ChicagoHistoryTimeLine

1859

The city’s streetcar line is extended south to 31st. along State Street.

In May, the last lots are sold in the City Cemetery. It occupies 120 acres.

In August, Rosehill Cemetery opens.

Nelson Morris (born Moritz Beissinger, Germany, 1839), age 20, starts his own meatpacking co.

William Butler Ogden founds the Chicago & North Western Railway.

The Illinois State Legislature gives the Chicago Board of Trade legal authority to establish a

grading system and to hire inspectors whose grading decisions and trading rules are legally

binding.

Chicago's first public drinking fountain is installed at the northeast corner of the public square.

Chicago holds its first art exposition from May 9- in Burch’s Building, corner Lake St. and

Wabash Ave. About 350 works are contributed by some 70 artists. 12,000 registered visitors

attend.

James S. Kirk & Company moves its soap-manufacturing business from Utica, NY to Chicago.

In 1867 James S. Kirk set up a new plant on North Water Street. It quickly becomes one of the

world's largest soap factories employing some 600 workers in the 1880s and 1890s.

Chicago Art Union exhibition opens December 5, 1859 and closes January 1, 1860 It is held

in the gallery of Mr. Hesler at No. 113, Lake St. Here L.W. Volk exhibits a bust of Abraham Lincoln

cast from a mask cast made shortly before his nomination for the presidency in 1860. The original

was presented by Volk to the Crosby Opera house in 1866 and exhibited at the Paris exposition in 1867.

1860

The census counts 112,172 people in Chicago and 32 breweries.

The census counts 22,230 Germans, comprising 20.35% of the city's population.

The city is the center of the world's largest railroad network.

Joseph Ryerson, Lumber magnate, saw a whole block of buildings on Lake Street between

Clark and LaSalle streets lifted 6 feet by the simultaneous movement of 6,000 screws.

Chicago hosts its first political convention when the newly organized Republican Party comes to

town and nominates Abraham Lincoln for president in the Wigwam.

The Tremont House serves as the Headquarters for the Illinois Republican Party during the

Republican National Convention.

Hans Balatka revives and re-organizes the Philharmonic Society.

The music publishing house of Root & Cady is founded.

The Lady Elgin sinks off Evanston killing an estimated 300 people.

Thirty-two breweries operate in Chicago.

Lucius Olmsted and Lyman Baird form the real estate firm of L.D. Olmsted & Co. After Olmsted’s

death in 1862, age 35, the company is renamed Baird & Warner.

1861

Potter Palmer promotes his business by advertising daily. On November 26 he posts: "Notice.

Purchases made at my establishment that prove unsatisfactory either in price, quality, or style,

can be returned...for which the purchase money will be with pleasure returned. P. Palmer." No

American merchant had ever made such a promise before.

The city's South Side streets begin to be numbered.

Lill & Diversey Brewery produce nearly 45,000 barrels of beer, porter, stout, and their popular "Lill's Cream Ale."

The northern section of Chicago's cemtery, formerly sand dunes and swamp, becomes

LaFramboise Park, named in honor of an old French-Indian family of early Chicago settlers.

Corydon Downer and H.V. Bemis build a brewery at Sixteenth Street and Lake Street.

Chicago Sinai is the city's first Reform congregation.

George M. Pullman, with the firm of Ely, Smith and Pullman, makes his reputation as a building

raiser when he lifts the Tremont House some six feet above grade to match the raising of streets.

1862

The Czechs of Chicago establish the first Czech school.

Chicago experiences its first race riot when white teamsters tried to prevent African Americans from

using the omnibus system.

On August 2, the Norwegian ship Sleipner sailed up the Chicago River. It was the first vessel direct

from Europe to arrive in Chicago. It held 350 tons of cargo and 107 Norwegian passangers who settled

in Chicago. The Sleipner visits Chicago again in 1863, 1864, and 1865, paving the way for regular

ship commerce between Europe and Chicago.

John Wilkes Booth performs Shakespeare's Richard III, and a Chicago Tribune critic applauds

his "...fine voice, ... piercing eye and handsome person."

Camp Douglas is converted to a prison for Confederate soldiers.

Steele-Wedels opens a retail and wholesales grocer on South Clark street near 12th Street.

1863

The Chesbrough plan is adopted to construct intake cribs and deep tunnels two miles off the shore

of Lake Michigan to avoid shoreline pollution, and better serve Chicago's growing population.

The First National Bank of Chicago is founded.

