Chicago O'Hare digs up 50-ton boulder under airfield, asks public for name ideas
simpleflying.com67 points by Stratoscope 20 hours ago
67 points by Stratoscope 20 hours ago
https://news.wttw.com/2026/09/11/rock-star-meet-guy-who-exca...
here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!
That is a wonderful article!
> Over the years, Pitelka has rescued some of these rocks and deposited them at his mom’s five-acre property, including a large hunk of limestone that, when he dumped it out of his truck, split in half to reveal a perfect trilobite fossil, convex on one side and a matching imprint on the other.
> “I was so excited to hear that the right people got involved,” he said. “I’m absolutely ecstatic it’s going to be on display. For me, as an (excavator) who loves boulders, it’s the coolest thing that people understand its historical significance and appreciate it.”
Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?
I was going to suggest just this! I love Boaty McBoatface.
But as a resident of the Chicago area, I’m partial to Da Rock
Here are the name finalists:
• Sweet Stone Chicago
• No ORDinary Rock
• Chicago Rocks
• O'Rock
• Orchard Rock
• Da Rock
So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.
Just call it "Dwayne Johnson"?
Then in generations to some, old people can explain that Dwayne Johnson was the King of Wrestling and then became King of Hollywood.
Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
Wish I saw some of the larger list. This still seems weak.
ORD as an acronym? O Rock D
O’Hare Rock Dolostone O’Hare Runway Dolomite
Rocky.
Da Dolo
Interesting, the construction worker who found is said he never found one that big in all his years working in the field.
I had no idea that would be rare, what makes it relatively rare?
"Mother's Love"
Because, we so often take it for granite.
Rocky, obvs.
Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
If you're ever in the area of Madison, NH and have absolutely nothing else to do, the Madison Boulder is kinda neat. [0] It's a little bigger at about 5k tons.
Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
I thought the same thing. My back yard is full of huge rocks. Nothing quite that large, maybe 1/3 of that size. A few doors down there is a boulder twice as big as the O'Hare one.
I'm speaking in volume. I'm not sure of the mass of these boulders.
In chicagoland, yes. For someone who moved there from California, it was strange that rocks hardly larger than a human warranted school field trips and plaques. Perhaps it is geologically cool, but I was unimpressed as a 6th grader. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53236492797_60069bde90_b...
When Toronto had to name their team, I’m sure that the success of Jurassic Park helped the finalist (Raptors) win. I’m surprised “Rocky” didn’t make a finalist here (via Project Hail Mary).
Maybe that’s too Philadelphia.
O’Hare “Rocky” Dolomite
Years ago, a company that I worked for had a huge boulder in the parking lot area that had simply been built around. At some point, facilities decided they were going to remove the boulder. Employees printed up some tee shirts that said "Save the BFR". Because, you know, it was a big rock.
“Deep Crust” surely?
Tangent time: I've got a smaller one in my yard, and I've got a set of feathers and wedges to avoid having to dig it all up at once. Here's a video of someone using feathers and wedges to split granite.
CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone
Rocky McRockface
Pictures or it didn't happen?
O’Hareball!
Bouldery McBoulderface.
"Pritzker's Ego"
Rocky McRockFace
“A large boulder the size of a small boulder"
I was going to suggest something in that vein, perhaps "a giant boulder the size of a large boulder" to distinguish it from its Coloradan cousin.
Bean
Peewee Pebblestone
As an Australian aware of Chicago's Irish heritage and the implied weight balancing our antipodean clime, I'd suggest "Tip O'Dea".
PS. If visiting Chicago check out the Lincoln Park Conservatory, an amazing historic plant collection with one of the world's best ferneries, very close to downtown. https://www.lincolnparkconservancy.org/projects/conservatory...
Big Boy Boulder
Stonehangar, of course
There's something about finding huge rocks in the ground while digging that makes you just want to take them out and like, use them for something? The last one I found I had to make myself leave it there (well I moved it over a foot so a pipe didn't have to go around it). Like no, it has sat here for thousands of years just fine, it can keep sitting. Glad to hear it applies to 50 ton ones, as well.
In New England they made stone walls out of them. Of course most where smallish
https://www.outdoors.org/resources/amc-outdoors/history/hist...
In “original” England they did as well.
Oh sure, I'm definitely familiar with those. The weird ones are in forests, a reminder that an area used to be clear and then was left to grow back.
The walls of stones were the result of collecting stones that were near the surface from what I understand (maybe plow depth). I was talking more like bigger stones that were buried several feet under the ground that could just stay where they are (when you fill in the hole), but for a compulsion to treat them as things.
In New England they made stone walls out of them.
In “original” England they did as well.
There is another rock sitting alongside a chief artery about 25 miles NW just beyond Schaumburg. Silly to give these things a name.
There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?
OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.
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How is it possible that NONE of the candidate names refer to Colbert? Especially given his time with Second City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_The_Colbert...
I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
Colbert is not a Chicago figure. You'd have to remind the median Chicagoan who knows who he is that he ever spent time here. You might just as easily name it after Bob Odenkirk.
