping it away from the main downtown area. And it's affordable compared to west and east coast cities. Lots of parks for people to get outside. Actually in Ferris Beauler day off you can see what Millennium park & Grant park were in the 80s. Kinda a mess of rail lines and dump. So what does Chicago do best? Use that dump as an infrastructure and build stuff on top of it. Some things you missed on Chicago though. They may of changed it but last i knew all the Willis family did was buy all the rooms in the Sears tower, not the actually building it self(i could 100% be wrong about this) so technically calling it the Sears tower is still correct. Also you'll get lots of funny looks if you call it the Willis tower. 42:54 The Great Chicago fire started in a barn by.... Mrs.O'Learys cow, come on every one knows that one. The history you covered was good. More than what most knew. I'm surprised you added the fact of the french first fort bring at Starv Rock. That's why the town and county name for the area is La Salle-Peru. But yeah, Illinois town names are funny. We have a Normal town, Sandwich, Ottawa, Peru, and Cairo. I think you could of have also included a list of parks and forrest preserves. Starv Rock, Matthiessen, and Rock Cut are favorites of mine to hike at. And i don't think you gave Galena and the North West portion of the state enough credit. The ride out to Dubuque on 20 is breath taking once you get past Rockford(for good reason Rockford sucks). Jo Daviess and Stephenson county have some extreme hills. Galena is also a nice town. Grant lived there for a portion of his life and you can still vist his house. The last weekend of April they do a Grant Pilgrimage mainly for Boy Scouts but the town has a parade and civil war reenactments. It's a busy time for a small town. Also, there are so many steps. They have one star case that is about 120 or so steps. You got the style of Illinois down. Honestly south of I-80 you start getting grits for breakfast and at thay point you are pretty much in the south. And unless you live in chicago you hate chicago. The state captiol may be in Springfield but everything that matters happens in Chicago. Even with all the chicago sports team most people in the state go for teams in other states Something you missed or were wrong. Even though Illinois is called the Prarie state less than 1% of thd state was prarie(i want to say even before Europeans arrived).That political map at 8:38 shows Dekalb county as being blue, thats wrong Dekalb is as red as a ruby. You also didn't include how Chicago got its name. I believe it was the Miami or Alquongin tribe who called that area "smelly swamp" and we took their name for it and got Chicago out of it. 10:59 That's because Gary. IN suffered from all of that industry collapse. Also Illinois has one of the few rivers that flow from south to north, the Kishwaukee. 15:28 Yep been there, nothing else around Scales Mound. 16:42 Yep that's a big one. Mainly because of people from Naperville, ifykyk. 17:29 Also Rockford does not have 276,000 people in the city or even in the surrounding area. I haven't seen posting for the census but it is maybe 150,000 for the city. Not sure for the srounding area but maybe 225,000. Rockford has lost a lot of population. All the manufacturing jobs have slowly been shipped overseas or relocated to other states. There's still a small presence with Woodward, Collins Aerospace, and ingersol machine tools/ cutting tools(two different companies, but they do similar stuff). This is a shame because at one point in our history, every single screw made in america was made in Rockford. 18:13 Yep also have the Rock Island Armory there. There is a whole lotta guns there for the national guard and army. 19:02 Heh guys its a Normal town and there a Normal McDonalds in it. And then theres Sandwich. And a few miles to the east is a town called Plano. And there was a plan to make a town in between them called Balogna so then it would go Plano Balgnoa Sandwich(peak midwestern humor). Another cool native site(even though it was made by white guys in the early 1900s) is the Cheif Balckhawk statue in Oregon(Not pronounced like the state or game. Its orr-ig-on not orr-ig-ghen). It overlooks the Rock river, also called the Sinnissppi by the natives. You could go up and look through his eyes but the statue is pretty old and they don't do that anymore. Still a very cool mounument. 34:18 Oh yeah thay was a big thing when i went to elementary school. The focus on John Deere and Mccormick were pushed heavily. I guess when your teacher grew up on a farm, she wanted you to know the good stuff. 35:38 yep good ole Joseph Smith. We covered this in my APUSH class, and it was kinda crazy to read about. 39:01 Those Lincoln v Douglas debates were a pretty big deal back then and even now when you learn about the Civil War. The cities that held them are proud that they had them. 40:46 Oh yeah Chicago is know for the slaughter houses and stockyards. Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle. He was true about it all, just put whatever we have in the hopper and have it all be turn to chuck or sausage. 44:03 Oh yeah thats a funny one. We reversed the flow of a river, sent all our shit down to New Orleans, New Orleans got pissed and sue, but Chicago had better lawyers and won. 45:57 Yeah that's a fun fact. UChicago helped to make the bomb and we started experimenting with it in the middle of a hevaily populated city. Thankfully we went "hey maybe we shouldn't do this in a city and should go out to the middle of nowhere, New Mexico.". 49:58 He also had his one project, Falling Water, built in Rockford. 50:16 St.Regis and Aqua were designed by the same women Jeanne Gang. She's from Belvidere, IL which is about 80 miles from Chicago. They renamed part of Bus 20 for her father Jim Gang. Pretty big deal for someone from Belvidere, not a whole lot comes from Belvidere besides some Jeeps. But even now Stelantis is trying to get rid of the Chrysler plant there even though its one of the most "modern" car plants in the US(modern for a car factory is built after the 1950s). 53:50 I didnt know the Bean "official" name till i was about 16, still never use it. 54:14 You missed the Museum of Science and Industry! Its the only building left from the 1893 worlds fair. It has a bunch of real space craft and suits in there, most of a 727, a Messerschmitt Bf 109, Spitfire, Train Engine, Teslas coils, baby chicks, and the U-505 that we captured during WW2. For a while the navy used it in training exercise, then they gave it to chicago and they had it sitting outside the museam for a couple years. Then they finally decided hey we should probably move this thing indoors. So they dug a hole in front of the museum, slowly moved the sub acorss Lake Shore Dr, put the sub on jenga blocks, and slowly lowered it into the hole. It barely fits in there but its cool to tour. Its my personal favorite museum in Chicago. 56:28 The only restaurant to get deep dish from is Lou Malnati. Also, I genuinely didn't know pot belly was an illinois chain. I never have gone there and probably won't. Also another Illinois fast food chain is Beef-a-roo. A pretty good american style restaurant from Rockford. 59:27 You could of also talked about the Baha'i teample in Evanston too. Its a massive temple on the lake. 1:00:35 Yep Boeing is in Illinois not Washington. And we just say BeeMO for the BMO bank. 1:01:00 Also Rockford is #13 for cargo. It has the 2nd largest UPS sorting facility. #1 is in Louisville, KY. So its pretty important when it comes to air cargo and getting packages moved. Rockford is good for that. Close enough to chicago to drive it over, but far enough away to not deal with all the other traffic on the road and in the sky. 1:02:54 New Salem is really cool historic site, definitely a good visit if you go to Springfield. 1:03:23 He's mainly know to have lived in Dixon. All over the high school are stuff about him. He was also a lifegaurd on the Rock River when he was younger. Also i thought he moved to California to start his acting career? I think that's everyhting. Very good video its fun to see what people from an outside perspective see the state i live in
You did miss a few people that I know have lived in Illinois on your list. Abraham Lincoln, but you mentioned him elsewhere, so I'll forgive it. Also, Dick Van Dyke who grew up in Danville, IL.