Mary Livermore and Jane Hoge rally the women of the Midwest through the operation of a gigantic

fair, the Northwest Sanitary Fair. Its donated items were sold to fund medical supplies and treats for

the troops. The Chicago fair was imitated throughout the North.

The term of office of Mayor is extended from one to two years.

The Rush Street bridge collapses, killing a girl and scores of cattle.

1864

George A. Misch and his brother Adolph learned the stained glass trade in Germany and open their

shop in Chicago with an emphasis on houses of worship. By 1873, the firm employs 30 men and is

equipped with a 15-horsepower steam engine, which greatly simplifies the cutting at angles of glass.

LaFramboise Park is renamed Lake Park.

Construction begins on a road along the shoreline, a parkway later named Lake Shore Drive.

Free mail delivery begins.

George W. Lyon and Patrick J. Healy arrive in Chicago from Boston and start a business selling sheet

music.

LaFramboise Park is renamed Lake Park.

Botti/Panzironi Studios is founded in New York. The firm continues under this name until 1950.

Known as Botti Studio of Architectural Arts, it continues to operate in Evanston.

The Volunteer Firefighters Monument, by Leonard W. Volk, is erected in Rosehill Cemetery.

The first steam-driven elevator in Chicago is installed in the Charles B. Farwell Store, 171 N. Wabash.

1865

The Civil War ends.

Marshall Field and Levi Leiter establish a dry-goods store that evolves into Marshall Field & Co.

Crosby’s Opera House opens. It is destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871, but rebuilt by 1873 to

house touring companies.

The nation’s first steel railroad rails are rolled at the North Chicago Rolling Mill.

The Chicago Board of Trade initiates futures contracts.

With Lorenz Brentano as proprietor and editor-in-chief, Illinois Staats-Zeitung is the

second-largest daily newspaper in Chicago.

Jacob Rehm & Company Brewery opens on West Twelfth Street. Jacob Rehm is from Alsace.

The Lincoln Special, a funeral train, arrives in Chicago at nine o'clock on the morning

of May 1 and departs for Springfield at 9:30 pm on the night of May 2.

Chicago has 13 national Banks, more than any other city in the US.

After the death of President Lincoln, Lake Park is renamed Loncoln Park on June 5.

The considerable numbers of livestock pasturing on public squares had been a

nuisance long enough that the City Council finally directed the Board of Police to

do something about it in October.

Potter Palmer sells his business to rival merchants Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter.

While drilling for oil the Chicago Rock Oil Co. gushed water, resulting in Artesian St.

On Christmas Day, the Union Stock Yards open on Chicago's south side.

The six-story Hough House Hotel opens on South Halsted at the Stock Yards.

1866

St. Michael's Church in Old Town is built. It is rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. In 1892

this church serves the largest German national parish in Chicago. A fine set of windows by Franz

Mayer of Munich is installed in 1912.

In March, under the guidance of Brother Bonaventure Thelen, the Alexian Brothers open their first

hospital in the U.S. on land deeded them by the Bishop of Chicago, corner Dearborn and Schiller.

Sidley Austin is founded in Chicago by Norman Williams and John Leverett Thompson as the

partnership Williams & Thompson.

Dankmar Adler (1844-1910), German born, American architect, moves to Chicago.

The Chicago Academy of Design is established with H.C. Ford as its president.

The Lill & Diversey Brewery sprawls over 2-acres on the corner of Pine (N. Michigan) and Chicago.

Cook County Hospital opens.

An amended City Charter is passed by the Illinois legislature. Among other things, Chicago

sought to prevent burials within the city limits, to build a city hall, to seize and destroy tainted

foodstuffs, to outlaw concealed pistols and colts, sling shots, cross knuckles, brass and lead

knuckles, bowie knives, dirks, and daggers.

The city completes a two-mile tunnel into the lake to draw "pure water."

1867

The Chicago Academy of Music, the city’s first important conservatory, is organized. It changes its

name to the Chicago Musical College in 1872, and becomes part of Roosevelt University in 1954.

The University of Illinois is founded in Urbana.

Chicago’s first YMCA, Farwell Hall, opens.

Florenz Ziegfeld founds the Chicago Academy of Music.

The Academy of Design is founded in Chicago. It changes its name in 1882, to the Art Institute

of Chicago.

The Alexian Bros. move their hospital to 546 N. Franklin.

The nation’s first temperature controlled train, the Thunderbolt Express, rushes fresh fruit from

southern Illinois to Chicago.

