Great State of Chicago (Chicago nickname)
Chicago is the most populous city in the state of Illinois. “The great State of ‘Chicago’” was cited in 1877, “the great State of Chicago” was cited in 1884 and “The Great State of Chicago” was cited in 1889, but this Chicago nickname was very infrequently used.
American politician Dan Quayle (vice president from 1989 to 1993) has been credited with “It’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago” since 1998, but this is well after his vice presidency and it’s doubtful that he ever said it. However, the nickname became popular again by the joke quote.
Wikipedia: List of nicknames for Chicago
“The Great State of Chicago” – Used ironically (by Chicagoans) and pejoratively (by the rest of Illinois). A reference to the great political, cultural, social and ideological divide between the metropolis that is Chicago and the rest of the mostly agricultural State of Illinois.
Wikiquote: Dan Quayle
James Danforth “Dan” Quayle (born 4 February 1947) is a former United States Representative, Senator, the 44th Vice President of the United States (1989–1993), and a minor candidate for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. After retiring from politics, he became the chairman of Cerberus Capital Management.
Attributed
It’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.
. If Quayle said this, he would only be repeating a phrase that first appeared in print approximately 100 years earlier. See: Staff writer (13 May 1889) “The Great State of Chicago,” Chicago Daily Tribune; Staff writer (13 April 1895) “The State of Chicago,” New York Times; Norman Mailer (1968) Miami and the Siege of Chicago
8 February 1877, Lumberman’s Gazette, pg. 85, col. 1:
THE MICHIGAN DEAL AGAIN.
DETROIT, February 1, 1877.
We can but notice with great interest the many articles written on the deal topic both in this State and Canada—we might add Wisconsin and the great State of “Chicago.”
9 July 1884, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), pg. 4, col. 2:
WHAT the unterrified hosts and BEN BUTLER and JOHN KELLY and our own Star-eyed Goddess, Chicago, ir ready to believe that that learned English journal didn’t make such a mistake after all when it referred to her as “the great State of Chicago.”
13 Ma 1889, Chicago (IL) Tribune, pg. 5, col. 1:
The Great State of Chicago.
Peoria Transcript: Well. Palmer got there. Illinois is not getting much, but the great State of Chicago is not doing so badly.
Google Books
Miami and the Siege of Chicago;
An informal history of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968
By Norman Mailer
New York, NY: World Publishing Company
1968
Pg. ?:
The little Chairman was now sufficiently excited to start to say Mayor Daley of the Great State of Chicago.
17 August 1970, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, editorial, pg. 18, col. 3:
The Great State of Chicago
18 June 1978, Chicago (IL) Tribune, pg. 1, col. 4:
Street or mall, it’s still great State of Chicago (State Street.—ed.)
by Paul Gapp
Architecture critic
6 December 1992, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Chicago St. only provides Illinois with a little bit of exercise” by Paul Sullivan, pg. 5:
While Big 10 contenders Michigan and Indiana were testing their mettle against a pair of high-calibre opponents Saturday, Illinois played host to a team representing the great state of Chicago.
Google Groups: alt.support.dystonia
More Chumor from Chana
MLJones628
4/9/98
(...)
>“IT IS WONDERFUL TO BE HERE IN THE GREAT STATE
>OF CHICAGO.” - Former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle
1 May 1998, Vital Speeches of the Day, “Airline fares: Arguments against government interference” by Gerald Greenwald, pg. 435:
Or as Dan Quayle once said - “it’s wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.”
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DaleInIllinois
@DaleInIllinois
Should Illinois try to succeed from the not-so-great state of Chicago and form a 51st state?
9:05 AM - 11 Dec 2008
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Affiliate Marketing
@learn1marketing
It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago
6:24 AM - 26 Aug 2016
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NJ Gun Forums
@njgunforums
From the great state of “Chicago”: Some local crackpot legislator has decided to introduce a bill… http://bit.ly/2bBGaLz #njgf #guns
12:19 PM - 31 Aug 2016