cmrx6419 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!
Stratoscopeop15 hours ago
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.”
ComputerGuru11 minutes ago
TFA has a picture as well; just scroll down.
xnxan hour ago
That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.
aktenlage15 hours ago
Thank you, great read.
matthewsinclair19 hours ago
Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?
samgranieri2 hours ago
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
aceazzameenan hour ago
Can have the best of both worlds.
Da Rocky McRockface
tanseydavid23 minutes ago
Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.
Stratoscopeop19 hours ago
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.
swingandamiss14 minutes ago
I like "Orchard Rock" because it's not some stupid reddit'ism.
lbrineran hour ago
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.
robotnikman22 minutes ago
I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K
jhatax3 hours ago
Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
whycome3 hours ago
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
RaftPeople2 hours ago
Ditka
anonymousDan2 hours ago
I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.
syspec21 minutes ago
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?
JoeAltmaier3 hours ago
"Mother's Love"
Because, we so often take it for granite.
bell-cotan hour ago
[dead]
futuresoonpast5 minutes ago
Rocky, obvs.
bcaulfield19 hours ago
Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
cestith6 hours ago
Or Rudy Ray Moore.
PyWoody2 hours ago
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.
wffurr2 hours ago
Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
ternaryoperator2 hours ago
Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
waltboszan hour ago
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.
crisnoble2 hours ago
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...
hoppyhoppy22 hours ago
Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.
Yizahi2 hours ago
Medium-rare I would guess
tptacek2 hours ago
Not from the look of it.
[deleted]an hour agocollapsed
whycome3 hours ago
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
dbcurtis34 minutes ago
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.
lifeisstillgood36 minutes ago
“Deep Crust” surely?
mikewarot14 hours ago
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.
MadrasTh0rnan hour ago
CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone
karlkloss15 hours ago
Rocky McRockface
JoeAltmaier3 hours ago
Pictures or it didn't happen?
lukeify2 hours ago
O’Hareball!
mrlonglong2 hours ago
Bouldery McBoulderface.
dmitrygr7 minutes ago
"Pritzker's Ego"
nyc_data_geekan hour ago
Rocky McRockFace
huxley2 hours ago
“A large boulder the size of a small boulder"
entrope35 minutes ago
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.
shmilia3 hours ago
Bean
ashton3143 hours ago
Peewee Pebblestone
contingencies2 hours ago
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...
wewewedxfgdf3 hours ago
Big Boy Boulder
pvaldes2 hours ago
Stonehangar, of course
mindslight18 hours ago
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.
acomjean17 hours ago
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.
mindslight5 hours ago
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.
acomjean17 hours ago
In New England they made stone walls out of them.
In “original” England they did as well.
powerbroker19 hours ago
There is another rock sitting alongside a chief artery about 25 miles NW just beyond Schaumburg. Silly to give these things a name.
Stratoscopeop19 hours ago
There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?
powerbroker18 hours ago
OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.
Stratoscopeop17 hours ago
That works for me! Can you help me drag this 50-ton rock?
[deleted]19 hours agocollapsed
poontangpooan hour ago
[dead]
aaron69515 hours ago
[dead]
hal-eisen2 hours ago
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...
nonethewiser2 hours ago
I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
tptacek2 hours ago
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.