Illinois is the 5th most populated state in the U.S. Beginning in the early 19th century, people began to settle Illinois. When John Deere invented his steel plow, Illinois turned into an agricultural haven.
On this day December 3rd, in 1818, Illinois becomes the 21st state of the United States. Illinois was a free state, but it did have some remnants of slavery from the French.
Illinois’ capital is Springfield, a city that has slightly over 200,000 residents in its metropolitan area. Compare that to Illinois’ largest city, Chicago, which has almost 10 million people living in its metropolitan area. Chicago has one of the largest GDP for a city, behind only New York City, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.