July 6 Illinois History Minute

It’s July Sixth, and on this day in 1915, the Illinois General Assembly approved a state flag design, chosen through a contest held by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The winning design, from the D-A-R’s Rockford chapter, was based on the Illinois state seal, featuring a bald eagle clutching a stars-and-stripes shield in its talons and a banner in its beak with the state motto, “State Sovereignty National Union”.  

“A Prairie Home Companion”, the live radio show that featured Garrison Keillor’s tales of Lake Wobegon, premiered on Minnesota Public Radio on this day in 1974. WILL-FM picked up the program in 1982 and aired it until Keillor’s retirement in 2016.