Born and raised in central Illinois here, living in Bloomington for most of my life, and Peoria for a year. We benefit greatly from the cities, even though many complain about them
I live along the I-70 corridor in Illinois. I've been to each end of the State . The big cities doesn't interest me. Just to crowded. We are however Blessed with natural beauty throughout the State. I've put many miles on my motorcycle exploring my home State. Lots to offer.
When the Chicago suburbs started to move left politically, that was a game changer in favor of the democratic party. Seven decades ago, Chicago had 3.6 million people in the city limits. Today, the cities population is 2.7 million, but somewhat “stabilized.” There was a time when Republicans did quite well in the Chicago suburbs, but not anymore. The combined voting power of the city of Chicago and the Chicago suburbs helps Democrats stay in control of Illinois. The votes of so-called downstate Illinois for republicans is not enough to win. Without being able to win a bigger share of the Chicago suburbs, the math is just not there.
Wrong Outlying Cook County burbs here My Mayor is Republican and there are lots of us here Mail in ballot's/Dominion machines vote for us now Heck I got 3 mail in ballots last election 😂 I will use them this time 😉
As a Chicagoan who is going to school at southern illinois university… it’s basically a different state. Flat and corn fields up north, mountains and trees down south. It’s so different just driving 5 hours south in the same state. There’s terrible winters up north, and no snow down south. It’s kinda crazy how different residents of this state can live
No snow??? I beg to differ. I lived in southern IL for 18 years and we had all the same weather as St. Louis and Kansas City MO, including major snowstorms.
FINE… I’ll go see Chicago 🙄… you’ve convinced me that it’s worth a peek. I’m a New Yorker born and raised, which means I’m very critical of smaller cities. Even cities like Philadelphia feel puny compared to NYC. I’d love to see a city that feels as alive and NY. I’ve resisted going to Chicago for years because it didn’t seem worth my time, but you’re video definitely changed my perception of it.
yikes you shouldn't have to be convinced to visit a world class city like Chicago lmao and we are very proud Chicagoans so if you come here with all that NYC attitude oh boy lmao
So many people come to Chicago and say "wow it's like a clean NYC." I have to roll my eyes every time because I think the main similarity is that it's a huge population center and has that kind of energy you don't find outside of metropolises 😂 Both cities have their own unique history and architecture. If you go, there's a speedboat architecture tour that can be neat when you're visiting
Chicago is not that much smaller than NY. NYC is approximately 302 square miles, so not that much greater than Chicago’s 234 square miles. NY just has almost 3 times the ppl. Chicago: 2.7 million NYC: 8.2 million So NY has way more ppl but not a lot of space. Being born and raised in Chicago and going downtown where it’s most crowded, I thought I could handle Manhattan with no problem. I was wrong. Way too many ppl and it gave me anxiety. It’s way too crowded for me. It also smells in some areas there and the garbage is right on the street. Not here. It’s far more expensive there but the apartments are way smaller…crazy. We have lakefronts, clean beaches, beautiful parks (though Central Park was absolutely amazing to visit, hands down), and the probably some of the best food in the world. I didn’t care for the food in NYC and I was shocked how expensive it was, as compared to the taste. But I must say, I absolutely LOVE NY and would visit there more frequently if I was able. Bottoms line, come visit and you may wanna stay forever. Great neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Wicker Park, Magnificent Mile, River West, Bucktown, West Loop, South Loop, River North, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bronzeville, Edgewater, Greek Town, Roscoe Village and many more.
My brother's moving to Hyde Park to do social work later on this summer. And honestly the more I learn about Chicago the less scary it is. Could be worse, he could be moving to Florida
We have our problems here and lots of people are working on them. The news sensationalizes the problems without giving context about how much of the country suffers from the same struggles. Then they nearly entirely ignore the work to address our problems
Downtown Chicago and the north side is mostly safe and you'll have no worries. same with florida. its safe asf. probably should visit the places before you assume and become scared of it lmao
@samwill7259 what about the politics scare you? From what I see, florida is doing great. Recently they've been know for being pretty good politically and as a state. Again, visit these states before talking🤣 I already know you're a white liberal I don't gotta hear a thing else😭❤️
@@michaelford8182 Yep, Florida is doing great! Y'know, aside from trying to legislate the total erasure of black history from all levels of education & LGBTQ+ people from existing in public entirely, making the state wholly unwelcome to nonwhite migrant & undocumented workers when you can't actually function without them, human trafficking asylum seekers out of *other* states, and getting into an unwinnable thermonuclear war with the state's largest employer over their hilariously meek opposition to one specific facet of the above LGBTQ+ bigotry. So yeah, great little banana republic dumpster fire you've got raging down there. You can flipping keep it, you cowardly little hatemonger.
I've lived in Central Illinois my entire life, and when people only know our state for Chicago, it's gets pretty annoying. We have so much history, but it all goes to Chicago and not places like Peoria, Kankakee, Chillicothe, Decatur, etc
As your channel name claims, this was interesting. There's no avoiding dwelling a lot on Chicago, a global-tier city within a fairly rural state. The early history and growth of the state being really based around its river systems and railroads explains how Chicago grew out of a state that actually started its major development from the south, then "downstate" was overshadowed when Chicago reached industrial critical mass.
Great video… just a small correction: Illinois is 380 miles from north to south…measured from the middle of the northern border(land) to the southern tip near Cairo. Although it can definitely feel like 600 miles when you’re battling 40mph cross winds while trying to pass semi trucks that can’t stay in their lane due to those same crosswinds..
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Long time Chicagoan - really appreciate the conglomeration of all the early history of Illinois and the territories and populations throughout the ages. Enjoy your site!
I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago and it is such a wonderful city. Nothing beats the variety of food, activities, architecture, cleanliness, cost of living… I could go on and on. I moved to Cleveland for school then decided to stay (most underrated city in the country IMO), but Chicago will always have my heart.
Yeah all those murders and crack deals are great
@juliadwiggins-jo3fo thats not common
@@juliadwiggins-jo3fo Stoopid uneducated comment!
@@juliadwiggins-jo3foAh a classic case of someone who’s never been
@@JakeVanderPloegor just saying something inflammatory baiting a response
I didn’t realize how beautiful Chicago was before, this video really opened my eyes!
Illinois certainly has its problems and downsides, but you cannot deny its place as one of the most influential and accomplished states in the country! I was born in Aurora, IL. Only lived there 3 years total, but I go back to Chicagoland all the time. The history of Chicago is absolutely fascinating. Like many great cities of the world such as Rome or London, it came from the humblest of beginnings. A festering swamp in the most sparsely populated area in the country to the national rail hub of the US to a global economic power teeming with skyscrapers, art and some of the finest universities in the world. How many cities do you know that have raised the city up a story, reversed the flow of a river or rose like a phoenix out of one of the most devastating fires in history? It’s only Chicago. Chicago is excellence and innovation personified! And what’s hilarious is I find most Illinoisans I know to be a self-deprecating folk, but they have to always be thinking they have something very special in Illinois. Illinois and Chicago in particular are under a lot of scrutiny by the media and people of the US outside of Illinois, but if you just go to downtown Chicago in June and experience it for yourself, I don’t see how you don’t just fall in love with that city. You may be able to tell, I really like Illinois! Illinois rocks!
Your description of why Illinois is so good only includes seeing Chicago, and the Chicagoan achievements....