Phillip Armour opens his meat packing company.

The “Two-Mile” crib and tunnel are successfully put into operation.

A set of water maps showing the locations of water mains, and the drawing of the details of the

construction of the lake tunnel, received prize medal at the Exposition universelle

(d'art et d'industrie) de Paris 1867.

George Pullman hires his first black porter (by the 1920s, some 12,000 porters were serving more

than 100,000 passengers a night).

St. Stanislaus Kostka parish is the first of many to serve the Polish community.

1868

The first river tunnel in the United States is completed under the Chicago River.

The Chicago Terra Cotta Company, the first permanent terra cotta works in the United States,

is established at W. 15th St. and Laflin.

Lincoln Park zoo opens with a gift of two swans from New York City's Central Park.

Augustus Wheeler rides about on a French made velocipede, the first documented bicycle in Chicago.

Bourgeois Germans in Chicago celebrate the City's first Carnival on March 3 in Crosby's Opera

House that was becoming the epicenter of Chicago's German community.

1869

The new north pumping station (now the Chicago Avenue Station) and Water Tower are constructed

to regulate the water pumped into the city. Both survive the Great Fire of 1871, and remain city

markers.

On April 5, Jewish businessmen organize The Standard Club.

The Federal Government recognizes the Chicago Harbor as a national asset and takes over complete

responsibility for preserving the entrance.

Philip Henrici opens Chicago’s first Viennese style coffeehouse, Henrici's (closes 1962).

The first lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Chicago is Welcome Lodge No.1.

The Illinois State Legislature creates the West Parks Commission resulting in the creation of the

LaFollette, Douglas, Garfield, Columbus, and Humboldt Parks.

The Illinois State Legislature introduces a bill to permit the Chicago Elevated Railway to construct

single elevated tracks over each side of various streets throughout Chicago. No action is taken.

The time of holding the city election is changed from April to November.

The Prohibition Party is organized in Chicago on September 1. Five hundred delegates from nineteen

states attend the party's initial session at Farwell Hall (Madison Street between Clark and LaSalle).

Ives W. McGaffey invents a hand-pumped wood and canvas vacuum cleaner, "sweeping machine,"

for which he is awarded an American patent. He names is the Whirlwind and it is manufactured and

sold by American Carpet Cleaning Co.

Counting only larger breweries, Chicago officially reports a production of 246,212 barrels of beer.

Dr. John H. Rauch formally suggests the formation of the Chicago Park District.

1870

German Jesuits establish St. Ignatius College, after 1909 known as Loyola University.

In the spring, the J.L. Fulton & Co. puts the city’s first bituminous asphaltic concrete (asphalt)

pavement at the intersection of Clark and Monroe.

The Sturgis & Buckingham grain elevator, near the mouth of the Chicago River, holds more than

3 million bushels at one time.

Twenty-six brickyards employ some 1,008 people in Chicago.

Nearly half of Chicago's residents are immigrants.

The census counts 51,114 workers in manufacturing and mechanical industries in Chicago,

14,251 are German-born, 12,519 are American born, and 11,445 are Irish. Germans constitute

19.83% of the population, but represent 41.02% of the total foreign-born population.

Critics declare the "British Blondes" burlesque troupe's performance at Crosby Opera House as

"gross animalism," and Chicago Times editor Wilbur Storey compares the performers to prostitutes.

The "Blondes" are so incensed that they confront Storey on Wabash Avenue and horsewhip him at

gunpoint.

Chicago has sixty-eight bookstores, one for every 4,396 inhabitants.

Chicago has 17 candy businesses.

German made lager beer becomes Chicago’s favorite drink.

C.W. Baldwin is granted a patent on his hydraulic elevator.

On October 15, Chicago’s “official” climatological record keeping begins at 181 W. Washington.

1871

The La Salle Street tunnel under the Chicago River is completed.

135 miles of gas mains have been laid.

Chicago has a total of forty aldermen.

In May, E. Juessen(1830-1891), a well-known German-American lawyer, attempts to start a national

German political party in Chicago.

Before the Great Fire of 1871, thirty-seven German-language newspapers are published in Chicago.

After a very dry summer with more than 30 neighborhood fires, The Great Chicago Fire on October

8-9 kills over 300 people, destroys 17,450 structures, and devastates some 2.7 square miles including

the downtown and North Side. More than 90,000 people are left homeless.

Of the 534 miles of streets in the city, over 28-miles of streets were exposed to the Fire.

