Illinois has the only museum devoted to surgery in all of North America

“Progress is made by trial and failure; the failures are generally a hundred times more numerous than the successes, yet they are usually left unchronicled,” said scientist William Ramsay. However, when it comes to the science and art of surgery, the trial and error is an important part of its history. It is amazing how doctors and surgeons can easily save lives today, especially for procedures that would have been life threatening a century ago. However, someone had to first learn about the human body and how to fix what they could not see. The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago is the only museum in all of North America to show the history of how modern surgery came to be, with both failures and accomplishments.

The Mission of the Museum is to enrich people’s lives by enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the history, development, and advances in surgery and related subjects in health and medicine. Dr. Max Thorek founded the International College of Surgeons in 1935, and in 1950 his efforts led to the museum’s collection growing. The Museum opened to the public on September 9, 1954. Today the museum’s four floors hold many marvels from the art of healing.

Some people think of surgeons as miracle workers. Illinois has the only museum in all of North America that chronicles how those miracles came to be. To plan your visit to the museum visit here.  

The Albino Squirrels of Olney

This Saturday marks another Squirrel Appreciation Day! In the town of Olney lies a truly unique colony of albino squirrels. Every year volunteers gather to scavenge the town to get an official tally of how many albino squirrels are left.

Roughly 100 years ago there was an estimate of 800, however with the territorial grey squirrels coming into the parks over the years, the numbers have decreased significantly. The 2022 count noted 886 gray squirrels counted and 64 albino white squirrels. Based on the numbers, the gray to albino ratio in 2021 was 12.46 to 1 compared to the gray to albino ratio in 2022 of 14.38 to 1.

The white squirrels are extremely important to the residents in Olney, and are even protected by law and have the right of way on all streets – which is signified by squirrel crossing signs posted around town. The city encourages residents to set up feeding boxes, and even offers free corn to refill those boxes annually.

Since the 1980s, this volunteer-based squirrel count is held each fall. Both white and gray squirrels are counted as well as stray cats, a natural enemy of the squirrels. Making sure to get all their acorns in a row, the Olney community has made it known that they are working on reviving the albino squirrel colonies in town and ask every resident to pitch in to ensure the continuation of their furry friends.

Illinois has a new state rock: Dolostone

The white oak, the cardinal bird and popcorn all have something in common: they are Illinois symbols! The state tree, state bird and state snack will have a new member joining their ranks. Dolostone was declared the state’s rock by legislation signed into law by Governor Pritzker in June 2022. This law came courtesy of suburban Chicago elementary and middle school students who pushed for its passage, as well as the sponsor of the legislation, State Senator Laura Ellman of the 21^st Senate District.

Dolostone had a hard won victory, beating out sandstone and limestone for the title. Dolostone is the hard bedrock that lies underneath most of Illinois’ glacially deposited soil. It’s often referred to as dolomite, and was formed in an ancient tropical ocean, during the Silurian period, some 400 million years ago. The rock did not journey to Illinois, but rather Illinois journeyed to it. If we turn back time to when the rock first formed, what is now Illinois used to be a massive underwater Silurian reef system stretching up to what’s now Door County, Wisconsin. As the Earth changed and continents moved, the sea eventually made way for land and Illinois came to be.    

Illinois’ history has started with this rock in so many ways. It was there when the land of the state was first formed. Not only that, but Dolostone was originally used as building material for Illinois’ Old State Capital, the literal bedrock of our democracy.

From now on, when kids in Illinois play rock paper scissors, know that their rock is Dolostone.     

Jimmy John’s celebrates 40 years!

On Jan. 13, the famed Jimmy John’s store known for delivering its sub sandwiches at the speed of light celebrated its opening 40 years ago in Charleston. The original owner, Jimmy John Liautaud, began the franchise as a hot dog stand originally. The Arlington Heights native quickly realized, however, that hot dogs were not selling well and had to turn to other options if he wanted to be successful and pay back his father for helping him out.

After some research into Chicago hot dog stands, Liautaud realized that it would be too expensive to continue that route and switched to sub sandwiches. His reasoning for picking sub sandwiches was the fact that he could get deli meat for cheap, as he was struggling to pay back his father for the loan he got from him to originally start the hot dog stand right after he graduated from high school. He felt he could easily turn a profit from having more options to provide to cater to more people. His next step would be perfecting his bread recipe, and from there he decided to venture out and start advertising his products.

After long, grueling hours and even handing out free sandwiches to dorm rooms at nearby colleges, Jimmy John's finally opened on Jan. 13, 1983. The original building was a two-car garage turned into pizza store that happened to fail so he got it for a fair price. Today, Jimmy John's is headquartered in Champaign-Urbana and has almost 3,000 locations across 43 states. After many freaky fast deliveries, Jimmy John’s continues to be another example of successful businesses flourishing from Illinois.