Where I live, we all hate our state. We feel like everyone pays attention to Chicago while forgetting about the people who live in the rest of the state.
Hospitals are closing, schools are underfunded, essential services are breaking down. The median income for Illinois is floated pretty high by Chicago. If you take a look at the state while excluding Chicago, we're in a very very sad position.
I'm a Democrat and all for taxes, but a lot of our state taxes go toward funding Chicago, the rural areas of Illinois see little to no benefit from state taxes because they're funneled into Chicagoan programs. In my small town of less than 10k people, our elementary schools are legally owed 10's of thousands of dollars by the state. Illinois doesn't pay it's schools or hospitals like they're legally supposed to, the taxes are commonly misappropriated for Chicago. The "Education Budget" turns into "Chicago Education".
From a Democratic Rural perspective, Illinois is sucking us dry while propping up a failing city.
I've lived 2hrs from Chicago my whole life, and I've only been there twice, because I cannot barely afford to stay alive.
@@baileescott401Moved out Naperville IL and Into Carmel, IN. Illinois has very bad roads outside of chicago and bloomington. It’s funny taking I-74 into danville, IL because that’s where road maintenance stops 🤣
@@baileescott401and Chicago I-94 on the southside is garbage and full of potholes, they haven’t even bothered to fix the southside I-94 since I lived there in the 2000s, I still occasionally take I-65 into chicago and I-94 southside is still a shitty road.
@@baileescott401Also, the governor of Illinois got caught in Misallocations of funds which explains why roads are so bad, It’s a corrupt state
@aimxdy8680 which one? Weve only had 3 of the last 5 governors go to prison :)
Chicago is hands down my favorite city in the country. Such a cool city that manages to still be Midwestern at its core. Chicago in the summer is the best city in the world
Having lived here all my life, I personally disagree. But I’m glad someone else likes it
@@venomlink2033, but you don’t live here. You live in the wasteland that is indiana. You are a troll who hates his life. I lived in Hawaii, Kansas, Chicago and a couple places but for short times for work. Chicago is dope. With its rough edges (I admit). Hawaii was obviously better because it’s freaking paradise. But $3k just for a studio and having to make new friends every 3 years lost it for me. It’s all relative.
@@hamburglar83you could have been less insulting
Yes summer time Chi ain’t no where in the world that compares. You can literally feel the energy. If you never lived here you won’t understand.
I wish I could agree with Chicago summers being the best but I can't at the moment. I moved here about two months ago and it's been rain, wildfire smoke, and tornados lol
As a Chicagoan from Uptown, I approve this research. You have done a truly thoughtful piece on my beloved city. 🙂
I’m from Columbus, but a lot of my friends from college have moved to Chicago since graduating, whether they were already from there or from elsewhere. Needless to say I am very jealous of them as Chicago seems like an amazing city for young people
Yeah Chicago has a very young population
im from columbus as well and it’s where i want to move after college
dont let the media fool you it is a top 10 city in the world especially during the warm days!
Now if we could only retain older people and working class people in the south.
It was pretty well done and balanced. Nice job. You did forget a few famous people from Illinois, but there's so many that I'm really not gonna hold that against you.
I'm Indiana-born, but moved to Illinois in 1997. It is my home now. Lived for 23 years in Chicago, LOVED the city. It's big, loud, beautiful, violent, vibrant, world class, arrogant and diverse. Part of the reason I loved living there for so long. I loved being able to hear five different languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese and Hindi) just walking to the corner store. The only reason I did leave was because of a major personal loss. As much as I love the city, it held too many memories and wasn't home anymore. I do still visit though.
I'm in Central Illinois and have fallen in love with it too. The culture is very different, more similar to what I grew up with in Indiana, but still surprisingly welcoming and dynamic. It's great that the different areas of the state are so different. Illinois does have a lot of problems. Trust me, we are VERY aware of them. But it's home. I honestly wouldn't change that for the world.
Needed 1/2 hour on STYX! ;-)
I moved out Naperville, Illinois for Carmel, Indiana. Illinois is corrupt, governors getting caught in misallocations of funds and shitty roads. It’s funny taking I-74 in Illinois because that’s where road maintenance stops
Thank you so much for making this video. I'm an Army brat and grew up in Washington, D.C., by way of other places. My ex and I visited to Chicago to check out the University of Chicago, where he had been accepted in the MBA program. We flew into Midway Airport. After the plane taxied to the gate, we walked down the jetway. When my feet hit the ground, I looked around, turned to my ex and said, "This is the place". That was in 1978 and I've been here ever since. My family and college friends think I'm nuts, but I love the mid-west, and I love Chicago. From here I've been able to visit the beautiful eastern shore of Minnesota, the Apostle Islands in Northern Wisconsin. In fact, I've been able to see much of what the rest of the country considers 'fly-over' country. Illinois and Chicago do have serious problems but, I would rather live here than any other state EXCEPT Montana and Wyoming. Can't move cuz I'm too old now! Thanks, again.
WELCOME BACK SIR.. 🎉 I appreciate the time and respect you put into each and every one of these state history videos. We know it takes a lot of time and research. Thank you and blessings to you and your family.
Definitely. I love learning about the US from the channel. Thankyou and greetings from Australia.
I've lived in central Illinois my entire life but have been lucky enough to travel the country extensively and still feel for your money it is the most balanced and perfect state. Yes, down state whines about Chicago but deep down we know we are extremely lucky to have her and her $. We are lucky to be just a couple of hours from St. Louis, Indianapolis and Chicago so we can enjoy rural life or city life whenever we like. The state is perfect for raising a family and overall very safe. I have visited Chicago hundreds of times and never once felt in danger. Don't go looking for trouble and you won't find it.
Well said 👏
Spent my first 22 years of life there and have to say it is truly as you described. Now that I've spent 8 years away I can see it's true balance
I love Peoria
This 1000 times: I lived in Atlanta for 7 years because it was the hip and trendy thing to do but the quality of life just isn't the same as Illinois. I moved back and felt my time in Georgia was a learning experience that went on too long. From living in Chicago or going to the state fair every year in Springfield, to taking the Amtrak to explore different parts of the state I feel like Illinois is a very underrated state with terrible PR. It has its many problems but so do other states; the others are just better at covering them up with glitzy cover stories.
love central Illinois - from a Californian living in Chicago (now an Illinoisan, I suppose)
Wow, as a former tour guide atop Chicago’s double decker buses, that was a lot of details on Illinois, if this was a college project I’d give you an A+. From southern Illinois with its beautiful views of Shawnee National Forest , historic Springfield with its Abraham Lincoln sites, Cahokia Mounds (ancient pyramid like structures), charming Galena in the northwest to Chicago. Illinois has an abundance of rich diversity, and rich farmland.
Excited to see my state finally featured! I really enjoyed this one, and learned a lot that I feel like I should've already known. A few bits:
15:38 "Elgin" is pronounced EL-jin, with a soft G.
18:08 Confusingly, there are actually 5 quad cities. Seriously. On the IL side are Rock Island, Moline, & East Moline, along with Bettendorf & Davenport on the IA side.
I was surprised to see you didn't mention the Haymarket Riots & Chicago's role in the American labor movement in your Chicago history section. I feel like the Burnham Plan & its effect on the city we see today also deserved a quick mention.
Awesome video!
Agreed, especially for Haymarket.
