Some things are so good they just have to be shared. And in true Midwestern fashion, that's what our state has done.
For the second installment of “Illinois 250,†a look back at what the Chicago area and the state of Illinois have uniquely contributed to the nation on its semiquincentennial, the focus turns to the finer things in life — the arts, culture, food and music.
What follows are the creations that were founded, gifted to or perfected here, and then were embraced by the rest of the country and beyond. Despite their popularity on a bigger stage, these notions continue to hold onto their local origins.
Illinois 250: Celebrating the state's fabulous firsts
Arts
Architecture
Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper, but also home to a jewel box of styles including Chicago School, Prairie School, art deco, Gothic Revival, Italianate and modern. Locally, common brick, terra-cotta and Lemont limestone (used in the city's greystones) have been the materials used. Building examples range from the humble bungalow and worker's cottages to two-, three- and four-flats and some of the world's tallest towers and a soon-to-debut presidential center. Collectively, they have provided inspiration for other cities' skylines. It's also where world-renowned architects — Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Gehry, Jeanne Gang, Bertrand Goldberg and others — have created some of their masterpieces.
The Art Institute of Chicago
In as little as an hour, fans of “Ferris Bueller's Day Off†can contemplate Georges Seurat's “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884,â€Â then move onto Grant Wood's “American Gothic,†Edward Hopper's “Nighthawks†and Marc Chagall's “America Windows.â€
Bahai House of Worship
The nine-sided building with cast-concrete ornamentation overlooks Lake Michigan in Wilmette. It's the only temple in North America devoted to the religion, which was founded in 19th-century Persia. Construction took 50 years to complete and was funded completely by congregation members from around the world.
“Chicagoâ€
Former Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins wrote the three-act play that gave the world a sinister tale of sex, murder, celebrity — and all that jazz. The characters were based on real women whose words, actions and emotions were pulled directly from the headlines, including many of Watkins' own. The show — which is the second-longest-running Broadway production — garnered Watkins fame, fortune and a musical and film franchise that continues to delight audiences around the globe.
Chicago Imagists
The School of the Art Institute graduates looked around the city — and not to New York — for inspiration in creating their postwar visual work in the mid-1960s to early 1970s. Key members included Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, Ed Paschke, Suellen Roca, Karl Wirsum and Ray Yoshida. The Hairy Who was an offshoot. The artists' work, exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center, was also exhibited in Brazil and Europe.
Pre-Broadway productions
Musicals and plays often test the waters with Chicago audiences before moving to New York City. “The Producers†(2001), “Spamalot†(2004), “Kinky Boots†(2012) and “Death Becomes Her†(2024) all had tryouts here.
Mold-A-Rama
What started as Quincy inventor J.H. “Tike†Miller's attempt to replace figures in his family Nativity scene eventually became the make-on-demand brightly colored plastic souvenir machines found at several Chicago museums and at zoos in Milwaukee, San Antonio and Memphis.
Culture
All-color television broadcasts
WNBQ-TV (now WMAQ-TV) became the first station in the world on April 15, 1956, to broadcast all of its programs in color. With the push of a button, “Wide Wide World†was the first show aired in full color.
Dances
Stepping — or bopping or soul walking — morphed out of the jitterbug in the 1930s or 1940s. Chicago native DJ Casper's “Cha Cha Slide†is a staple that has been played everywhere from dance clubs, country clubs, school auditoriums and weddings to football stadiums and Olympic facilities.
Daytime soap opera
Irma Phillips gave the world “Painted Dreams,†a daily radio show broadcast from the Drake Hotel on Michigan Avenue by WGN, then the Tribune's radio station. The short segments were sponsored by laundry product companies, which gave the genre its name. The theatrical form eventually made the jump from radio to TV.
Fictional film and TV characters
Kevin McCallister (“Home Aloneâ€), Richard Kimball (“The Fugitiveâ€), Super Fans Bill Swerski and Carl Wollarski (“Saturday Night Liveâ€), Joel Goodsen (“Risky Businessâ€), Carmy Berzatto (“The Bearâ€), the gang from “The Breakfast Club†and many others only seem like they were locals.
