April 29 Illinois History Minute

It’s April 29th, and on this day in 1959, Governor William Stratton signed a bill making summer daylight saving time uniform and mandatory throughout Illinois. Illinois joined a small but growing number of states pushing their clocks one hour ahead from mid-spring to mid-fall. Some downstate legislators had opposed mandatory daylight saving time. They accused Chicago lawmakers of pushing them around.

Sculptor Lorado Taft was born on this day in 1860 in Elmwood, near Peoria. He grew up in Champaign and studied at Illinois Industrial University, later the University of Illinois. Taft created the Alma Mater statue on the U of I campus. He also sculpted the Chief Blackhawk statue in Lowden State Park in northern Illinois, and the massive Fountain of Time sculpture in Chicago’s Washington Park.