Rock the vote: Time to choose name for giant O’Hare boulder

Chicago Rocks or Sweet Stone Chicago?

It's down to six finalists as potential names for a giant boulder unearthed beneath O’Hare International Airport during recent construction.

Workers found the boulder in June while excavating a new detention basin as part of the ORDNext project, which involves two satellite concourses and a new Global Terminal replacing Terminal 2.

Weighing in at 50 tons, the prehistoric behemoth commanded such respect that Chicago Department of Aviation officials launched a naming contest, which resulted in more than 2,900 submissions.

The finalists include:

• Sweet Stone Chicago

• No ORDinary Rock

• Chicago Rocks

• O’Rock

• Orchard Rock (reflecting O’Hare’s original designation as Orchard Field)

• Da Rock

Votes may be cast, just not in stone, through 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2.

“Chicago answered our call with thousands of creative names, and we’ve chipped away at that list to reach six finalists,” CDA Commissioner Michael McMurray said in a statement.

“Now we’re asking the public to weigh in. Whether it’s a close race or a landslide, we’re ready to give this larger-than-life discovery a name worthy of our city.”

Chicagoans and suburbanites can vote through an online ballot. The name and boulder will be displayed at an exhibit outside O’Hare’s multi-modal facility at 10255 W. Zemke Road.

The rock measures 11.5 feet wide, 8 feet deep and 7.5 feet tall.

It’s been identified as a dolostone, the state rock of Illinois, and is composed mostly of dolomite, a mineral also known as calcium magnesium carbonate.

Dolostone is one of the most common sedimentary rocks in Illinois, providing valuable soil nutrients and sturdy building materials.

mpyke@dailyherald.com