Even history’s greatest people can be subject to less-than-stellar love lives. It was 1842 when Abraham Lincoln tied the knot with Mary Todd, a woman whose ambition unquestionably helped propel him into […]
Few people came to political life with a quicker wit than Adlai Stevenson II (1900-1965). He made his mark in politics as governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and received the […]
The first controlled nuclear chain reaction created a huge leap forward in scientific achievement. It also created an enduring problem: what to do with the world’s first nuclear waste. The achievement and […]
Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) lost his leg in the service of his country, and he wanted to make sure no one ever forgot it. He also lost two other legs, […]
Baseball is one sporting event that doesn’t use a clock to regulate the length of its games. Ironically, it was a clock that was very much at the heart of one of […]
Under Illinois law (410 ILCS 650/9) it is illegal to take a nap in a cheese factory.
President Ronald Reagan was not someone who let a disappointment get in the way of greatness. The opening words to his presidential memoir: “If I’d gotten the job I wanted at Montgomery […]
In 1876 a handful of mobsters botched a morbid plan to kidnap the body of Abraham Lincoln and hold it ransom. The hapless grave robbers were arrested just a few days later. […]
Commonplace Fun Facts 