How Corn Changed Itself and Then Changed Everything Else

In this talk, Cynthia Clampitt will present the history of corn and how it transformed the Americas before First Contact, how it traveled the world after First Contact, and its stunning impact on the creation of not only the historic Midwest but just about everything in it. About 10,000 years ago, a weedy grass that grew in Mexico and possessed a strange trait known as a “jumping gene” transformed itself into a larger and more useful grass—the cereal grass that we would come to know as maize and then corn.

Most textbooks only mention corn in the context of rescuing a few early settlers, but it, in fact, sustained the colonies and then the early United States. Corn virtually created the Midwest, a region that settled faster than any other region in history. It also created the region’s cities, especially Chicago, where everything from grain elevators, the Chicago Board of Trade, and the 1893 World’s Fair to time zones and the stockyards were made possible by the golden flood flowing into the city.

This presentation aligns with the Illinois America 250 Commission's theme, the “Power of Place,” which helps us explore how our natural and built environments have shaped the settlement, migration, and the development of our state. The Illinois America 250 Commission's goals are to uplift local stories, places, and programs; build pride; and showcase how Illinois brings the ideals of the Declaration of Independence to life.