Erin Costa / CC
Decatur will be honored as one of the eight original towns during the National Football League’s 100th anniversary. The Chicago Bears were founded in 1919 as the Decatur Staleys by A.E. Staley, founder and owner of A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. The first Bears team was made up of Staley employees and played at Eldorado and 22nd Streets in Decatur. In 1920, George Halas, a 1917 graduate of the University of Illinois, was hired as player and coach. The team would move to Chicago the next year and became the Bears in 1922. Appropriately, the NFL’s 100th season will kick off when the Bears host the Packers on September 5th.
