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Chicago O'Hare digs up 50-ton boulder under airfield, asks public for name ideas

64 points Stratoscope 19 hours ago 55 comments

powerbroker 19 hours ago | parent

There is another rock sitting alongside a chief artery about 25 miles NW just beyond Schaumburg. Silly to give these things a name.

Stratoscope 18 hours ago | parent

There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?

powerbroker 17 hours ago | parent

OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.

Stratoscope 16 hours ago | parent

That works for me! Can you help me drag this 50-ton rock?

Stratoscope 18 hours ago | parent

Here are the name finalists:

  • Sweet Stone Chicago
  • No ORDinary Rock
  • Chicago Rocks
  • O'Rock
  • Orchard Rock
  • Da Rock
"No ORDinary Rock" and "Orchard Rock" are the winners for me. They both pay tribute to how O'Hare got its IATA airport code in the 1940s, when it was called Orchard Field.

So deciding between the two, Orchard Rock is my pick! It's subtle, but the plaque can explain it.

whycome 2 hours ago | parent

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

jhatax 2 hours ago | parent

Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.

RaftPeople 1 hour ago | parent

Ditka

anonymousDan 1 hour ago | parent

I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.

lbriner 28 minutes ago | parent

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.

robotnikman 5 minutes ago | parent

I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K

cmrx64 18 hours ago | parent

https://news.wttw.com/2026/09/11/rock-star-meet-guy-who-exca...

here’s a picture of the actual rock - and digger! phew!

Stratoscope 14 hours ago | parent

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.”

aktenlage 14 hours ago | parent

Thank you, great read.

xnx 38 minutes ago | parent

That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.

matthewsinclair 18 hours ago | parent

Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?

[0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36225652

samgranieri 1 hour ago | parent

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

aceazzameen 37 minutes ago | parent

Can have the best of both worlds.

Da Rocky McRockface

tanseydavid 6 minutes ago | parent

Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.

bcaulfield 18 hours ago | parent

Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.

cestith 6 hours ago | parent

Or Rudy Ray Moore.

mindslight 17 hours ago | parent

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.

acomjean 16 hours ago | parent

In New England they made stone walls out of them.

In “original” England they did as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone

acomjean 16 hours ago | parent

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone

mindslight 5 hours ago | parent

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.

karlkloss 14 hours ago | parent

Rocky McRockface

mikewarot 14 hours ago | parent

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.

https://youtu.be/s7_z-SGxUAs?si=vUKYBWYvG7nncszd&t=924

shmilia 2 hours ago | parent

Bean

wewewedxfgdf 2 hours ago | parent

Big Boy Boulder

ashton314 2 hours ago | parent

Peewee Pebblestone

whycome 2 hours ago | parent

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

JoeAltmaier 2 hours ago | parent

Pictures or it didn't happen?

JoeAltmaier 2 hours ago | parent

"Mother's Love"

Because, we so often take it for granite.

ternaryoperator 2 hours ago | parent

Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?

tptacek 1 hour ago | parent

Not from the look of it.

hoppyhoppy2 1 hour ago | parent

Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.

Yizahi 1 hour ago | parent

Medium-rare I would guess

crisnoble 1 hour ago | parent

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...

waltbosz 45 minutes ago | parent

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.

lukeify 2 hours ago | parent

O’Hareball!

hal-eisen 2 hours ago | parent

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...

nonethewiser 1 hour ago | parent

I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?

tptacek 1 hour ago | parent

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.

pvaldes 2 hours ago | parent

Stonehangar, of course

huxley 2 hours ago | parent

“A large boulder the size of a small boulder"

https://time.com/5772944/large-small-boulder/

entrope 18 minutes ago | parent

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.

mrlonglong 2 hours ago | parent

Bouldery McBoulderface.

PyWoody 1 hour ago | parent

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.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Boulder

contingencies 1 hour ago | parent

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...

wffurr 1 hour ago | parent

Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.

nyc_data_geek 1 hour ago | parent

Rocky McRockFace

MadrasTh0rn 34 minutes ago | parent

CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone

lifeisstillgood 19 minutes ago | parent

“Deep Crust” surely?

dbcurtis 17 minutes ago | parent

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.

syspec 4 minutes ago | parent

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?