Chicago O'Hare digs up 50-ton boulder under airfield, asks public for name ideas
76 points by Stratoscope 21 hours ago | 63 comments

cmrx64 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!

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Stratoscope 16 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.”

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ComputerGuru 40 minutes ago
TFA has a picture as well; just scroll down.
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xnx 2 hours ago
That rock couldn't have been found by a better guy.
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aktenlage 16 hours ago
Thank you, great read.
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matthewsinclair 20 hours ago
Surely it has to be “Boulder McBoulderface”?

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

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samgranieri 3 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

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aceazzameen 2 hours ago
Can have the best of both worlds.

Da Rocky McRockface

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tanseydavid 51 minutes ago
Rocky McRockface is the perfect name and gets my vote.
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tjwebbnorfolk 21 minutes ago
I think this is the only valid name
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Stratoscope 20 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.

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deepspace 2 minutes ago
How is 'BDU' not the top choice?
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swingandamiss 42 minutes ago
I like "Orchard Rock" because it's not some stupid reddit'ism.
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lbriner 2 hours 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.

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robotnikman 51 minutes ago
I like 'Da Rock' because it reminds me of da orks from Warhammer 40K
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toddmorey 18 minutes ago
Beanie’s Baby
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jhatax 4 hours ago
Surprised to see `ExtraORDinary Rock` missing => 50-tons, that's got to meet the bar for extraordinary.
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whycome 4 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

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RaftPeople 3 hours ago
Ditka
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anonymousDan 3 hours ago
I like it. Ditka Rock has a certain ring to it.
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toddmorey 14 minutes ago
“I am going to show you where on earth in the future we will find the biggest rock: Space.”

https://youtu.be/aO0TUI9r-So?si=7fNwDvf86GpVFxDR

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syspec 50 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?

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JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago
"Mother's Love"

Because, we so often take it for granite.

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bell-cot 2 hours ago
[dead]
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thehappypm 12 minutes ago
The pioneers used to ride those babies for miles!
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bcaulfield 20 hours ago
Should name it Dwayne Johnson and never explain further.
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cestith 7 hours ago
Or Rudy Ray Moore.
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PyWoody 3 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.

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

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wffurr 3 hours ago
Glad they included a video of moving it. 50 tons is close to the limit of a typical boom crane.
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ternaryoperator 3 hours ago
Is a 50-ton boulder rare or super-rare?
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crisnoble 3 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...
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waltbosz 2 hours 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.

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hoppyhoppy2 3 hours ago
Dunno, but I haven't ever come across one on my property.
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Yizahi 3 hours ago
Medium-rare I would guess
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tptacek 3 hours ago
Not from the look of it.
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dbcurtis 2 hours 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.
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whycome 4 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

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karlkloss 16 hours ago
Rocky McRockface
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mikewarot 15 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.

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

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futuresoonpast 34 minutes ago
Rocky, obvs.
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JoeAltmaier 3 hours ago
Pictures or it didn't happen?
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lifeisstillgood 2 hours ago
“Deep Crust” surely?
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lukeify 3 hours ago
O’Hareball!
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MadrasTh0rn 2 hours ago
CHIrock or CHI (shy) stone
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mrlonglong 3 hours ago
Bouldery McBoulderface.
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huxley 3 hours ago
“A large boulder the size of a small boulder"

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

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entrope 2 hours 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.
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nyc_data_geek 2 hours ago
Rocky McRockFace
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shmilia 4 hours ago
Bean
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ashton314 4 hours ago
Peewee Pebblestone
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contingencies 3 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...

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wewewedxfgdf 4 hours ago
Big Boy Boulder
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pvaldes 3 hours ago
Stonehangar, of course
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mindslight 19 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.
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acomjean 18 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.

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

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mindslight 6 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.

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acomjean 18 hours ago
In New England they made stone walls out of them.

In “original” England they did as well.

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

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powerbroker 20 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.
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Stratoscope 20 hours ago
There are big rocks everywhere. But surely we can be allowed to have a little fun?
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powerbroker 19 hours ago
OK, OK. just drag it up to Schaumburg. Put it next to the other rock. Then call it 'micro-henge'.
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Stratoscope 18 hours ago
That works for me! Can you help me drag this 50-ton rock?
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poontangpoo 2 hours ago
[dead]
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aaron695 16 hours ago
[dead]
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hal-eisen 3 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...

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nonethewiser 3 hours ago
I dont get it. Does he have some association with large rocks or something?
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tptacek 3 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.
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