The Illinois state tournament series structure has changed several times since the first state tournament was held in 1957. Key events in the evolution of this structure include the following:

YEAR	MILESTONE
1957	The Illinois state tournament is inaugurated as a four-team, single-elimination tournament. The state is organized into fourteen districts numbered 1 through 14 from the bottom of the state to the top.
1958	District 15 is formed near Midway Airport, and District 16 (Lake County and Chicago's North Suburbs) is spun off from District 14.
1964	Three new districts are formed. District 17 (West Central Illinois) is spun off from District 3, District 18 (Kankakee area) is spun off from District 4, and District 19 (Northwestern Illinois) is spun off from District 5.
1973	District 4 (Ottawa/LaSalle area) is folded into District 5.
1974	District 4 is re-formed within the Chicago city limits.
1981	The state tournament switches to a double-elimination format.
1985	District 20 is formed in the Ottawa/LaSalle area as a spin-off from District 5 (Quad Cities area). The creation of this district leads to changes in Illinois' sectional and state tournament structure, as Illinois officials create a fifth section and expand the state tournament to a five-team event. District 18 joined three of the districts from Section 1 in the new Section 5, and District 15 (Midway Airport area) moved from Section 3 to Section 2.
1987	District 14 is dissolved, and its leagues are folded into District 12.
1995	The state's sectional structure is shuffled slightly when District 18 moves back into Section 2. District 10 (Western Chicago suburbs -- Melrose Park/River Forest area) moves from Section 2 to Section 4, and Section 5 is left as a three-district section.
1999	District 12 is dissolved, and its leagues are folded into District 10.
2000	District 18 moves back to Section 5.
2001	Illinois is assigned to the Great Lakes Region as part of Little League Baseball's expansion of the World Series from eight to sixteen participants.

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