Illinois returns nearly 1,500 acres of stolen land to state’s first federally recognized tribe

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law to restore Shabbona Lake State Park, about 1,500 acres in DeKalb County, to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

His action Friday comes nearly a year after the group became the first federally recognized tribal nation in Illinois. Previously, Illinois had been one of 15 states without a federally recognized tribal nation.

The law’s passage is part of an attempt to correct what state lawmakers have called a “historic injustice” that occurred 175 years ago when the U.S. government auctioned off nearly 1,300 acres of Prairie Band land, largely encompassing the state park, while Chief Shab-eh-nay was visiting relatives in Kansas. The state established the state park after it purchased the land with federal grant funds between 1969 and 1978…

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