The 1988 Def Leppard show was a big one—16,606—and lead singer Joe Elliott announced from the stage that it had broken Elvis Presley’s all-time attendance record. Only—dramatic pause!—it hadn’t. Whether
A: According to our records, at of March 2024 the oldest alumni are Mabel Craf, ’30 ED (109), of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; followed by Otto Klein, ’37 ACES (108), of
A: You betcha—and from way back, too. During the University’s early years—we’re talking 19th century, here—suffrage was one of the most popular debate topics between the women’s and men’s student
A: Get out your toboggans, friends! And your down vests and long underwear and hand warmers and all that other cold weather razzamatazz. Or, better yet, just stay inside beside
A: Because of backroom deals so brazen, they could even make a politician blush! The credit goes to Clark Robinson Griggs, a state representative and former Urbana mayor, who in
A: Yes, unfortunately. The Morrill Act of 1862, which created the land-grant university system, gave each U.S. state an allotment of “public lands” that it could lease or sell to
When Nixon was Eisenhower’s vice president (1953–61), he visited Champaign-Urbana for campaign stops in 1954 and 1956. During his own 1960 presidential campaign, Nixon visited the small Illinois town of
A: In 1920, the University planted 173 World War I memorial trees around the perimeter of the Armory, and extending down Sixth Street and up Pennsylvania Avenue. Unfortunately, some of
A: Because she was the greatest cow of all time. Illini Nellie (1927–1940), a Brown Swiss, became legen-dairy in the 1930s, setting records for milk and milk fat production 12
A: If you guessed Mr. Morrow, guess again. The field’s namesake, Dean of Agriculture George E. Morrow, eventually oversaw its research and made the plots famous by publishing his findings.
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