April 1 Illinois History Minute

April First is a day for pranks and hoaxes in Illinois. In 1881, doctors in Springfield received a flood of false calls for emergency care. The Illinois State Register said physicians received so many prank calls that day that a real call in the afternoon was quote “treated with impunity”.

In March of 2006, a Chicago area furniture store chain ran TV commercials saying they’d be renaming the Chicago Cubs’ baseball stadium.

Hoax news stories are an April Fool’s Day tradition at the Kankakee Daily Journal.  Past stories announced an Elvis museum opening in the town’s vacant K-Mart,  and Michael Jordan trying out for the community college basketball team.