Jock Hedblade, executive director of Visit Unforgettable Forgottonia, the recently rebranded Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said a group of concerned citizens dubbed the area Forgottonia in protest of the lack of state and federal investment in highways and other infrastructure in a 16-county section of west-central Illinois.

The counties were Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Fulton, Green, Hancock, Henderson, Knox, McDonough, Mercer, Morgan, Pike, Schuyler, Scott and Warren.

In the 1970s, Forgottonia became a fictional political secession movement. It did not achieve actual statehood but did briefly crystallize as a state of mind. According to visitforgottonia.com, “Residents of the west-central Illinois region — more or less between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers — launched a satirical secession movement to protest the region’s stepchild status in Springfield.”

Hedblade said what started as a tongue-in-cheek name grew. It was conceived by McDonough County residents Jack Horn, son of civically minded Coca Cola bottler Frank “Pappy” Horn, and Macomb Chamber of Commerce board member John Armstrong.

The Horns and Armstrong appointed a governor, selected a capital and threatened secession so they could declare war, immediately surrender and then petition for foreign aid. They even had their own flag — the white flag of surrender.

Vietnam veteran and Western Illinois University student Neal Gamm was named the governor of Forgottonia, and the breakaway commonwealth established its capital in an abandoned building in Fandon, a very small hamlet south of Colchester, hidden in the woods of McDonough County.

Visitforgottonia.com noted that “wearing an elegant frock coat, bow tie, boutonniere and impish grin,” Gamm became a media darling.

In a 2010 interview with the McDonough County Voice, Gamm recalled that what had started as a local joke soon became a news sensation as reporters and television producers from across the nation started contacting him. The Western Illinois Magazine noted his republic had all the accoutrements of state and even nationhood, including an official bird (the albatross) and flower (the forget-me-not), as well as ambitious plans for a military academy and missile base, apparently if things got ugly with Iowa.

According to visitforgottonia.com, “Forgottonia never did secede, but the movement did succeed because it drew national attention to the region’s transportation and infrastructure plight. Amtrak brought trains back to the area in 1972 and the region now enjoys Amtrak passenger train route to Chicago and much improved system of bridges and highways that now allow easier access to the area.”

Hedblade said that at one point, a Forgottonia Day was held at Western Illinois University where people met and talked about the things that needed to be improved in the area and how that could be done.

Last year, a 50-year anniversary celebration included a toast to Gamm.

Hedblade said the sentiments still hold true in some ways. There are people in Chicago that are unaware of the people in this part of the state — who they are, where they are and what they have to offer, including Western Illinois University.

“There is still a segment of the population that takes umbrage and took Forgottonia at face value,” he said.

Macomb is now home to a brewery called Forgottonia Brewing. On its website, it says that over the years, Forgottonia has come to stand for the deep connection the people of west-central Illinois feel to the region and “the playful and irreverent refusal to let ourselves be forgotten.”

Forgottonia also caught on most recently in a program on The History Channel called “How The States Got Their Shapes.” The second episode of the first season, titled “The Great Plains, Trains and Automobiles,” focused on the historic inequity given to the western Illinois region as a result of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The host Brian Unger interviewed Gamm and they toured Fandon, Illinois.

Musician Chris Vallillo also has a concept LP titled Forgottonia.

Hedblade said that six years ago when he came to his role, the Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau had not been rebranded for years. So, they rebranded to be Unforgettable Forgottonia Illinois.

“We’re pretty sure once you get here, you’ll realize it’s a pretty special place,” he said.

This spring the area will host Macombopoly May 9 starting at 11 a.m. It will be the world’s largest Monopoly game and will pay homage to the classic board game and its inspiration — The Landlord’s Game, invented by Macomb resident Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie-Phillips.