I also thought the Haymarket Riot deserved a mention, but overall the creator (and his brother) did a great job, especially for an out-of-stater. P.S. El-jin with *hard g*
@@jenniferm.9191 really curious what "El-jin with hard g" means
@@pocketsnickers "hard g" means the g is pronounced like it is in the word "giraffe", i.e. like a J. Soft g would like pronounced like it is in the word "good."
Interesting --you made me research the term 'driftless region' and I learned a lot. You've done an exceptional job really exploring the identity of the State of Illinois.
Lifelong downstate resident here. LOVED this video, very balanced perspective, and I learned a lot from it. It is easy to forget or take for granted the sheer size and impact of Chicago in comparison to other U.S. or world cities.
As a southern illinoisan who has spent a good amount of time in Chicago, it’s hard to diminish the importance of Chicago on the state, yet it is endlessly annoying to be treated as “the rest of illinois”. You did a fantastic job highlighting all aspects of Illinois in a balanced manner and I wish more people would explore more corners of the state. You nailed it when you talked about the diversity of the state, it’s really staggering and I don’t thing Chicago natives like to acknowledge it like they should.
In my experience, many Chicagoans have little awareness of southern Illinois or even central Illinois. I once told a Chicagoan that I was from southern Illinois, and he asked if I meant Joliet.🙂 I've also heard a Chicagoan say that it's hard to imagine Illinois extending further south than Mattoon. (Credit to him for at least being aware of Mattoon though!)
I lived half my life in Chicagoland. As I grew up and matured, I learned to hate cities generally, and regret never having learned much about the rest of my state. You're right; none of us city folk know a damn thing about real Illinois. Of course city folk don't know a damn thing about anything anyway..
As a Chicago native, the treatment of the "rest of Illinois" is not an intentional thing. After all Chicagoans, provides most of the State's revenue and our property taxes subsidize a lot of spending in Central and South Illinois. The truth is the divide is purely political. It is easy to say it is Chicago fault when the local politician fails to deliver for his constituents while fundraising in the Chicago market. There is a reason that splitting Illinois is forgotten after every election. If they did that Chicago would be one of the richest states in the Union, while greater Illinois would emerge one of the poorest.
@@deangraves7462The idea that central/southern Illinois is benefiting from Chicago taxes is something that I think many residents of central and southern Illinois would be surprised to hear (and I'm skeptical as to how much it's true). I grew up in southern Illinois and still have relatives there. Over the past 20 years or so, I have seen a significant degradation in basic road maintenance, extended closures of interstate highway rest areas, and a failure of Illinois state employee medical coverage to pay bills in a timely manner. And all of this has happened while the state income tax increased from 3% to 5%.
Federal Covid stimulus money may have led to some improvements, but my perception is that southern Illinois residents (and probably all Illinois residents) are paying higher taxes and getting less for those taxes. I think a substantial number of Illinoisans from the southern and central part of the state would be OK with splitting off from Chicago, with the south/central part of the state becoming more like Indiana, politically and economically. But the process of splitting a state is so difficult that I don't think it will happen, and I don't know of anyone who is seriously pushing for it (mainly because it's probably not achievable).
But having said that, I'm not anti-Chicago. I have family in Chicago too, and I love visiting Chicago. The many cultures that have combined in that one city have resulted in some of the greatest food and greatest music of any city anywhere, and there are lots of interesting things to see and do.
@@deangraves7462Your property taxes are 100 percent local. Your property taxes do not go to other parts of Illinois. The city of Chicago is in debted $43,000 per capita - that's why Cook County property taxes are high.
Here in Texas the state debt in Austin is only $1,500 per capita, but local Texas government is indebted $15,500 per capita. Texas property taxes are high - to avoid the debt burden that Illinois has acquired. It can be difficult to find a low property tax County in Texas - the TX counties that I can find lack any towns greater than 2,000 population.
There are very low property tax counties in far southern Illinois - some of the lowest in the U.S. Pulaski County, Illinois has very low property taxes.
If initially only Cook County was a separate state, and the new Illinois was low tax, it could soon look like Tennesee. Chicago business would move to suburbs. It would be very bad for Chicago over the long term.
Naperville resident here. Very interesting video, and told me about a good amount of things that I didn’t know as someone who has lived in this state my whole life.
One other tiny tidbit of information as far as native companies. Quickly-rising Electric Vehicle company Rivian is located in Normal, Illinois.
Milwaukee resident here. I love being so close to Chicago and having frequent train service to get there.
Illinois is one of my favorite states. Like others have said in the comments, people from Illinois seem to not have much state pride. People that live there should be proud of their state. Illinois has great history, decent politics, a world class city, friendly people, nice beaches along Lake Michigan, respected universities, important exports that help the US and the World, and more!
That’s them other Illinois folks who don’t have pride, but have you met a true Chicagoan? Pride in our city is an understatement. We love it all, even the bad parts.
Decent politics??????????? Chicago is the corruption capital of the world. Illinois has had more 20th century governors land in jail than any other state. Time for little education.
I think the reason why Illinois doesn’t have much state pride is because Chicagoans have too much Chicago pride. As we should best city in the union!!
When talking about agriculture, you left out that we're the number one producer of pumpkins by a landslide as well. Great video though! Our state has a lot of problems, but overall it is a great place.
No matter how you slice it, Illinois is one of the most influential, historic and mesmerizing states in the United States. Of course I’m biased, I’m from the city in the Midwest, best city in the whole wide world! Southside 4 life! Also glad you shouted out my alma mater, Illinois State, go Redbirds
As an Illinois resident, I truly did enjoy the video. Personally, I've lived in Illinois for most of my life, and in three seperate, yet distinct, parts of it: southern, south-central, and north-central. I grew up in southern Illinois, and much of what you said about it was correct. While I understand that its importance in the state is rather low, I sorta wished you had gone into more detail about it lol. I will say, it was a little surprising to not hear Carbondale mentioned once, considering how it is one of the largest cities (if you can call it that lol) in southern Illinois. That, and how much of the coal industry has moved away from the state. While obviously it still is there, much of the southern portions of the state (where I was from at least) are filled with abandoned strip mines that are now filled with water, making extremely deep lakes pocketing the landscape--at least one of which areas was even turned into a state park. Shawnee National Forest is also something deserving of mention I believe. While you did talk about the Garden of the Gods and southern Illinois's rocky landscape, the Shawnee National Forest expands much of southern Illinois has quite a few beautiful locations for hiking and camping.
Again, I really did love the video--please do not take my criticisms as the only thing I took away from it. As many have said, it is hard to talk about this state without mentioning the sheer importance of Chicago to it. I just like to see more light shown on lesser known areas of places, as there are so many beautiful places throughout the world and especially the US :)
I think it would be cool to do a “Cities Explained” series, to focus more on the big cities in North America and even around the world (although doing big cities around the world would be a lot more work).
This is the best history of Chicago I have ever heard! Thank you! Seriously!
Chicago is my second favorite American big city (San Diego #1). Great architecture, lots to do, good food, and friendly people. I would live there if it was not so cold 🥶 in the winter.
Chicago is a hell hole. Watch out for the "locals".
@@Antonio_Serdarding, ding, ding!
We found the “hell hole” troll !!
There’s always a few lurking in the woodpile. 🙄
@@Earth1218
Not trolling. Chicago is genuinely the worst place I have visited after Detroit.
