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Illinoisis a leading
agricultural, manufacturing, and urban state of the north central region
of the United States. It is bordered by Wisconsin on the north, Lake Michigan
on the northeast, Indiana on the east and southeast, and Kentucky on the
south. The Ohio River follows its southern border, and the Mississippi
in the west and southwest of the state lies along its borders with Iowa
and Missouri. Inhabited thousands of years ago by Indians, Illinois was
explored by the French Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette and frontiersman
Louis Jolliet, who reached the area on June 20, 1673. The French changed
the Indian name for the area, Illiniwek, meaning "the men," to Illinois.
Illinois became a state on Dec. 3, 1818. Although the 25th largest state
in size, its population is ranked only sixth largest of all states, and
its growth rate has been non-existant or very low since the 1980s. Springfield
became the capital in 1837. Since 1850, Illinois has been a major state
in all economic sectors. Now it faces the problems of increasing urbanization
and interregional economic competition.
LAND AND RESOURCES
Illinois is composed of about 60 percent prairie, 30 percent hills with
prairie, and 10 percent hills. The prairies cover central, northeastern,
eastern, and south central Illinois; hills with prairie are found in northwestern,
western, and southern Illinois; hills characterize the Driftless Area
of the northwest, the Lincoln Hills in the west-southwest, and the Shawnee
Hills in the south--all with relief of less than 305 m (1,000 ft).
Geologically, most of Illinois consists of ancient Precambrian granite
overlaid by sedimentary rocks of the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian periods
(280-345 million years ago). These formations underlie 80 percent of the
state in a bowl-shaped structure extending from the Shawnee Hills in the
south to the Illinois River in the north central. The northern fifth of
the state contains bedrock from the Silurian, Ordovician, and Cambrian
periods (more than 400 million years ago). After the deposition of bedrock,
four glaciers covered 90 percent of Illinois from 1.2 million to 13,000
years ago. Their effects are seen in glacial deposits, wind-blown soil
(loess), and morainal ridges.
Soils
All Illinois soils are cultivable and fall into three soil groups: mollisols--a
deep, highly organic, black prairie soil found in the northern two-thirds
of the state; alfisols--a shallower, less organic, brown, forest-based
soil dominant in the southern third of the state; and alluvium--a mixed,
deep, water-deposited soil found in nearly all river valleys.
Drainage
Each day an average 87 billion liters (23 billion gal) of water enter
the state's drainage system. More than 500 streams and rivers and 950
lakes and reservoirs circulate and store the water. The Illinois River
is the largest river within the state, draining about 64,750 sq km (25,000
sq mi). Other large river basins are those of the Kankakee, Sangamon,
and Fox. All of the major streams drain into either the Ohio or Mississippi
rivers. The Chicago River once flowed eastward into Lake Michigan, but
it is now artificially controlled by a series of locks to flow west toward
the Des Plaines River. Underground aquifers, found in limestone and sandstone
deposits, supply water to many northern cities, although that supply is
now low. Surface water provides the rest of the state's water needs.
Climate
The climate of Illinois has distinct north-south fluctuations over the
620-km (385-mi) length of the state. The length, lack of significant elevation,
continental location, and dominant westerly frontal pattern influence
the climate. Average annual precipitation ranges from 1,130 mm (45 in)
in southern Illinois to 880 mm (35 in) in northern Illinois. Heaviest
monthly amounts fall during late spring and early summer. Long-term average
temperatures also vary from north to south. Winter average temperatures
are - 4 degrees C (25 degrees F) in the north and 2 degrees C (36 degrees
F) in the south. Summer averages are 24 degrees C (75 degrees F) in the
north and 26 degrees C (79 degrees F) in the south. Atmospheric storms
move across the state from west to east, with convective thunderstorms
during spring and summer. Cold- and warm-air frontal systems cause most
atmospheric storms in the fall and winter.
Vegetation
The original forest vegetation was initially burned off by early humans,
leaving tall prairie grasses, averaging 1.5 to 2 m (5 to 6 ft) in height.
Mixed deciduous forests (oak, hickory, maple, beech, sweet gum, elm, ash,
cedar, pine, tamarack, fir) covered the southern third of the state and
most river valleys. The mixed forest-grass vegetation of the 18th century
was cleared quickly by farming. Wildlife includes large numbers of white-tailed
deer, rabbit, squirrel, red fox, quail, and pheasant, along with several
waterfowl species that fly through seasonally.
Resources
Extracted minerals include petroleum, natural gas, clay, silica, fluorspar,
lead, zinc, and limestone. Illinois is the fourth-to-sixth largest producer
of bituminous coal in the United States, depending on annual fluctuations.
