1. In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition made its way through present-day Illinois. The explorers passed through the area near the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, which is now the site of the city of Grafton.

2. On November 2, 1865, the Illinois state legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. Illinois was one of the first states to ratify the amendment, which had been proposed by Congress earlier that year.

3. In 1897, the first issue of The Chicago Daily News was published. The newspaper would become a major voice in the city and the Midwest, and help establish Chicago's reputation as a hub of journalism and media.

4. On November 2, 1920, Republican Warren G. Harding won the presidential election over Democrat James M. Cox. Harding carried Illinois, which was among the states that had shifted from supporting Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to backing the GOP in 1920.

5. In 1947, the University of Illinois opened its first nuclear reactor at the Argonne National Laboratory. The facility, which was the first of its kind in the world, would play a key role in the development of civilian and military nuclear technology over the coming decades.