The Fire desdroyed 624,841 linear feet or 121 3/4 miles of sidewalks comprising wood, stone, and

flagstone.

The Fire damages/destroyed 2,162 street lampposts.

The Fire swept away eight bridges and two viaducts.These included the Rush, State, Clark, and

Wells-street bridges, over the Main Branch; the Chicago avenue over the North Branch; and the Adams,

Van Buren, and Polk-street bridges over the South Branch. The viaducts iver the railway tracks at State

and Wells streets were destroyed, and that at Adams was seriously damaged.

While not yet finished, the Nixon Building, northeast corner of Monroe and LaSalle Streets, designed

by Otto H. Matz, is the first fire-proof building built in the city. It was damaged so little by the fire

that it was opened one week after the Great Fire and is occupied at once by leading architects and

business men.

Enterprising real estate agent, William D. Kerfoot, erects the first building in the burnt district at

89 Washington Street.

The push to rebuild helps Chicago survive the national economic Panic of 1873.

The American Express Company building, on the south side of Monroe near State Street, has

a façade designed by H.H. Richardson in his ideal American style, now called Richardsonian

Romanesque.

Aaron Montgomery Ward invents the mail order catalogue.

Cargo ships begin using the Calumet Harbor for the first time.

Wells Fargo of San Francisco opens its first Chicago office.

On October 15, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to 427 W. Randolph.

The infant mortality rate in Chicago among children five years and younger is 70.7%.

Chicago has more than 50 miles of wood-paved street. (The technique was developed by Samuel

Nicholson of Boston).

Chicago is the hub of a railroad system of 10,750 miles of line.

Some 75 passenger trains per day operate to and from Chicago's terminals.

Chicagoan Joseph Chesterfield Mackin offers a free oyster with each drink, inventing the free lunch.

1872

James Renwick, the foremost American architect of his day, designs Second Presbyterian Church

at Michigan Avenue and 19th Street. The interior of the church burns in 1900, and it redesigned by

Howard Van Doren Shaw, who saves superb windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and installs windows

by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Healy & Millet.

William Louis Lehl, born 1846 in Ulm, Germany, educated University of Stuttgart, in US since 1867,

opens an architectural practice in Chicago specializing in breweries, other industrial plants and motion

picture facilities.

Chicago printer, R.R. Donnelley publishes, The Cuisine, a cookbook by a French caterer.

Stop and Shop (formerly Tebbets and Garland) is founded at 18th and Wabash.

Silas G. Pratt and George P. Upton, the Chicago Tribune's first music critic, found The Apollo Music

Club, known today as the Apollo Chorus, is founded to bring cultural life back to the burned city. Over

the years the Apollo Chorus has given the Chicago premiers of such works as Bach’s Mass in B Minor

and St. Matthew Passion; Elgar’s The Light of Life, Caractacus, and Apostles; Berlioz’s La damnation

de Faust, Te Deum and long-lost Messe Solennelle; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and the U.S.

premier of Weber/Berlioz’s Le Freyschütz at the Ravinia Festival.

The Committee of Seventy, composed of leading and influential citizens and clergymen, is created

to reform city activities and to regulate saloons and enforce a Sunday blue law. Pressured by Mancel

Talcott, President of the Police Board, Mayor Medill orders the enforcement of section 4, chapter 5 of

the city ordinance to close Chicago saloons on Sunday. The Germans and Irish object.

Doctor John E. Siebel, former Chief Chemist of Chicago, opens a laboratory for analysis and prevention

of beer spoiling pathogens. He also founds the Siebel Institute of Technlogy.

Chicago Terra Cotta Company is not damaged by the Great Chicago Fire. Its production is key to

rebuilding.

On June 11, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to 20 North Wacker.

City law prohibits the city's bridges from remaining open longer than 10 minutes during the morning,

noon and evening rush hours, but the "rule is shamefully disregarded," the Chicago Tribune reports.

The city hires its first African-American police officer.

Furniture Workers Union No. 1 is organized.

Leopold Schlesinger, born in Brotchizen, Germany and David Mayer, a German immigrant, found

Schlesinger & Mayer, a dry goods store.

1873

An Exposition Building is erected on the lakefront intended for an annual exposition of industrial

products of Illinois and adjoining states. Among the principal promoters and contributors are

Cyrus H. McCormick, Potter Palmer and R.T. Crane. The building is replaced in 1892 for what

would become the new Art Institute.

