On this day in 1918, Robert Pershing Wadlow, who would go on to become the world’s tallest man, was born to Harold and Addie Wadlow. He was the oldest of five children and was born an average size.
By age five, however, he had grown to 5 feet 4 inches, and by age eight he was almost 6 feet tall. By the time he was 17, he was over 8 feet tall.
Every winter more than 3,100 bald eagles come to our state. Illinois has the second most wintering American bald eagles, behind Alaska.
The first eagles are spotted in December and remain here until they migrate back north in March. January and February are the optimal months for eagle spotting.
Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1909 to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. From there, his family moved to southern Indiana in 1816.
In 1830, Lincoln and his family moved to Macon County in southern Illinois where he worked on a river flatboat hauling freight down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He then settled in the town of New Salem, where he worked as a shopkeeper and a postmaster.
Lincoln became involved with local politics as a supporter of the Whig Party and won the election to the Illinois State Legislature in 1834. He opposed the spread of slavery to the territories.
The 2012 movie “Lincoln” was a box office smash hit, making over $275 million dollars. However, despite the movie not being filmed there, Springfield still had a guiding hand.
Chicago has been named the candy capital of the world since the late 1800s. The Loop has a rich candy making history, including Fannie May’s first store in the Loop’s Business District. Tootsie Roll Industries, Brach’s, Frango, Wrigley Gum and Mars Candy also have roots in Chicago.
In 1893 the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago, where many of today’s biggest brands of candy were introduced. William Wrigley Jr. originally sold baking powder in Chicago but handed out gum as an incentive for customers to buy his product. Wrigley’s gum became more popular, so he switched businesses and it is still one of the most popular brands of gum in the U.S. today.
