By 1918, Illinois' Centennial Year, the state had undergone radical changes from the wilderness of one hundred years earlier. The population had grown from 35,000 to 6,500,000; Chicago, the largest city, had become the second largest city in the nation and a major industrial and shipping center for the world; and the fertile downstate farm area had become a major producer of the nation's grain, often being referred to as the nation's breadbasket. The territory which held little promise when granted statehood in 1818 had, in the course of one hundred years, blossomed into a strong economic, political, and social force among the forty-eight states.

In 1914, war again spurred the economy of Illinois as it had during and after the Civil War, as the state's farmers and industrialists rallied to meet the needs of a nation in the throes of World War I. The expanding economy and active job market had far-reaching effects on Illinois, for together they attracted thousands of unemploymed laborers to industrial areas throughout the state, increasing the state's unemployment rolls manyfold, and creating the additional problems of overcrowding, poor health and sanitation conditions, increased crime and delinquency, and serious racial and ethnic clashes. By necessity, Illinois became a leader in the areas of social welfare, loabor relations, transportation, and communication to meet the expanding needs of an expanding population.

Prosperity followed World War I, and for twelve years Illinois and its residents experienced phenomenal economic expansion and growth. But the financial crash of 1929 had its effect on Illinois, and the state didn't recover for almost a decade. In 1930, about one-third of the state's work force was unemployed; in 1933, all the banks in the state were closed by order of the governor, and the Chicago Board of Trade closed on the same day; in 1935, the federal government was pouring more relief money into Illinois than any other state in the nation. But still, the dire economic situation was not alleviated until the advent of World War II in 1939.

Crime became a major concern in Illinois during the years following World War I. Although prohibition was voted into existance nationwide and became the law of the land in 1920, liquor traffic went underground and continued much as before, especially in Chicago where Al Capone and his syndicate built it into a multi-billion dollar business, with supplemental interests, which they protected through the use of gangland tactics including harassment, bribery, payoffs, and murder.

Illinois literature of the period from World War I to World War II accurately mirrored the times. The Chicago writers' renaissance, which began prior to 1900 with such authors as Dreiser, Fuller, Ade, and Dunne, began to wane, and died an unmarked death in the 1920s, despite the appearance on the scene of new and interesting authors such as Floyd Dell, Edna Ferber, Ben Hecht, James T. Farrell, and Ring Lardner. An especially interesting phenomenon was the number of Chicago- and Illinois-based mystery novels which were written between 1920 and 1950. Despite the decline in literary interest in Illinois, a look at the entries in this chapter will indicate, in general, a broader variety of topics and themes and a higher quality of writing than has been apparent in any prior era.

Pictures From Top: