Some People Don't Know These 12 Things Came From Illinois

The first handheld mobile phone - as opposed to the giant car phones that came before - was developed in the early 1970s by Motorola, which was based in Schaumburg.

Universal Fastener Company (now Talon Zipper), based in Chicago, debuted a simple zipper at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Whitcomb Judson was the man behind that particular iteration of the zipper, though Elias Howe had an earlier patent for a similar device.

The history of the pinball machine stretches all the way back to the 17th century, but you can thank a bevy of Chicago-based companies for mass producing the coin operated machines in the 30s.

Dentistry as a profession, that is. At the turn of the 19th century, Greene Vardiman Black developed a number of materials, techniques, instruments, and research patterns that ushered in modern dentistry as a scientific pursuit. The American Dental Association has called Chicago home since 1918.

The precursor to modern barbed wire was a simple wooden block with pointy wires sticking out to deter cattle from crossing a fence line. The invention, patented by Henry B. Rose, was on display at a DeKalb fair in 1873 when it was spotted by Joseph Glidden, who turned the idea into a marketable product.

Chicago inventor Ives McGaffey patented a sweeping machine in 1869; it was a hand-pumped contraption made of wood and canvas, but it provided the inspiration for later electric-powered devices.

One of the best-known Chicago inventions, the Ferris wheel was developed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. and debuted at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

This amazingly delicious chocolatey treat came to the world courtesy of the pastry chef at Chicago's Palmer Hotel in 1893. The hotel owner's wife asked for a treat that was cake-like but smaller and more transportable than cake.

Pencils got their recognizable color from their early European manufacturer, the Hardtmuth Company of Austria. Bright yellow, a symbol of royalty in China, represented the fine Chinese graphite used to make them. Yellow pencils were introduced to America at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 where they promptly became an American favorite.

The world's first skyscraper was the 10-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago. Sadly, it stood for less than 50 years before being demolished.