The Pennsylvania bedrock that underlies 70 percent of the state has yielded
several billion tons since first mined in 1882. Annual production averages
about 60 million tons. Surface water is used for agriculture, industry,
city water supplies, and electrical and nuclear power plants.
PEOPLE
Although some areas in the state have fewer than one person per square
mile, nine metropolitan areas account for about 80 percent of the population:
Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, Rock Island-Moline, the Illinois
portion of the St. Louis, Mo., metropolitan area, Decatur, Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul,
and Bloomington-Normal. Since 1950 these cities have experienced most
of the state's population increase. Growth rates are higher in the many
suburban cities in the Chicago area.
Illinois has close ties with its neighboring states. East St. Louis, on
the east bank of the Mississippi in the southwestern part of the state,
is part of the St. Louis, Mo., metropolitan area. Four bridges connect
the two states there. East Chicago, Hammond, and Gary, Ind., are part
of the Chicago consolidated statistical area.
In 1900 less than 25 percent of the entire population of Illinois, but
more than 75 percent of the population of Chicago, was foreign born. By
1990 less than 8 percent of the state's population was foreign born. The
largest groups were those of Mexican, German, Polish, Irish, and Italian
extraction. Most of the foreign born live in the Chicago metropolitan
area, which is also the home of the overwhelming majority of the state's
black and Hispanic populations.
The largest Christian denomination in Illinois is the Roman Catholic church.
That population, along with a large number of Jews, lives primarily in
the Chicago area. Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, and Presbyterian congregations
account for most of the state's Protestants.
Education
State and local tax revenues began supporting Illinois schools in 1825.
The 1970 state constitution continued the state's responsibility to fund
all public schools, and 1985 educational reforms have specified competency
levels for every subject at all grade levels in all public schools. Attendance
remains mandatory for all children from age 5 to 16.
The University of Illinois was founded at Champaign-Urbana in 1867. For
information on the public higher education system, see Illinois, state
universities of.
Culture
The Chicago Symphony is the state's largest professional orchestra. Other
cultural institutions include the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Art Institute,
the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum of Natural History,
the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Newberry Library, and the Du Sable
Museum of African-American History, all in Chicago; the Lakeview Museum
of Arts and Sciences in Peoria; the Rockford Art Museum; and the State
Museum in Springfield. Illinois was also a laboratory for architects Louis
Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright; some of their designs still stand. The
Illinois Arts Council was established to assist the performing and visual
arts.
Historical Sites
The heritage of Abraham Lincoln in Illinois is preserved at Lincoln's
Monument and Tomb and the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield.
New Salem State Historic Site and the Vandalia Statehouse State Historic
Site commemorate the beginnings of territorial settlement. Cahokia Mounds
and Dickson Mounds are relics of the state's Indian past. Other historic
sites include the Stephen A. Douglas Monument in Winchester, Kaskaskia
Island in the Mississippi River, and the Ulysses S. Grant home in Galena.
Communications
Illinois serves as the communications center for much of the interior
of the United States, with nearly 400 AM and FM radio stations and nearly
40 television stations. The first Illinois newspaper, published in 1814,
was the Illinois Herald of the territorial capital of Kaskaskia. Daily
newspapers total about 70. Chicago is one of the world's leading publishing
and printing hubs.
ECONOMY
The industrial growth of the state ws spurred by readily available natural
resources, excellent transportation, and skilled laborers. The earliest
large industries porcessed agricultural products--meat, grain, and lumber--and
manufactured farm implements.
Agriculture
Illinois farmers, with their strong interest in scientific farming, have
produced remarkable growth in agricultural productivity in the 20th century.
The present Illinois farm is on average about 120 ha (300 acres). The
main crops produced include corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, oats, orchard
crops, and vegetables. Corn and soybeans are the leading cash commodities.
Cattle and hog raising are also significant. The state's forested land,
more than 40 percent of its area 200 years ago, has been cut back to little
more than 10 percent. Lumbering is a minor industry.
Fishing
The state's lakes, reservoirs, and rivers yield millions of kilograms
of fish annually. Catches include carp, catfish, largemouth bass, and
other species. Dozens of fishing tournaments and other sport-fishing events
are held annually in Southern Illinois and on Lake Michigan.
Manufacturing
In 1900, Illinois was the third leading manufacturing state, with value
added by manufacturing of $570 million. Through the years it has remained
among the top ranking states in the nation in value added by manufacturing.
