Food historian Cynthia Clampitt will present the compelling history of corn, how it transformed the Americas and its impact on the creation of the historic Midwest.
Nearly 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.
Nurtured by Native Americans, this grain would transform the Americas even before First Contact, when European and Native American cultures first encountered each other. After First Contact, it spanned the globe and helped drive westward expansion in North America, building cities and inspiring innovators and entrepreneurs. Corn virtually created the Midwest, a region that settled faster than any other region in history. It also helped create the region’s cities, especially Chicago, where everything from grain elevators, to the Chicago Board of Trade, to the 1893 World’s Fair to time zones, to the stockyards were made possible by the golden flood of corn flowing into the city.
The Main Library is located in downtown Mount Prospect, next to Village Hall. The building houses an extensive collection of materials, spaces for quiet and collaborative work, several program rooms, public computers, a dedicated teen space, and engaging play area for children.
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