Kankakee, Illinois - We're about 50 miles south of Chicago, just outside of what is generally considered to be the suburbs. Bits of fun trivia about my town
- we made the national news about 10 years ago when a horrible Amtrak train wreck killed 11 people near where I now currently work
- we were voted the worst place to live in the United States on a national registry. Letterman did a bunch of bits on his show about it. It was funny because we suck. We still have the gazebos he sent in order to fix up the town
- oh yeah, a bunch of movies have been inexplicably filmed here (copies wikipedia)
The movie, "The Unborn" (2009), was partially filmed in Samuel H. Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee.[6] Other movies to have been filmed in Kankakee are "The Hunter" (1980),[7] "Child's Play" (1988),[8][9] "Chain Reaction" (1996),[10] "Road to Perdition" (2002),[11] "Adia" (2006, short film),[12] "The Missing Peace" (2006, short film),[13] "The Merry Gentleman" (2008),[14] and "Demon Joe" (2009).[15]
- Although the first Dairy Queen was opened in Joliet, Illinois in 1940, Herb Noble first tested the Dairy Queen idea in Kankakee in 1938.
Our Dairy Queens still don't serve food (just ice cream) to this day, much to the chagrin of employees who have to explain the concept to outsiders
- And the Chicago Bears train here. Not bad for a county of 25,000.