I haven't been to San Francisco though
@@Antonio_Serdar Yeah, no.
I’m thinking it’s more political than anything else. “Hell hole” and “Locals” were the giveaways.
@@Earth1218
Nah, I have been to Boston which is pretty liberal as well and didn't have issues.
But Chicago is really, really bad.
Great job and thanks for your work. I was constantly thinking "he should mention this or that" and then you do mention it. Of course you missed famous people, but you did a great job. I grew up in the Chicago area and was amazed when I moved away and saw the skyline of other major cities and also the small size of other city's museums. Made me appreciate where I grew up even more. Keep up the good work.
As much as illinoisans rag on our own state, and often times deservedly so, it still has many wonderful parts and a fascinating history in the Nation’s Heartland
My extended family was divided between the city folk around Chicago and the farm folk west of Peoria. They hated Chicago with a passion. Cardinals and Packers were their teams.
All gone now, one cousin left on a farm in an empty county. Rural Illinois is in a hard place.
better than crime filled shit-cago
Rural Illinois is where you find all the morons that dream about moving to Y'allquaeda shithole states despite demonstrably worse human development there, hense the population decline. The idiots moving across the river to Methssouri have made by formerly deep red town purple and edging towards blue, so I guess I can't complain too much.
My experience is mainly in the northern rural areas west of Rockford (and I like in the nw burbs) but man I fuckin love it. The rolling hills meeting huge flat areas. Reminds me of Colorado and the rest of the Midwest at the same time. (Glaciers... fuck yeah) Trees and corn everywhere. About a month ago I drove through a swarm of dragonflies somewhere near the Kishwaukee river and it literally brought me to tears. Both because I probably killed hundreds of them with my delivery van but also because it was just fucking jaw dropping and you'd never ever see something like that living in the city.
I spent 21 years of my life in Illinois, it is a good state filled with a lot of good people.
Great video! Chicago is clearly one of the best cities in North America. Great point about Chicago/Illinois being a microcosm even in our climate we have all the seasons while having little to no extreme weather
One of the mysteries regarding the native people of Illinois is why Cahokia was abandoned, which happened before the arrival of Europeans.
Everyone is mystified by this. Even historians. No one can explain why they just inexplicably "left." Quite strange!
Yeah, where there is no definitive answer to the question, there's room for lots of interesting speculation. Probably not only one factor was to blame. Theories I personally favor: new diseases spreading from early contacts with Europeans (sure, the Europeans landed thousands of miles away, but the people here had wide trade networks), a possible long drought, increased political (and maybe also religious) conflict in a highly stratified society when resources dwindled, drastic change in the course of the Mississippi River away from Cahokia's center.
Excited for this one. I love learning about different parts of the world and especially our continent.
I grew up in Alberta, Canada and used to work briefly on a project with a team from Chicago.
Now I live on the Canadian side of the southern border with Washington state. I’ve been to over 20 states, but it’s been years now since I last travelled.
The video i have been waiting for! I am traveling to Illinois in July and can’t wait to see the state!
Illinois sucks
Illinoisans hold the title for the most state-hating people in the country. It's an incredibly rare thing to hear an Illinoisan say "it's pretty good here, actually!" Our self-loathing has got to be the #1 reason we've lost so many people. It's seen as cool to "escape Illinois," frequently moving west to states like Colorado. Often joking that the Brewers' stadium is "Wrigley North," I now add that the Rockies' stadium is "Wrigley West." I was amazed to discover that Denver has a Lou Malnati's, to support the massive Illinois exodus. (Every single person I know who's left the state says the same thing to me: "I miss the pizza.")
As a lifelong Illinoisan who's had the blessing of seeing a lot of the country, I've began to realize how privileged we are for our state-hate. I shudder at the housing prices in America's currently "hot" markets. I couldn't imagine living in the South (Illinois summers are humid enough). Illinois truthfully is not a bad place. You can do a lot worse choosing a state to live in. My personal take is that much of the Illinois hate comes from a sentiment, deep down in our hearts, of knowing how good Illinois *could* be. Whether it be national decisions like the Jones Act or state politicians kicking our state while it's down, it is largely a case of self-destruction. Politicians here run on platforms of "I'll give you candy now so you'll get cavities later," putting us in a politician-induced death spiral. Despite the fact that the "Rust Belt" moniker is running out of style and manufacturing continues to re-grow, most Illinoisans still have this sentiment that we're in a state of decline; in large enough consensus, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I have strong faith that Illinois will rebound. With plenty of cheap land, a diverse economy, climate change affecting other parts of the country, and our state's geographic importance as the shipping, transport, and agricultural hub of the nation, it's only a matter of time before Illinois becomes a desirable place to live again.
Great video! I couldn't have described my home state any better.
Grew up in Chicago Lived in outlying burbs 2 blocks from Chicago and I'm close to 70 It's the politics That's why people are leaving Former Dem here of 45 years They have lost their minds Many people I know say "Can't fight them might as well leave" This is my state My home they are destroying Hope I live long enough to see it go back to the way it was 😊
Great job as always Carter. Every episode I watch I learn something new about the state you are covering. Can't wait for the next one 🙌😁
Wow, Chicago was almost in Wisconsin? I can only imagine how much more intense the sports rivalries would be than they already are.
My favourite episode yet. Thanks Carter
Love the effort you put into these videos! Please keep these up
I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, which is a great area to settle down and raise a family.
Born and raised in Rockford! Great video - great to see pics of my hometown and Chicago.
Quinn! You did a great job editing. I loved the video and info, hello! from Alton! Minute 1:01:56 “Miles Davis” 🎺
Chicago has extended two western commuter rail lines and added a third that goes up to the Wisc border. You must include more collar counties including two in Wisc. Three in Indiana and one in Michigan. The Chicago Metro area has about 10 million people. Excellent video, nicely done.
Love your videos! I always look forward to new releases in this series! Keep it up.
You packed a lot in there. Whew! And did a fantastic job. Pretty balanced to boot. So yeah, well done. As a Chicago, Illinois native, I thank you.
Long time Chicagoan. Thank you for the true care taken in this
As someone who grew up in southernmost Illinois, went to college in central Illinois, and has spent lots of time in the Chicago area and the St. Louis area, I think you did a great job of fairly covering the various parts of the state, and of making the very important point that Illinois is essentially two different states, with the Chicago area having very different culture and politics from the rest of Illinois. Some other observations as I watched through the video:
* I was impressed by your correct pronunciation of Cairo, though I've always heard Elgin pronounced with a "j" sound rather than a hard "g".
* I grew up in the hilly part of southern Illinois, but I've never heard that area called the Illinois Ozarks.
* I'm glad that you mentioned Garden of the Gods; it's a beautiful geographical formation.
* Collinsville with an "s", not Collinville
* I was sorry to see modern-day Cairo featured prominently, considering what a wasteland it has become. But it was correct to include it, given its historical and geographical significance.
* Population loss across Illinois can be largely explained by politics and taxes, in my humble opinion (based partly on personal experience).
* The only way that the Petronas Towers are taller than the Sears Tower is if you count the decorative spires on the top of the Petronas Towers, but don't count the broadcast antennas on top of the Sears Tower. If you find an image that shows the buildings side by side, you can see that it's very questionable to count the Petronas Towers as taller.
* I was glad to see the Superman festival get a mention.