Improv comedy
Viola Spolin's theater games inspired her son Paul Sills to found the Compass Players in late 1959. The Second City, iO Theater and Annoyance Theater followed. They've been training grounds for the likes of Del Close, Bill Murray, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey and many other comedians.
Jungle gym
The very first of its kind was invented by Winnetka's Sebastian Hinton. It's in the backyard of the Winnetka Historical Society.
Playboy
All it took was the purchase of a Marilyn Monroe photo from a suburban Chicago calendar company for Hugh Hefner to launch in December 1952 his gentleman's publication. Its mass appeal — not just for its provocative photos — was also its witty, thought-provoking articles.
Pinball
Elk Grove Village-based Stern Pinball in now the leading pinball machine manufacturer in the world, but the industry grew up here starting in the 1940s. Pioneers Harry Williams, David Gottlieb and Ray Moloney all had factories in the city. Pinball was banned for about 40 years in Chicago due to gambling fears.
Movie criticism
The Tribune's Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times discussed movies on WTTW beginning in November 1975, expanding to public television stations around the U.S.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The original story — about 100 rhyming phrases spread over 32 pages — was written in 1939 by Montgomery Ward advertising copywriter Robert Lewis May and predated his fellow Dartmouth College grad Theodor “Dr. Seuss†Geisel's “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!â€Â book by almost two decades.
Sue the T. rex
Discovered in western South Dakota, the world's largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was purchased by the Field Museum at auction in 1997, and for more than 25 years has attracted dinosaur aficionados from all over the world.
Tinkertoys
Charles Pajeau invented the children's playset, which was produced in Evanston.
WLS
Sears launched its “World's Largest Store†radio station in April 1924, in Chicago's Homan Square neighborhood. “National Barn Dance†was blasted across the Midwest every Saturday night and WLS reporter Herbert Morrison recorded a dramatic, on-the-scene account in May 1937 of the crash of the Hindenburg, a German zeppelin, at Lakehurst, New Jersey. His grief-stricken reaction, “Oh, the humanity,†has become firmly enmeshed in pop culture.
World's Fairs in 1893 and 1933
The first World's Fair here, the World's Columbian Exposition, was a miracle considering just 22 years earlier the city was in shambles following the Great Chicago Fire. Cracker Jack, the zipper, the Ferris wheel, Wrigley's gum and Pabst Blue Ribbon were all introduced during the 1893 affair. The Century of Progress International Exposition of 1933-34 may have been harder to pull off, however, due to the Great Depression. Still, attendees walked away from both impressed by new technology, impressive architecture and a little bit of sleaze. (So many girlie shows lined the fair's midway that they were given their own accounting category.)
Food and drink
The brownie
The confection was created here, the story goes. Bertha Palmer, president of the fair's Board of Lady Managers, is said to have asked the Palmer House chef for a dessert to serve at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Candy
“If all the candy made in Chicago in one year were packed in one-pound boxes and these boxes were used as bricks to pave a street 55 feet wide, this street would extend 1,026 miles,†the Works Project Administration reported in the 1941 pamphlet “Chicago's Candy Kettles.†Production earned the city a sweet title — “candy capital of the world.†Chicago's candy bars are quite a mouthful: Snickers, Tootsie Roll, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Three Musketeers, Oh Henry!, Bit-O-Honey, Old Nick, Two Bits, Forever Yours, Jolly Jack, PowerHouse, Tango, Amos 'n' Andy, Milky Way, Dick Tracy, Lindy Bar, Swing Bar, Coconut Grove, Buy Jiminy and Toasted Almond Bar. Cracker Jack, Wrigley's gum, Fannie May chocolates, Frango mints and candy corn have been other contributions.
Chicago-style hot dog
Take a steamed poppy-seed bun, add a Vienna Beef-steamed hot dog, top it with yellow mustard, neon green relish, chopped white onions, red tomato wedges, a kosher dill pickle spear, hot sport peppers and finish with a dash of celery salt. Is it a sandwich? Debatable. But the delicious, portable meal has transformed from a local staple to a national one thanks to the expansion of Portillo's and other purveyors.
