Illinois Bicentennial: About That Illinois Northern Border

From Wikipedia.

During the discussion to admit Illinois as a state, the northern border was moved twice.  The original provisions of the Northwest Ordinance said the border would be straight across from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.  This would have left Illinois with no shoreline on Lake Michigan.

However, Indiana had successfully been granted a ten-mile  northern extension of its boundary to provide it with usable lakefront.  The original bill for statehood, submitted to Congress on January 23, 1818, had a northern border at the same latitude as Indiana's, ten miles north of the southernmost extremity of Lake Michigan.

But Illinois Territory delegate, Nathaniel Pope, wanted more.  He lobbied to have it moved even further north.  When the final bill passed Congress, the northern Illinois border was 51 miles north of the Indiana northern border.  This added 8,500 square miles to Illinois, including the lead mining region by Galena.

More importantly, it added nearly 50 miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River.  Pope envisioned a canal that would connect the Great Lakes to the Mississippi.

And, of course, there was that future city called Chicago.

--RoadDog