ILLINOIS HISTORY
A MAGAZINE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Volume 53 • Numbers • April 2000

CONTENTS

41 Montgomery Ward: The World's First Mail-Order Business Ann Kim Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale 43 Walgreens Drug Store Chain Started in Dixon Patrick Nikodem Lincoln Hall Middle School, Lincolnwood 45 A Jolt Out of the Blue: Chicago's S & C Electric Company Elsa Pourshahbaz Jamieson School, Chicago 46 Cyrus Hall McCormick: Inventor and Industrialist Katie G. Brenner South Middle School, Arlington Heights 47 The History of the Phoenix Flour Mills Amanda Jones Anna-Jonesboro Community High School, Anna 49 Rushville's United States Post Office Virginia Benninghoff Schuyler Middle School, Rushville 50 Walters Ag, Inc. Misty Hillard Chapman Jr. High School, Farmington 52 Sears, Roebuck and Co. and its Effect on Retailing in America Beth Martens St. Thomas More School, Elgin 54 The Chicago Board of Trade Natalie Webb Brookwood Junior High School, Glenwood 55 Sometimes There Just Aren't Enough Rocks Dan Veronie Thornwood High School, South Holland On the cover: The Chicago Board of Trade stands as a monument to the lucrative business of commodities trading. See story on page 54.

57 Some Good in a Necessary Evil: POWs in South Holland Jason R. Straton Thornwood High School, South Holland 58 The Belleville Shoe Manufacturing Company Lissa Farquhar Belleville Township High School West, Belleville 60 Peoria's Pere Marquette Valerie Marinicic Washington School, Peoria Illinois Historic Preservation Agency Julie Cellini, Trustee, Chair Pamela A. Daniels, Trustee Edward M. Genson, Trustee Samuel Lilly, Trustee Carol Stein, Trustee Warren Swanson, Trustee Susan Mogerman, Director Maynard Crossland, Division Manager     Public Affairs and Development Illinois History Keith A. Sculle, Editor Cynthia A. Fuener, Design Illinois History (ISSN 0019-2058) is published three times during the school year, December, February, and April, by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Printed by the authority of the State of Illinois. Articles may be reprinted with credit. Subscription rates: One copy is sent free on request to all schools in Illinois. Additional school-use subscriptions are $1 per volume (three issues). All other subscriptions are $6 per volume. POST MASTER: send address changes to Illinois History, Old State Capitol, Springfield, Illinois 62701.

All photos unless otherwise credited are courtesy Illinois State Historical Library, Mary Michals, Iconographer.

Printed by authority of the State of Illinois
(27935-7200-4-00)