The state's leading industries include petroleum refining, nonelectrical
machinery, food and food products, electrical equipment, and chemicals.
The industrial center of Illinois is Chicago and its many suburbs, with
smaller concentrations in Rockford, the Quad Cities (Rock Island, Moline,
East Moline, and Davenport, Iowa), Peoria, and the Illinois portion of
the St. Louis, Mo., metropolitan area. The Midwest Stock Exchange and
Chicago Mercantile Exchange are located in Chicago, as is the Chicago
Board of Trade, which has set world agricultural prices since 1848.
Tourism
Tourists spend more than $6 billion annually--about 7 percent of the gross
state product--in state parks and other recreational facilities. Outdoor
recreational facilities are plentiful, and many are accessible throughout
the year. Shawnee National Forest, composed of two separate areas, is
located in southern Illinois. Major sports stadiums located in Chicago
include Soldier Field, Chicago Stadium, Wrigley Field, and Comiskey Park.
Transportation and Trade
Illinois is a major U.S. transportation hub, with interstate highways,
one of the nation's main railroad networks, the busiest airport in the
world, and three major inland waterways--the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi
rivers. The Illinois Waterway provides an access route to the Mississippi
River for Great Lakes ships via the Chicago River, Chicago Sanitary and
Ship Canal, and Des Plaines and Illinois rivers. Chicago's O'Hare International
Airport serves more than 100,000 passengers daily. The Chicago Port Authority
handles millions of metric tons of commerce annually, using both the Navy
Pier Port and Lake Calumet Port. Leading exports include metals and metal
products, nonelectrical machinery, chemicals, electronic equipment, and
transport equipment.
Energy
Illinois is one of the leading energy producers and consumers in the United
States, with 60 percent of the state's power generated by coal-fired thermoelectric
plants and 24 percent from nuclear power. The Illinois Environmental Protection
Agency supervises landfills; controls air, soil, stream, and lake pollution;
monitors noise levels; checks wastewater treatment plants; and wages court
battles against polluters. One experimental project for disposing of treated
sludge from the Chicago Sanitary District began in 1974 when barges of
sludge were carried on the Illinois River to Fulton County for storage
in vacant coal mines in order to bring about, over time, natural chemical
reactions for eventual use of the sludge as fertilizer. Although sludge
continues to be stored, negative public reaction has inhibited its use
on strip-mined land owned by the Chicago District in order to restore
it to farmland.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Illinois was one of the five states created from the Northwest Territory.
Six different forms of government operated in Illinois before its first
constitution took effect in 1818. That first document was followed by
constitutions in 1848, 1870, and 1970. Its 1970 constitution included
protection from discrimination for women, protection for a healthy environment,
and the right of suffrage for more citizens by relaxing residency requirements.
The senate and house of representatives, constituting the state's general
assembly, are selected from 59 districts, each represented by one senator
and two at-large representatives. The executive branch includes a team-elected
governor and lieutenant governor, assisted by an attorney general, secretary
of state, comptroller, and treasurer. The supreme court consists of seven
judges elected from five judicial districts for 10-year terms. The appellate
court judges, also elected for 10-year terms, serve each of the state's
judicial districts, hearing appeals from state circuit courts, whose judges
are elected for 10-year terms.
Local government consists of township, county, and city governments, each
electing several officials. Talk of dissolving the township level of government
may alter this system. Cities with a population of more than 25,000 and
counties with an elected chief executive have home-rule power, including
the power to tax.
Illinois's political parties have at times engaged in questionable practices,
but the state's size has given it an important political role nationally.
In the 19th century state officials were mainly Republican, but in the
20th century both political parties have held decision-making power. Also,
a clear distinction between a Democratic-voting urban population and a
Republican-voting rural or suburban population has emerged.
HISTORY
Thousands of years before the French reached Illinois, Paleo-Indians,
a nomadic people, and their descendants, archaic Indians, had explored
Illinois. The culture of these hunters, dated before 5000 BC, can be studied
at the Modock Rock Shelter in Randolph County. Woodland Indians were their
descendants. By AD 900, Middle Mississippi Indians, who succeeded the
Woodland Indians, built large earthen mounds and developed complex urban
areas. These cities disappeared possibly because of overpopulation, disease,
and exhaustion of resources. The descendants of the Mississippians were
the Illiniwek tribes of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. After years
of losing land and wars to other Indian groups and European colonists,
the Illiniweks were moved to a Kansas reservation.