* "Guaranteed Rate Field" for the White Sox -- ugh! It seems like they're constantly changing the name of what ought to be called Comiskey Park.
* It would have been nice to see more about the history of blues music in Chicago, though I know it was briefly mentioned. Chicago is immensely important to the history of blues music, and Chicago blues music heavily influenced many of the early British rockers, like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton.
Overall, you did a great job, and I think you covered all the most important aspects of Illinois. The biggest thing I would recommend to improve future videos is to include more on-site, in-person video footage, like you had for parts of Chicago. But I'm sure that's expensive and time-consuming.
Finally, my state and city are mentioned! If you happen to be in Champaign, IL at any time, really make sure to check out the downtown and campustown areas, they give a very “big metro city” type of feel!
I lived in Champaign by the post office on Green Street for most of a year, with a friend who was attending the university, back in 2000‐2001. I'm a school bus driver these days and occasionally get trips to Champaign/Urbana for sports and academic activities. The cities have changed so much in such a short time. The Garcia's Pizza in a Pan location that I used to work at has been demolished, and lots of tall buildings have gone up.
You're right. It's like a tiny urban metropolis in the middle of the farmland.
Hopefully, they'll finish the construction on I-57 & I-74 soon!
Born and raised in Aurora. Left Illinois for the USAF from 2009 to 2012. Moving to Arkansas next month.
23:22 you said Kendall County. I've lived in Yorkville mostly since 2002 (mostly which excludes the time I had in the USAF) and this town had grown a lot.
1:03:10 you should've mentioned how Ronald Reagan was a WWII Veteran
1:04:30 Blago tried to sell Obama's Senate Seat
Reagan made movies. Yeah technically a veteran but he never stepped foot outside the USA. Another conservative poser.
I live in Wisconsin and I was always fascinated by my neighboring states history and geography so thanks
Every Illinois resident flocking to this video right now
😁
I live in the north suburbs of Chicago and the area is very beautiful. Love chi town
great video as always. surprised though that the Second City in Chicago didn't get mentioned in the more cultural discussion, not even here in the comments. in terms of comedy, I don't think anything punches above its weight nor has such national and international influence as that improv venue.
a partial list of alums of Second City (some of the names were mentioned in the celebrities section, but these are all specifically Second City folk): Chris Farley, Tim Meadows, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Dan Castallaneta, Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, John Candy, Mike Myers, Amy Sedaris, Bill Murray, Fred Willard, Amy Poehler, Aidy Bryant. List could keep going on.
Your best video yet. Thanks
Hola from Queretaro. I live in Corregidora, and order groceries online for home delivery.
Happy I relocated to Queretaro in 2021 at 79. You still must be ALERT, wherever you move. I have been coming to MEXICO for over 61 years, and all 50 states of the USA, and foreign travel on my own dime.
Love all your videos, and thank you so much.
I have lived in the Illinois Quad Cities for my entire life (aside from a few months in Champaign, IL and a couple of years in CO) and I enjoyed watching your video. I definitely learned a couple of things. There is one thing which I felt should have been included, but seems to have been missed, when talking about the western border of Illinois. The original capital of Illinois, Kaskaskia is located west of the Mississippi River, in the only part of IL that is not east of the river. If you were to visit the town, you'd have to go through Missouri to get there.
Wow, did not know that about Kaskaskia. Thanks for pointing that out for other Illinoisans watching! Greetings from Bloomington!
at 6:15 didn't you mix up how you said that? Illinois is smaller than Wisconsin and bigger than Iowa, but how you worded it in the video sounds like it is the other way around.
Excellent as always, Carter! Love this series. Greetings from far far away :)
Thanks my guy! love your videos - keep grinding to your dreams while we benefit brother
This is exhaustive. Great job!
Carter!
I haven't heard you in a while, not sure why I am not being notified of your new releases, I should.
I am enjoying the states series!
As a Minnesota man i LOVE Chicago!!!
shit-cago
We love you back!
Hoosier by birth that also loves Chicago
Champaign Urbana 😍😍😍
Move there
Really like your informative videos, I personally have no desire to go to Illinois at all, but it is still worthwhile learning about it.
Illinois, where the governor does 2 terms. One in office the other in prison.
Technically only blagovech finished his term in prison. And I can’t wait for Madigan to finally answer for his 40 years of crimes
I grew up near the Chicago Portage. It's cool living in the area that kick started Chicago's ascent.
Very thorough and well done. Thankyou and thanks to Quinn as well.
As a former Illinois resident, you did a very good job of the history and other informational tid bits. I can't wait for you to do Arizona.
When trying to figure out why the state is losing residents, take a look at property taxes.
TII you will never know how much i appreciate your content. thank you ❤️
My kiddo is living in Chicago❤ty for this
hOPE he stays safe, that place is a warzone
@@jesus_is_mylord777lmao it’s not that bad
@@jesus_is_mylord777Turn off Fox News and actually go to the city and you’ll realize that it, like literally every major city, is actually quite safe
@@jesus_is_mylord777 it's only a warzone if you're a gangster. Most deaths come from gang vs gang violence.
@@cbjm36Really? 😂 Turn off MSNBC and come visit Things have changed quite a bit but I've lived here close to 70 years How long have you lived here? 🤔 Yea that's what I thought 😂
I just visited Illinois for the first time the other day I went to Chicago. I think it’s so cool that I just ran into this video now!
It’s interesting, illinois is really a great state that punches above its weight both agriculturally and economically and stands out from the rest of the country. Yet, living here for my whole life, Illinois seems to be the least “stateriotic” state in the country. If you ask someone in Illinois to describe the state they would most likely say something negative right off the bat and I wonder why. The results can be seen in the population decline. Perhaps it is because of the fierce rural vs. urban cultural divide. I grew up in an area close to Iowa, and many people associate themselves with Iowan culture over Illinoisan culture. To them the government of Illinois is a corrupt regime that only cares about the affairs of Chicagoland, leaving the rest of the state (which really needs a lot of help) behind. They don’t feel represented by Illinois so instead they choose to associate themselves with a neighboring states culture that is more relatable to their rural lives. I’m sure that the issue is even more profound in the Deep South of the state. And to Chicagoans, I’m sure the culture of rural Illinois seems backwards, irrelevant, and too conservative so they don’t want to associate themselves with the rest of Illinois. I believe we need a leader to unite these sides of Illinois because we are a dying state and we face many of the same problems, but there is hope. As an industrial and agricultural juggernaut the infrastructure is present to sustain great population and economic growth, I believe we need people to be proud to be an Illinoisan and we need to vouch for the State instead of constantly crap talking it, and a leader that can unite the two cultures would certainly help that.
It’s because of corrupt governors and mayors, Governor after governor getting caught in misallocations of funds, not maintaining roads, shitty road infastructure and so many tolls to still have shitty roads.
Moved out naperville, IL for carmel, IN and even indiana has better roads. When you take I-74 from indiana into illinois you can see where road maintenance stops at the Illinois border 🤣
the rural culture to most chicagoans/ suburban chicagoans feels like most of the midwest, the city is there to support them.
Thank you for another great upload, as usual. Chicago is a place I lived in the longest, and will always be an unofficial hometown.