John Jones, a wealthy African-American, is elected a Cook County commissioner. He is the first

black person to hold elective office in the state of Illinois.

On June 8, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to the corner of Madison & LaSalle.

The Palmer House re-opens. Since the opening the hotel’s kitchens have never been closed, even

for a day.

The Clybourn bridge is built. It is a superstructure of the combination Howe truss, with iron

turn-table. It is 140 feet long.

Chicago has twenty-seben bridges and eleven railway viaducts.

Bridges are, enforced by law, allowed to be open for no more than 10 minutes.

C.W. Baldwin is granted a patent for what has since been known as the Hale Hydraulic Elevator.

In September, Chicago participates actively in the financial Panic, followed by a depression that

puts a quick stop to Chicago's rebuilding after the Great Fire.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the new city directory shows Chicago has 212 churches,

80 newspapers and 31 railroad companies.

The City has 17 brick manufacturers and 1 terra cotta company, Chicago Terra Cotta Co.

The City funds the entire cost of the Courtland Street Bridge.

1874

Not able to move Chicago's Catholic politicians to action, the mostly Protestant Women's Christian

Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded in Evanston with Frances E. Willard (born 1839) as its first

president.

Chicago boasts one saloon for every 26 men.

Two bridges and two viaducts were completed in the past year.

In Evanston, The Grosse Point Lighthouse opens. Its Fresnel lens projects a three-wick oil lamp

light some 21 miles.

On July 14, forty-seven acres bounded by Clark, Polk, Michigan and Van Buren burned with an

intensity reminiscent of the Great Fire of 1871. The fire stopped just before it reached the rebuilt

business district.

The all male Chicago Literary Club begins to meet to share their love of literature.

The Workingman’s Party is formed at West Side Turner Hall (Roosevelt Road and Halsted Street).

Cedar block paving of streets becomes common.

1875

Lake Shore Drive opens as a Lincoln Park carriage drive.

The remains of the Old Post Office Building is fitted up by John H. Haverly into the New Adelphi,

the largest theater erected in Chicago.

Philip Henrici opens the Lincoln Pavilion at Clark and Grant Place, known as the "German Broadway,"

a fancy beer garden with entertainment by a forty-piece orchestra. It attreacts society, not the beer

drinking public and closes in 1878. It opens again in 1884 as Walker & Koester's Summer Garden,

admission is free.

The Daily News is founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan and John Carter novels, is born in Chicago.

On Monday, November 15 the Great Walking Match for the Championship of the World begins in

the Interstate Exposition Building. The race is 6 days and 500 miles. THe leading men on the track

are Edward Payson and Dan O'Leary..

1876

The Western Sand Blast Manufacturing Co. begins to specialize in sandblasted, chipped, etched,

and beveled ornamental glass. The firm does work for Adler & Sullivan in the 1880s and Edgar

Miller in the 1920s.

Victoria, Queen of England since 1837, becomes Empress of India.

On May 6, the only tornado ever to hit downtown Chicago cuts a 4-mile-long, 100-yard wide

path, killing two and injuring 35.

John McCully and N.F. Miles found their Chicago stained glass studio McCully & Miles.

The Western Brewer, a German/English beer trade journal, starts publication by J.M. Wing & Co.

A group of female reformers establish the Young Women’s Christian Association of Chicago.

Chicago White Stockings baseball team is one of eight charter members of the National League.

A.G. Spalding is their first manager, pitches the first National League shutout game, and White

Stockings go on to win the first National League championship.

Chicagoan John W.E.Thomas becomes the first African-American elected to serve as a

representative in the Illinois General Assembly.

Victor F. Lawson purchases The Chicago Daily News.

Walter Burley Griffin is born in Chicago.

D. Knight Carter establishes The Vincennes Gallery of Fine Arts, located on Vincennes Avenue,

near Aldine Square.

Ferdinand Bunte, Gustav A. Bunte, and Charles A. Spoehr found a candy manufactory on State St.

By 1910, Bunte Candy Co. employs some 1,200 people.

1877

Theodore Thomas gives a series of summer night concerts in the Exposition Building on the lakefront.

The Pacific Garden Mission begins offering refuge to the downtrodden.

Battle of the Viaduct (16th and Halsted Streets), a deadly clash between the German furniture

workers union and police/national guard.

H.V. Bemis, co-owner of the Downer & Bemis Brewery, working with inventor David Boyle, a

Scotsman, erects an ammonia compression machine in his brewery for mechanical refrigeration.

