Question: In Illinois, McLean (Bloomington county seat) and Coles (Charleston county seat) counties were both established on the same day, by the state legislature on Christmas Day 1830. Can you name the next county to be legally organized by the state?

Answer: On Jan. 15, 1831, three weeks after McLean and Coles were founded, that then no-nothing county up in the swamps of northern Illinois — to be called Cook County — was established. Its county seat became known as "Chicago." Bloomington was founded in 1831 but Chicago was not founded until 1833.