Very interesting video. As someone who has lived in Illinois my entire life you did a good job. You actually mentioned a city in Illinois outside of Chicago. I'm surprised you got Cairo pronunciation right, although we still need to work on Elgin. Overall though you did your research and came to the same conclusion most people in Illinois have. The state is pretty good compared to the rest of the union. Chicago is a good city. Does it have its homelessness, drugs, and violence yes but so does every other city. The city does a good job of working on it and keeping it away from the main downtown area. And it's affordable compared to west and east coast cities. Lots of parks for people to get outside. Actually in Ferris Beauler day off you can see what Millennium park & Grant park were in the 80s. Kinda a mess of rail lines and dump. So what does Chicago do best? Use that dump as an infrastructure and build stuff on top of it. Some things you missed on Chicago though. They may of changed it but last i knew all the Willis family did was buy all the rooms in the Sears tower, not the actually building it self(i could 100% be wrong about this) so technically calling it the Sears tower is still correct. Also you'll get lots of funny looks if you call it the Willis tower. 42:54 The Great Chicago fire started in a barn by.... Mrs.O'Learys cow, come on every one knows that one.
The history you covered was good. More than what most knew. I'm surprised you added the fact of the french first fort bring at Starv Rock. That's why the town and county name for the area is La Salle-Peru. But yeah, Illinois town names are funny. We have a Normal town, Sandwich, Ottawa, Peru, and Cairo. I think you could of have also included a list of parks and forrest preserves. Starv Rock, Matthiessen, and Rock Cut are favorites of mine to hike at. And i don't think you gave Galena and the North West portion of the state enough credit. The ride out to Dubuque on 20 is breath taking once you get past Rockford(for good reason Rockford sucks). Jo Daviess and Stephenson county have some extreme hills. Galena is also a nice town. Grant lived there for a portion of his life and you can still vist his house. The last weekend of April they do a Grant Pilgrimage mainly for Boy Scouts but the town has a parade and civil war reenactments. It's a busy time for a small town. Also, there are so many steps. They have one star case that is about 120 or so steps.
You got the style of Illinois down. Honestly south of I-80 you start getting grits for breakfast and at thay point you are pretty much in the south. And unless you live in chicago you hate chicago. The state captiol may be in Springfield but everything that matters happens in Chicago. Even with all the chicago sports team most people in the state go for teams in other states
Something you missed or were wrong. Even though Illinois is called the Prarie state less than 1% of thd state was prarie(i want to say even before Europeans arrived).That political map at 8:38 shows Dekalb county as being blue, thats wrong Dekalb is as red as a ruby. You also didn't include how Chicago got its name. I believe it was the Miami or Alquongin tribe who called that area "smelly swamp" and we took their name for it and got Chicago out of it. 10:59 That's because Gary. IN suffered from all of that industry collapse. Also Illinois has one of the few rivers that flow from south to north, the Kishwaukee. 15:28 Yep been there, nothing else around Scales Mound. 16:42 Yep that's a big one. Mainly because of people from Naperville, ifykyk. 17:29 Also Rockford does not have 276,000 people in the city or even in the surrounding area. I haven't seen posting for the census but it is maybe 150,000 for the city. Not sure for the srounding area but maybe 225,000. Rockford has lost a lot of population. All the manufacturing jobs have slowly been shipped overseas or relocated to other states. There's still a small presence with Woodward, Collins Aerospace, and ingersol machine tools/ cutting tools(two different companies, but they do similar stuff). This is a shame because at one point in our history, every single screw made in america was made in Rockford. 18:13 Yep also have the Rock Island Armory there. There is a whole lotta guns there for the national guard and army. 19:02 Heh guys its a Normal town and there a Normal McDonalds in it. And then theres Sandwich. And a few miles to the east is a town called Plano. And there was a plan to make a town in between them called Balogna so then it would go Plano Balgnoa Sandwich(peak midwestern humor). Another cool native site(even though it was made by white guys in the early 1900s) is the Cheif Balckhawk statue in Oregon(Not pronounced like the state or game. Its orr-ig-on not orr-ig-ghen). It overlooks the Rock river, also called the Sinnissppi by the natives. You could go up and look through his eyes but the statue is pretty old and they don't do that anymore. Still a very cool mounument. 34:18 Oh yeah thay was a big thing when i went to elementary school. The focus on John Deere and Mccormick were pushed heavily. I guess when your teacher grew up on a farm, she wanted you to know the good stuff. 35:38 yep good ole Joseph Smith. We covered this in my APUSH class, and it was kinda crazy to read about. 39:01 Those Lincoln v Douglas debates were a pretty big deal back then and even now when you learn about the Civil War. The cities that held them are proud that they had them. 40:46 Oh yeah Chicago is know for the slaughter houses and stockyards. Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle. He was true about it all, just put whatever we have in the hopper and have it all be turn to chuck or sausage. 44:03 Oh yeah thats a funny one. We reversed the flow of a river, sent all our shit down to New Orleans, New Orleans got pissed and sue, but Chicago had better lawyers and won. 45:57 Yeah that's a fun fact. UChicago helped to make the bomb and we started experimenting with it in the middle of a hevaily populated city. Thankfully we went "hey maybe we shouldn't do this in a city and should go out to the middle of nowhere, New Mexico.". 49:58 He also had his one project, Falling Water, built in Rockford. 50:16 St.Regis and Aqua were designed by the same women Jeanne Gang. She's from Belvidere, IL which is about 80 miles from Chicago. They renamed part of Bus 20 for her father Jim Gang. Pretty big deal for someone from Belvidere, not a whole lot comes from Belvidere besides some Jeeps. But even now Stelantis is trying to get rid of the Chrysler plant there even though its one of the most "modern" car plants in the US(modern for a car factory is built after the 1950s). 53:50 I didnt know the Bean "official" name till i was about 16, still never use it. 54:14 You missed the Museum of Science and Industry! Its the only building left from the 1893 worlds fair. It has a bunch of real space craft and suits in there, most of a 727, a Messerschmitt Bf 109, Spitfire, Train Engine, Teslas coils, baby chicks, and the U-505 that we captured during WW2. For a while the navy used it in training exercise, then they gave it to chicago and they had it sitting outside the museam for a couple years. Then they finally decided hey we should probably move this thing indoors. So they dug a hole in front of the museum, slowly moved the sub acorss Lake Shore Dr, put the sub on jenga blocks, and slowly lowered it into the hole. It barely fits in there but its cool to tour. Its my personal favorite museum in Chicago. 56:28 The only restaurant to get deep dish from is Lou Malnati. Also, I genuinely didn't know pot belly was an illinois chain. I never have gone there and probably won't. Also another Illinois fast food chain is Beef-a-roo. A pretty good american style restaurant from Rockford. 59:27 You could of also talked about the Baha'i teample in Evanston too. Its a massive temple on the lake. 1:00:35 Yep Boeing is in Illinois not Washington. And we just say BeeMO for the BMO bank. 1:01:00 Also Rockford is #13 for cargo. It has the 2nd largest UPS sorting facility. #1 is in Louisville, KY. So its pretty important when it comes to air cargo and getting packages moved. Rockford is good for that. Close enough to chicago to drive it over, but far enough away to not deal with all the other traffic on the road and in the sky. 1:02:54 New Salem is really cool historic site, definitely a good visit if you go to Springfield. 1:03:23 He's mainly know to have lived in Dixon. All over the high school are stuff about him. He was also a lifegaurd on the Rock River when he was younger. Also i thought he moved to California to start his acting career? I think that's everyhting. Very good video its fun to see what people from an outside perspective see the state i live in
No place is home for me like Charleston/Chucktown, so I'm incredibly excited for this episode!
