What’s being billed as the world’s largest Monopoly board is now officially open. It was unveiled during a celebration held on a beautiful spring morning on Macomb’s downtown courthouse square.
The event was held on May 9 because that’s the anniversary of Lizzie Magie’s birth. Magie, who was born in Macomb in 1866, is credited with creating The Landlord’s Game, which later became Monopoly.
Erin Anderson of Salt Lake City is Lizzie’s great, great grandniece. She said Lizzie was ahead of her time -- a trailblazer and a go-getter who created games, mostly for educational purposes.
“She had a great personality. From her writings you can tell she was a fun woman. She would have probably loved an event like this, and from what I can gather, she was a character,” Anderson said.
“The town of Macomb is very proud of her, and I’m very proud of her, and it’s great to have the recognition she deserves.”
Anderson feels privileged that genealogists in Macomb found her, reached out, and invited her to the city to be the guest of honor for the big celebration.
“I never thought I would be here, honestly, and it’s been great. This town has been wonderful to me,” Anderson said.
Hundreds of people showed up for the unveiling, including Ryan Hagan, who lives in rural McDonough County.
“Actually in the heart of Forgottonia in Fandon. We’re excited to be here today to see Forgottonia thrive,” he said.
Hagan hopes Macombopoly draws people. He said it’s something extra for visitors to do, and he plans to play the game too.
“I hope to pass ‘Go’ many times and collect whatever I can from that,” Hagan said.
Right after the ribbon cutting, Denise Lucas was one of the first people to start playing Macombopoly.
“And learning things that I didn’t know before about the commerce that was here, a little more about Lizzie Magie, and just interesting things,” she said.
“It was fun. And I got in my steps.”
Lucas grew up in Macomb. She now lives in California. She’s back in town to visit family, and she wanted to witness the Macombopoly kickoff.
More about Macombopoly and Magie
Macombopoly was six years in the making.
“I don’t even know how to describe my feelings right now. There’s euphoria, there’s relief, there’s a certain sense of pride in my community. The turnout is unbelievable,” said Jock Hedblade, Executive Director of Unforgettable Forgottonia, aka the Macomb Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Hedblade was the driving force behind the Macombopoly project.
Macombopoly can be played while in downtown Macomb through an app powered by eATLAS, which creates apps for tours and scavenger hunts.
Macombopoly takes players around the square to different locations to learn local history and trivia. Players will have to do different things along the way, such as finding a statue and take a selfie with it.
People can compete individually or form a team of up to five people, and can win prizes by completing objectives.
Hedblade said they already have ideas on how to expand Macombopoly, but they first want to see how the community embraces it and whether it works to attract visitors.
He also said they’re working to get the downtown officially declared as the world’s largest Monopoly board.
“I think it’s hard to argue that when you are playing on a surface that is 1,000 feet each on four sides, and then you’ve got this inner square here that equals about a million square feet, that it’s going to be hard to beat that in size,” Hedblade said.
“So we’re sticking with it for now until somebody tells us we can’t.”
The square’s four corners are now adorned with Monopoly-related sculptures:
- A stovepipe hat on the southeast corner
- A game board on the northeast corner
- A Lizzie Magie statue on the northwest corner
- A spinning dice sculpture on the southwest corner
Magie’s father, James, owned the Macomb Journal newspaper from 1861 to 1865. Lizzie was born in the western Illinois community while James served as U.S. Postmaster in Macomb from July 1865 to Sept. 1866.
Macombopoly organizers said Lizzie Magie created The Landlord’s Game in 1903.
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