Where did Peoria, Illinois, get its name?
Peoria, Illinois, got its name from the Peoria tribe of the Illinois Confederacy.
The name means “carrying a pack on his back.”
Only two future presidents signed the Declaration of Independence, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington and James Madison were the only two to sign the Constitution.
The first eight-hour day in America was instituted for federal employees in public work projects in 1868. Before the law was passed, an average workday could run 10 to 12 hours. In 1867, the Illinois state legislature had passed a law proclaiming the eight-hour day to be “the legal workday in the state.” But the…
American Nintendo Company employees took the name “Mario” for Super Mario Brothers from the landlord of their building. The Nintendo system first appeared in the U.S. in 1986.
The importation of slaves was outlawed in the U.S. on January 1, 1808, nearly six decades before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in 1865. However, it is estimated that 54,000 additional slaves were brought illegally to the U.S. between 1808 and the Civil War.
St. Augustine, Florida, which was settled by Spain in 1565, is the oldest town founded in America by Europeans.
The insider stock trader Michael Milken who became the symbol of 1980s greed graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, symbol of 1960s activism, in 1968.