Illinois Naval Militia The Illinois Naval Militia was a naval militia created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1893 , and finally dissolved in 1988 . As a state defense force it was not part of the Illinois National Guard or National Guard of the United States . Formation . In September 1892 a meeting was called by Lieutenant - Commander B . M . Shaffner , attended by more than 20 graduates of the Naval Academy at Annapolis who were resident in Chicago , which proposed the formation of a State Naval Militia . The following year a bill was finally passed , and approved by Governor Altgeld , which provided for the creation and establishment of the Illinois Naval Militia , to consist of two battalions , each having a maximum strength of 400 men , and a minimum of 140 . The 1st Battalion was based in Chicago , and the 2nd Battalion in Moline on the Mississippi . The 1st Battalion initially had 225 men , divided into four divisions , while the 2nd Battalion , had 176 men at its foundation , soon rising to 206 . The 1st Battalion met one evening each week and practiced boat - drill , both sail and oar , and were trained in the use of torpedoes , for which a steam - launch was specially fitted ; and in the use of artillery , the cutlass , and small arms . The Navy Department presented the First Battalion with a complete stand of Hotchkiss rifles , cutlasses and revolvers , a Hotchkiss Rotary Gun and a battery of four 3 - inch breech - loading field gun s . Each summer there was a three week cruise , for which the Militia was loaned a ship , usually obsolete , by the Navy . Up until 1901 this was usually the . The officers of the militia were all former naval men , and several were veterans of the Civil War . There was also an associate membership , composed of many of the leading merchants , bankers and professional men of Chicago , including Marshall Field , Lyman J . Gage , and Charles Deering . Further , honorary memberships were awarded to Shelby M . Cullom , J . Frank Aldrich , and Colonel Leroy P . Stewart , Inspector General of the First Brigade of the Illinois National Guard . Following the 1893 World ' s Columbian Exposition , there were plans to move the replica battleship " Illinois " to a pier near Van Buren Street , where the ship would have become the headquarters of the militia . By 1896 , the Illinois Naval Militia had five divisions : three in Chicago , one in Moline , and one in Alton , of approximately 250 , 100 , and 50 men respectively . At that time , it received $ 25 , 000 in federal funds annually , and operated several boats and a steam launch . World War I . In late 1916 the Illinois Naval Militia was federalized into the National Naval Volunteers , created by an act of Congress and approved on August 29 , 1916 , under which the President was permitted to call them up for active duty with the United States Navy . Detailed plans for mobilization were prepared , and within forty - eight hours of the declaration of war on April 6 , 1917 , the entire Illinois Naval Militia had left Chicago by train for the Philadelphia Navy Yard . Some were actually at sea within a week of the declaration of war , and many more on the first group of ships that left the United States bound for Europe . At that time the Illinois Naval Militia consisted of 579 men organised into : Later history . World War I marked the high - point of the Illinois Naval Militia . The United States Naval Reserve was formed in 1915 , and those states that maintained Naval Militias received very little federal aid , and then only if the members of their state Naval Militia were also members of the Naval Reserve , which offered more benefits . There was also competition for personnel from the Marine Corps Reserve and Coast Guard Auxiliary . Inevitably , the Naval Militia ' s popularity began to decline . By the 1970s , the Illinois Naval Militia had become little more than a social club located on the Chicago waterfront . When the city annexed the property , the militia effectively ceased to exist , but was not formally dissolved until 1988 . However , on January 19 , 2006 , it was reauthorized , though never re - established , by an executive order of Governor Rod Blagojevich . Senate Republicans disputed the governor ' s authority to resurrect the militia .