1:02:30 yes you forgot a great one, Sam Cook-American singer and songwriter. Great video too🙌🏼
I think looking at the trends in domestic migration in the US like you mentioned at 24:56 would be cool.
You did miss a few people that I know have lived in Illinois on your list. Abraham Lincoln, but you mentioned him elsewhere, so I'll forgive it. Also, Dick Van Dyke who grew up in Danville, IL.
Born and raised in central Illinois here, living in Bloomington for most of my life, and Peoria for a year. We benefit greatly from the cities, even though many complain about them
Astounding work Mr. Carter, simply astounding
thanks! very informative, thorough and accurate!
Working from home is not the cause for the population decline in the state. Its the taxes!!! We’re one of the highest taxed states in the country
I live along the I-70 corridor in Illinois. I've been to each end of the State . The big cities doesn't interest me. Just to crowded. We are however Blessed with natural beauty throughout the State. I've put many miles on my motorcycle exploring my home State. Lots to offer.
When the Chicago suburbs started to move left politically, that was a game changer in favor of the democratic party. Seven decades ago, Chicago had 3.6 million people in the city limits. Today, the cities population is 2.7 million, but somewhat “stabilized.” There was a time when Republicans did quite well in the Chicago suburbs, but not anymore. The combined voting power of the city of Chicago and the Chicago suburbs helps Democrats stay in control of Illinois. The votes of so-called downstate Illinois for republicans is not enough to win. Without being able to win a bigger share of the Chicago suburbs, the math is just not there.
Wrong Outlying Cook County burbs here My Mayor is Republican and there are lots of us here Mail in ballot's/Dominion machines vote for us now Heck I got 3 mail in ballots last election 😂 I will use them this time 😉
Btw I'm close to 70 This is what I see when I vote now
I got a sack load of those ballots@@wolveslair766
Great video. Really enjoyed it
As a Chicagoan who is going to school at southern illinois university… it’s basically a different state. Flat and corn fields up north, mountains and trees down south. It’s so different just driving 5 hours south in the same state. There’s terrible winters up north, and no snow down south. It’s kinda crazy how different residents of this state can live
Not exactly mountains in southern Illinois, but they do look that way compared to how flat much of the state is! 🙂
No snow??? I beg to differ. I lived in southern IL for 18 years and we had all the same weather as St. Louis and Kansas City MO, including major snowstorms.
i liked it man. been in this state all my life. im a coal miner too love the coal talk
FINE… I’ll go see Chicago 🙄… you’ve convinced me that it’s worth a peek. I’m a New Yorker born and raised, which means I’m very critical of smaller cities. Even cities like Philadelphia feel puny compared to NYC. I’d love to see a city that feels as alive and NY. I’ve resisted going to Chicago for years because it didn’t seem worth my time, but you’re video definitely changed my perception of it.
You'll love it here, enjoy your visit 😁👍. Chicago is smaller than NYC but it doesn't make Chicago "puny," it's actually a big city in total area.
Get now, gone on with that second city bs😊
yikes you shouldn't have to be convinced to visit a world class city like Chicago lmao and we are very proud Chicagoans so if you come here with all that NYC attitude oh boy lmao
So many people come to Chicago and say "wow it's like a clean NYC." I have to roll my eyes every time because I think the main similarity is that it's a huge population center and has that kind of energy you don't find outside of metropolises 😂 Both cities have their own unique history and architecture. If you go, there's a speedboat architecture tour that can be neat when you're visiting
Chicago is not that much smaller than NY.
NYC is approximately 302 square miles, so not that much greater than Chicago’s 234 square miles. NY just has almost 3 times the ppl.
Chicago: 2.7 million
NYC: 8.2 million
So NY has way more ppl but not a lot of space. Being born and raised in Chicago and going downtown where it’s most crowded, I thought I could handle Manhattan with no problem. I was wrong. Way too many ppl and it gave me anxiety. It’s way too crowded for me. It also smells in some areas there and the garbage is right on the street. Not here. It’s far more expensive there but the apartments are way smaller…crazy. We have lakefronts, clean beaches, beautiful parks (though Central Park was absolutely amazing to visit, hands down), and the probably some of the best food in the world. I didn’t care for the food in NYC and I was shocked how expensive it was, as compared to the taste. But I must say, I absolutely LOVE NY and would visit there more frequently if I was able.
Bottoms line, come visit and you may wanna stay forever.
Great neighborhoods: Hyde Park, Wicker Park, Magnificent Mile, River West, Bucktown, West Loop, South Loop, River North, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bronzeville, Edgewater, Greek Town, Roscoe Village and many more.
Cool this explanation of this geography of American cities
Nice picture of my boy Ian Happ to represent the Cubs!
My brother's moving to Hyde Park to do social work later on this summer.
And honestly the more I learn about Chicago the less scary it is. Could be worse, he could be moving to Florida
We have our problems here and lots of people are working on them. The news sensationalizes the problems without giving context about how much of the country suffers from the same struggles. Then they nearly entirely ignore the work to address our problems
Downtown Chicago and the north side is mostly safe and you'll have no worries. same with florida. its safe asf. probably should visit the places before you assume and become scared of it lmao
@@michaelford8182 I could give a rat's ass about florida's crime rate. It's its politics that scare the shit out of me
@samwill7259 what about the politics scare you? From what I see, florida is doing great. Recently they've been know for being pretty good politically and as a state. Again, visit these states before talking🤣 I already know you're a white liberal I don't gotta hear a thing else😭❤️
@@michaelford8182 Yep, Florida is doing great! Y'know, aside from trying to legislate the total erasure of black history from all levels of education & LGBTQ+ people from existing in public entirely, making the state wholly unwelcome to nonwhite migrant & undocumented workers when you can't actually function without them, human trafficking asylum seekers out of *other* states, and getting into an unwinnable thermonuclear war with the state's largest employer over their hilariously meek opposition to one specific facet of the above LGBTQ+ bigotry. So yeah, great little banana republic dumpster fire you've got raging down there. You can flipping keep it, you cowardly little hatemonger.
It was cool to have my hometown shouted out!
I've lived in Central Illinois my entire life, and when people only know our state for Chicago, it's gets pretty annoying. We have so much history, but it all goes to Chicago and not places like Peoria, Kankakee, Chillicothe, Decatur, etc
the map in the video from the Nations Online Project has the towns of Vandalia and Effingham switched.
As your channel name claims, this was interesting. There's no avoiding dwelling a lot on Chicago, a global-tier city within a fairly rural state. The early history and growth of the state being really based around its river systems and railroads explains how Chicago grew out of a state that actually started its major development from the south, then "downstate" was overshadowed when Chicago reached industrial critical mass.
Born and raised in Illinois my entire life, had no idea that Obama served on the state Senate! Very informative!
Obama sucks, and will be in prison fairly soon now. Have a nice day.
Great video… just a small correction: Illinois is 380 miles from north to south…measured from the middle of the northern border(land) to the southern tip near Cairo. Although it can definitely feel like 600 miles when you’re battling 40mph cross winds while trying to pass semi trucks that can’t stay in their lane due to those same crosswinds..
I learned so much, thanks!
FANTASTIC FILMS!! THANK YOU
Well done!
AMAZING VIDEO!