1831
Abraham Lincoln moves to New Salem. He will live there until 1837.

1835
Ann Rutledge dies at 22.

1836
Abraham Lincoln receives his license to practice law.

1837
Abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah P. Lovejoy is killed in Alton protecting his press from a proslavery mob. The mob then dumps the press, on which Lovejoy had printed the Alton Observer, into the Mississippi River.

James Butler Hickok is born in Troy Grove on May 27th.

1839
Mormons, fleeing persecution in Missouri, purchase land in a village called Commerce and begin building the city of Nauvoo.

1842
Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd are married on November 4th in Springfield.

1844
Anti-Mormons, angry in part because of Joseph Smith's recent authorization of polygamous Mormon marriages, band together and make plans to capture and kill Smith. He is imprisoned with his brother Hyrum, charged with treason and conspiracy. On June 27th they are murdered by a mob in Carthage.

Brigham Young becomes the leader of the Mormons. As violence erupts against Mormons in the outlying communities around Nauvoo, he accelerates his plans for the Mormon exodus.

1846
Mormons leave their headquarters at Nauvoo in the bitter cold of February, heading for Iowa.

1849
Abraham Lincoln receives patent #6469 for his floating drydock.

1850
The Mormon Temple in Nauvoo is destroyed by a tornado on May 27th.

1853
Illinois holds its first state fair.

1854
Abraham Lincoln makes his first great political speech while attending the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. Stephen A. Douglas, another presidential hopeful, is at the fair also.

1856
Abraham Lincoln speaks from the DeSoto Hotel balcony in Galena on July 23rd while campaigning for presidential candidate John Fr‚mont.

1858
On June 16th, Abraham Lincoln, in accepting the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, declares that "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

The first Lincoln-Douglas debate is held on August 21st.

The last Lincoln-Douglas debate takes place in Alton.

1860
38-year-old Ulysses S. Grant comes to Galena with his wife and 4 children in April. He works with his brothers Simpson and Orvil in their father's leather goods store. Grant earns $60 a month clerking.

1861
Abraham Lincoln delivers a poignant farewell address at the Springfield Depot before leaving for Washington, D.C., on February 11th.

The Civil War begins with the attack on Fort Sumter on April 14th.

Galena's leaders decide to form a regiment 2 days after the attack on Fort Sumter. Grant's West Point education and Mexican War experience make him the obvious choice for commander. They drill on Republican Congressman Elihu B. Washburne's lawn and then leave for training in Springfield on April 24th.

Confederate prisoners of war are housed in Alton during the war. Over 1,300 prisoners will die of smallpox.

1865
On February 1st, Illinois is the first state to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery throughout the U.S.

The Civil War ends.

Abraham Lincoln is assassinated on April 14th in Washington, D.C. A funeral train brings his body back to Springfield for burial. Every black person in town watches the procession pass by.

Wild Bill Hickok kills gunman Dave Tutt in Springfield on July 21st, in the first formal quick-draw duel.

On August 18th, bands and cannons in Galena welcome General Grant home--"Hail to the Chief Who in Triumph Advances." A group of 13 influential Republicans, led by congressman Washburne, buy a 2-story brick house and present it to Grant on behalf of the town.

1872
Illinois enacts the first women's equal opportunity legislation.

1880
Wabash becomes the first town in the country to be completely illuminated by electrical lighting.

Grant receives well-wishers at his home in Galena after winning his first presidential election.

1883
The Grants visit Galena for the last time in May.

Jane Addams is born in Cedarville on September 6th.

1893
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful heart operation at Chicago's Provident Hospital.

1899
Ernest Miller Hemingway is born on July 21st in Oak Park, a well-to-do township near Chicago. He is the second child of Grace Hall and Clarence Edmonds Hemingway. His doctor father will interest the boy in sciences and objective reasoning. His mother will make sure her children are well-schooled in the arts. Both parents give the children a strong foundation in religion, morals and values.

1904
Frederick Grant gives the Grant house back to Galena, stipulating it remain a memorial to his father with the family furnishings intact.

Workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois go on strike on May 11th. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, will begin a boycott of Pullman that blocks freight traffic in and out of Chicago.

1908
A race riot in Springfield results in deaths. A national conference is planned for 1909 to plan a civil rights organization. It will be called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

1917
A tornado leaves a 293-mile trail of destruction through the state on May 26th.

1919
A widely-imitated approach to elementary education developed in Winnetka is called the Winnetka Plan. The curriculum emphasizes individualized learning and is divided into 2 sections: common essentials and creative activities. In the common essentials section, the pupil is able to advance upon mastering the material. In the creative section, which includes music, art, and physical activities, pupils could learn as much or as little as they wish.

1920
Illinois Bell is formed.

1921
Betty Friedan is born on February 4th in Peoria.

1929
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago leaves 7 mobsters dead.

1944
Chicago University announces plans to withdraw from all athletic competitions.

1966
Martin Luther King, Jr. establishes a headquarters in a Chicago slum apartment to organize protests against the city's discrimination in housing and employment.

1984
Robert and Anna Rucker of Florissant, Missouri, both play the Illinois State Lottery using the same numbers. They both end up winning over one million dollars.

1985
The first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines becomes the first museum dedicated to fast food with lots of McStuff on display.