The Illinois Ideas That Helped Shape the World

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Official release

Source material from Illinois State Treasurer. The wording below is the issuer’s statement.

Last week’s Treasurer’s Note unleashed a lot of pride in Illinois’ history of innovations, and readers were quick to let me know about their favorites.

Several of them, I was aware of. A few of them were new to me.

Thank you for enlightening me! Now I’d like to enlighten our readers by picking out a baker’s dozen of great Illinois innovations. We didn’t have space for them all. Hopefully, highlighting these inventions will help you learn something you didn’t know about your home state.

My office may not have played a role in these discoveries or their growth. But through our Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund, we are hoping to help fuel some entrepreneurs today that should hopefully make this list in the future.

Technological Innovations

Self-scouring steel plow. Our state’s sticky soil clogged wooden plows, and John Deere invented a version in the 1830s to solve that problem.

Cell phone. A Motorola team developed the first handheld cellular phone and made the first call in 1973. This turned out to be a blessing (we can talk to loved ones more easily) and a curse (people expect instant communication).

Skyscraper. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago is credited as the first skyscraper thanks to its metal-frame construction. That helped spur the architecture boom and skyline Chicago is known for.

Barbed wire. The prickly, sharp fencing material had been invented to keep cattle in and people out, but in 1874 DeKalb’s Joseph Glidden won the patent for making it mechanically at scale.Within two years, he was making 3 million pounds of barbed wire a year.

Making Life Easier

Garage door opener. Rockford’s Howard Colman held more than 140 patents, many that revolutionized making textiles. My favorite is the one that makes it easier to pull your car in and out of the garage. Others improved the garage door opener over the decades, but Colman designed the early electrical concept.

Zipper. At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, local inventor Whitcomb Judson showed off a “clasp locker,” the forerunner of the zipper. It sometimes came apart, which isn’t what you want in a zipper, but others picked up the baton and ran with it.

Pullman sleeping car. Frustrated with railroad travel, George Pullman made it a little easier to catch some zzzzzs. His iron-fisted approach to his company town on Chicago’s South Side also led to a historic strike that proved to be a turning point for organized labor.

Tasty Inventions

Deep dish pizza. Let’s split the difference on the origins and say this Chicago signature dish traces its creation to Pizzeria Uno, where chef Rudy Malnati worked in the 1940s. Pizza as we know it may have existed since the 18th century, but this Chicago innovation added considerable heft. Tourists seek it out today.

The brownie. The Palmer House hotel in Chicago whipped up a batch for the 1893 World’s Fair when Bertha Palmer wanted a portable dessert for boxed lunches. Deliciousness followed.

Inventing Fun

Lincoln Logs. Frank Lloyd Wright’s architect son, John, came up with the fun wooden toy we’d build log cabins with. This National Toy Hall of Fame inductee was named after Abe Lincoln, Illinois’ home-state president.

Ferris wheel. Engineer George Ferris designed his namesake carnival ride for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago after the French unveiled the Eiffel Tower at the 1889 Fair. The wheel was demolished afterward, but you can ride the Centennial Wheel about 9 miles north at Navy Pier.

Pinball. It may have been invented elsewhere, but the Chicago area is the world’s pinball capital. Bally, Gottlieb and Williams made modern machines, adding bells and whistles and depriving many of us of a stack of quarters.

Sock monkeys. This fun stuffed animal was made out of Rockford socks and was a signature product of the Nelson Knitting Company. The Midway Village Museum in Rockford has a 7-foot version named Nelson, and Long Grove boasts the Sock Monkey Museum, featuring two floors of what’s billed as “the world’s largest handmade collection.”

Release text attributed to Illinois State Treasurer. Consult the official publication for any subsequent corrections or updates.