The French controlled areas along the Mississippi River valley in the
American Bottoms between Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Their occupation, from
about 1675 to 1763, left few lasting marks, as did the ineffective British
rule. European control was ended by the U.S. militia of George Rogers
Clark in 1778, whereupon Virginia claimed Illinois as within its territory.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 charted this region and organized counties,
and in 1809 the Territory of Illinois was created. During the early years
of settlement by fur trappers, southern Illinois was the focus of migration
to the area, especially along the Mississippi River valley and the Wabash
and Ohio rivers. Granting of statehood in 1818 was controversial. The
population numbered less than the required 60,000. Moreover, in order
to include the Chicago port area, territorial representatives induced
the U.S. Congress to draw the Illinois border 51 miles to the north of
the original boundary as delimited by the Northwest Ordinance. The first
capital was Kaskaskia, followed by Vandalia, along the Kaskaskia River,
which held the position for 20 years. After strong pressure from Abraham
Lincoln, the capital was moved to Springfield by an 1837 legislative vote.
Early statehood problems engulfed Illinois. In the 1830s the state was
near bankruptcy because of government financing of canals and railroad
construction. The Black Hawk War in 1832 was fought by the Indians and
newly arrived settlers over possession of Illinois land. Disease was rampant
and death common. Adherents to Mormonism, who had migrated from Missouri
in 1839, were charged with many illegalities and finally driven from the
state after their leader, Joseph Smith, had been murdered in 1844.
The Civil War caused mixed loyalties among Illinoisans, many of whom were
first- or second-generation Southerners. However, many took pride in the
fact that the Union was led by a native son, Lincoln, and the state provided
250,000 soldiers to the Union army. It also was the weapons manufacturer,
supplier of iron products, and major grain and meat supplier for the North.
By 1880, Illinois had become the fourth most populous state. It was a
leader in grain production and manufacturing. Large-scale European immigration
provided labor to mine coal, run steel mills, and enhance the economy
and culture of the state. By 1920, Illinois was counted among the foremost
states in nearly every significant growth variable--coal mining, industry,
farming, urbanization, transportation, and wholesaling. Its leadership
was achieved despite the economic slumps of the 1880s, 1890s, and early
1900s; the labor disputes in coal mining and railroading; the Chicago
fire of 1871; and the problems caused by organized crime. World Wars I
and II boosted the economy of Illinois, which soon had five ordnance depots
and numerous military training camps.
The post-World War II era was a time of industrial modification to the
production of consumer goods. Even though meat-packing companies began
to move away from Chicago and East Saint Louis, in part because of obsolete
physical plants, Illinois farms were being mechanized and upgraded for
increased output. The use of hybrid seed, chemical fertilizer, herbicides,
and insecticides resulted in larger crop yields. Post-World War II Illinois
experienced rapid population growth. The rising number of school-age children
brought about public school reform, rural school consolidations, and huge
suburban educational plants. Migration streams of blacks from the South,
Hispanics from Mexico and Puerto Rico, and whites from Appalachia reshaped
neighborhoods in Chicago, its suburbs, and other large Illinois cities.
By 1990 Chicago's minorities accounted for nearly 55 percent of its population.
Farming areas and several towns were much affected by the great Mississippi
River flood that occurred in 1993. The river, forming Illinois's western
border, was the scene of one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history,
as flooding of the river and its tributaries involved nine Midwestern
states and put several Illinois communities at risk. Rural Keithsburg
was flooded, and some little towns were wiped out. Damage to crops, land,
and property was in the billions of dollars.
Illinois voters in 1992 made political history, electing the first black
woman, Carol Moseley Braun, to the U.S. Senate.
A. D. Horsley
Bibliography: Allen, John, Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois (1963);
Alvord, C. W., The Illinois Country, 1673-1818 (1920; repr. 1987); Burton,
W. L., The Trembling Land (1966); Carrier, Lois A., Illinois (1993); Clayton,
John, ed., Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (1970);
Faragher, J. H., Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie (1988); Federal
Writers' Project, Illinois (1939; repr. 1971); Havighurst, Walter, The
Heartland (1962); Horsley, A. D., Geography of Illinois (1988); Hicken,
Victor, Illinois in the Civil War (1991); Howard, R. P., Illinois (1972);
Kenney, David, and Brown, Barbara L., Basic Illinois Government, 3d rev.
ed. (1993); Nardulli, P. F., ed., Diversity, Conflict, and State Politics
(1989); Pegram, Thomas R., Partisans and Progressives: Private Interest
and Public Policy in Illinois, 1870-1922 (1992); Wheeler, Adade, and Wortman,
Marlene S., The Roads They Made: Women in Illinois History (1977).
(c) 1996 Grolier, Inc.
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