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The first Jimmy John s shop, located by Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.
Credit Winston1085, via Wikimedia Commons
When we think of Illinois, we think of Abraham Lincoln, flat farmland and Chicago. But maybe someday our state will be associated with… sandwiches?
It was this week 37 years ago that the first Jimmy John s opened in Charleston, Illinois. Its founder, Jimmy John Liautaud, had just turned nineteen.
Liautaud was born in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He struggled through school, and after high school decided to get into the hot dog business. His father agreed to provide some seed money, with the caveat that if the business failed, Liautaud would enlist in the military.