Green River
The lime-based soda with a hint of lemon was created out of necessity. Chicago's Schoenhofen Brewing Co. needed to produce a nonalcoholic beverage during Prohibition to keep it afloat. Mmmm, Green River with vanilla ice cream float. It was once a top-selling soda in the Midwest. The bottled beverage, now owned by Wisconsin's Sprecher Brewery, pops up in stores around the country right around the same time the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.
Malört
This homemade medicinal drink by Swedish immigrant Carl Jeppson was also created during Prohibition. Wormwood, a bitter herb, provides the pucker that follows a taste of the spirit, which has become a rite of passage for Chicagoans when “enjoyed†alone or as part of the “Chicago Handshake†— a shot of Malört served alongside a can of Old-Style. CH Distillery now ships the liqueur nationwide.
Deep-dish pizza
The origin of this version that features a thick crust and plenty of cheese is contested, but many look to Pizzeria Uno for popularizing the substantial, meal-size pizza form after it opened in 1943. Restaurant chains Lou Malnati's, Gino's East and Giordano's now ship frozen versions of their famous pies.
Dairy Queen
The original opened in 1940, at 501 N. Chicago St. in Joliet. Sherwood Noble (known as Sherb) chose the name of the new shop to reflect his belief that “the cow was the queen of the dairy industry.†Noble died in 1991, and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired Dairy Queen in 1997.
Italian beef
Chicagoans may have been more obsessed with corned beef in the early 20th century, but the hot, affordable sandwich took off in the 1980s and has become even more popular recently thanks to “The Bear,†the FX show that follows a fine dining chef who returns to run his family's Italian beef stand.
Jibarito
The Midwestern delicacy with island roots started at Chicago's Borinquen restaurant in Humboldt Park. Hot and crisp fried plantains hold together a hot, juicy piece of steak, slices of cold tomatoes, fresh, crisp lettuce and creamy mayonnaise.
Modern corn dog
Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield may not have invented the corn dog, but its secret-recipe thick batter that covers an Oscar Mayer hot dog on a stick helped refine the process.
Twinkies
The first one bounced out of the ovens at Continental Baking Co. in River Forest on April 6, 1930. Plant manager James Dewar was looking to create a cheap, two-for-a nickel snack. So he grabbed some shortcake pans and got cookin'. Dewar got the name from a billboard for Twinkle Toe Shoes. He shortened it to Twinkies, and the rest is snack food history.
Music
Alternative
This rock music form emerged starting in the 1980s, became popular in the 1990s with the help of FM station Q101 and continues today at venues that include Metro and the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park. Local groups that influenced the sound include Fall Out Boy, Liz Phair, Local H, Ministry, The Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill, Veruca Salt and Wilco
American folk
With live, acoustic guitar-fueled performances at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Quiet Knight and the Earl of Old Town, the careers of John Prine, Steve Goodman and Bonnie Koloc were launched.
The Blues
Black musicians who moved north to Chicago during the Great Migration electrified their sound, subsequently making Kingston Mines and Buddy Guy's Legends famous. Known as “America's greatest blues label,†Chicago-based Chess Records played an instrumental role in the careers of Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
It might be the world's busiest orchestra for its demanding travel schedule that often takes the musicians away from the city.
Gospel
Thanks to the fusion of blues, jazz and traditional spirituals, this new sound emerged in Chicago with the help of its father, Thomas A. Dorsey. His influence as a songwriter, publisher and performer of the genre made Chicago the world's gospel capital. Acts such as Mahalia Jackson, The Staples Singers and Ricky Dillard followed in his footsteps.
House
With pulsating, energetic beats and hooks, the music style went from The Warehouse (which gave it its name) to the world. “The Percolator†and “You Used to Hold Me†have been played on repeat for decades. Chicago acts Frankie Knuckles, Steve “Silk†Hurley and Farley “Jackmaster†Funk perfected the sound.
Polka
Chicago-style is slower than its Eastern counterpart, but often includes an accordion and lively dancing to acts such as Walter “Li'l Wally†Jagiello, Vlasta “International Queen of Polka†Krsek and Eddie “Prince of Polka†Korosa Sr.
Soul and R&B
Put together elements of gospel and rhythm and blues with vocals, a brass section and strings, and you've got soul. Some of the greats — Chaka Khan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and Lou Rawls — came from Chicago.
