Illinois is known as the Land of Lincoln in honor of the USA’s legendary 16th President. One of the USA’s largest cities and a vibrant urban center, Chicago is Illinois key metro area and the largest city of the midwestern USA. Chicago is located on the shore of massive Lake Michigan and the city’s nickname is “The Windy City”.
Springfield is Illinois’ capital. Located very near the geographical center of the state, Springfield boasts the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Here you will find a large collection of the papers and memorabilia of America’s most renowned president. In the famous debate series, the Lincoln-Stephen A. Douglas Debates of 1858, Douglas won the US Senate seat in question. Yet it was Lincoln who won the Presidency two years later, and then attained much of his fame as Commander in Chief during the Civil War and as a prominent figure in the eventual abolition of slavery.
Among the state’s other notable historical figures were Black Hawk, Carl Sandburg, Ernest Hemingway, John Deere, Ronald Reagan, Ulysses S. Grant, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp and Al Capone, the notorious gangster of the 1930s Prohibition. President Obama called Illinois home for many years before he became the nation’s 44th President.