1. On February 25, 1964, boxing legend Muhammad Ali (known then as Cassius Clay) defeated Sonny Liston in a historical upset at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but spent a significant amount of his training career in Chicago, Illinois.

2. On February 25, 1818, the Illinois Territory was officially established when President James Monroe signed the congressional bill into law. The territory would later become the State of Illinois on December 3, 1818.

3. In 1851, Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, was born in Savannah, Georgia. In 1912, the first troop in Illinois was established in the town of Crystal Lake.

4. On February 25, 1925, silent film star Harold Lloyd purchased "Greenacres," a 15-acre estate in Beverly Hills, California. Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska, but spent much of his career in Hollywood, California, and had a significant impact on the film industry.

5. On February 25, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the Civil Unions Act into law, allowing same-sex couples to receive the same legal benefits and protections as heterosexual couples. Illinois became the sixth state in the United States to legalize civil unions.