Illinois was admitted to the Union as the 21st state on this date in 1818.
The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor had this about Illinois today:
Today Illinois is the “most average state” in America. It was given this distinction by the Associated Press, which analyzed data from the U.S. census, looking at things like income and age and race, as well as education, immigration, rural population percentages and more than a dozen other factors. The Associated Press concluded that Illinois mirrored the makeup of the country as a whole better than any other state. Second was Oregon, and then Michigan, and Washington, and Delaware. The “least average state” in the Union: West Virginia.