What Was Invented in Illinois? Top 5 Tech Inventions + 2 Bonus

Illinois has been a tech trailblazer for almost 200 years. Count down five firsts from the Prairie State — from John Deere’s steel plow to the Mosaic web browser and the first nuclear reactor in Chicago — plus two bonus picks you probably have in your own home.

#5: Self-scouring steel plow (Grand Detour, 1837)

Sticky prairie soil clung to heavy cast-iron plows. Blacksmith John Deere built a steel plow in Grand Detour. Its smooth blade cleaned itself as it cut the soil. He made it from the steel of an old sawmill blade.

#4: Home Insurance Building (Chicago, 1885)

Tall buildings once needed thick, heavy masonry walls. Chicago’s Home Insurance Building went up in 1884–85. A steel frame carried the weight instead of the walls. It’s often called the first skyscraper — just 10 stories.

#3: First US cellular network (Chicago, 1983)

Radio towers that hand your call from one cell to the next. Chicago got America’s first commercial cell service in 1983. The first commercial call was made on Oct. 13, 1983. It was placed from a car in the Soldier Field parking lot.

#2: Mosaic web browser (Urbana, 1993)

A web browser is the program that shows you web pages. Programmers at the University of Illinois released it in 1993. It put pictures right alongside the words on a page. Its co-creator went on to help start Netscape.

#1: First nuclear reactor (Chicago, 1942)

A reactor releases the energy inside atoms — under control. Enrico Fermi’s team built Chicago Pile-1 in 1942. On Dec. 2 it ran the first controlled chain reaction. It was built in a squash court under a football stadium.

Bonus Picks From Illinois

Dishwasher (Shelbyville, 1886). Josephine Cochrane hated slow dishwashing and chipped china. She designed one in a shed behind her Shelbyville home. Patented in 1886, it led to a company that became KitchenAid.

Wireless TV remote (Chicago, 1955). Chicago’s Zenith made a wired TV remote in 1950. In 1955 engineer Eugene Polley’s Flash-Matic went wireless. You aimed a flashlight beam at sensors on the TV screen.

Tech From Every State

This is part of my Tech From Every State series: the top tech inventions and firsts from each of the 50 states, told with simple animations. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss your state.

Did we miss something invented in Illinois? Tell me in the YouTube comments — and give the video a thumbs up if you learned something.