Quickly perfected, the Boyle Ice Machine weighed over 50-tons and supplied refrigeration for the

entire brewery. It was an instant success. Within five months, Boyle shipped 22 refreigeration units

to brewers throughout the US.

The Meat Cook's, Pastry Cooks and Confectioners' Cosmopolitan Society is founded and starts to

hold an annual banquet.

The Austin_Western Co., in Mount Prospect and Chicago invents the first road grader.

Chicago’s warmest December on record has an average temperature of 43.4° contributing to an

average winter temperature of 37.2°.

1878

The single-hole ticket punch is invented in Chicago.

The fire pole is invented in a Chicago firehouse.

A "Floating Hospital" opens at north Avenue pier. This facility closes in the late 1880s.

The first open air concert is held in a Lincoln Park bandshell.

By June, the Chicago Telephonic Exchange has 267 corporate and private subscribers talking to

each other on lines furnished by Alexander Graham Bell.

Keeley Brewing Company is established.

The first Hale Hydraulic Elevator is manufactured and installed in the store of Burley & Co.,

77-81 State Street, Chicago. The elevator car traveled at eighty feet per minute..

The Northwestern Terra Cotta Company is founded by a group of investors including John R. True.

By 1927 it has become the largest terra cotta manufacturer in the United States with main factory

at 2525 North Clybourn.

Bunte Candy Co. opens a retail and wholesale candy company at 416 State Street. By 1918

they employ 1,800 people.

Ferdinand Bernett, an attorney, publishes the city's first black newspaper.

Emma Abbott forms the Abbott English Opera Company in Chicago. It is the first opera company

formed by a woman. The company sings only in English.

1879

The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts is organized. Its core art collection is acquired at a sheriff sale

from the bankrupt Academy of Design. In 1882, the Academy of Fine Arts changes its name to the

Art Institute of Chicago, a school of art and design, and a collection of objects of art.

The Quaker Oats Company is founded in Chicago.

Hans Balatka founds the Balatka Musical College.

Harry and Max Hart, Joseph Schaffner, and Marcus Marx introduce men’s clothing in sizes Small,

Medium, and Large. The firm of Hart Schaffner and Marx introduces national advertising for men’s

clothing, and the selection of material through swatches of cloth.

Marshall Field and Levi Leiter open a store in their own new building at State and Washington Streets.

Colonel Mapleson gives his first season of Italian opera in Chicago in the New Adelphi Theater.

The Union League Club of Chicago is organized.

The Apollo Chorus performs George Frideric Handel's Messiah and has done so every year since.

Edward B. Butler (1853 - 1928) moves to Chicago and founds Butler Brothers that becomes the

largest wholesale business in the world.

1880

George L. Healy and Louis J. Millet begin their very influential partnership, Healy & Millet. The firm's

stained glass and decorating skill are associated with some of the most important structures built

in Chicago after the Great Fire. Louis Millet is associated with the Art Institute of Chicago from

1886-1918.

There are 52 brick manufacturers employing 956 people in Chicago.

A number of artists organize the Chicago Art League with showrooms on Van Buren Street.

Fred. W. Wolf Company of Chicago obtains the patent rights to the Linde Ice Machine, introduced

in Germany by Professor C.P.G.Linde of Munich. The Wacker & Birke Brewing & Malting Company

of Chicago is the first brewery to install this type of refrigeration unit in the US.

The furniture fabricator S. Karpen & Bros. is founded by German immigrant brothers.

George Pullman hires architect Solon S. Beman to design the town and railroad car factories of

Pullman, near Lake Calumet.

Chicago has 33 bridges over the Chicago River. All are center-pier swing bridges.

"Little Hell" is an area of the city bounded by La Salle St, Division St. and the Chicago River. This

area was famous for its depravity, including brothels, some 400 saloons, robbery, cocaine and

morphine sales.

Rabbi Emil Hirsch takes over Chicago Sinai Congregation and builds it into the city's largest.

172 Chinese call Chicago home.

Field & Leiter do $25 million in sales.

1,200 Chinese live in the city.

There are nearly 1,360 cigar stores in the city. Nearly all are marked by the conventional wooden

Indian sign.

During 1890 the Health Department removed 9,661 dead horses, 143 dead cattle, and 14,458

dead dogs. These bodies found their way into the tanks of the Union Rendering Company. .

1881

Aurora is the first city in Illinois to light streets electrically.

Sarah Bernhard makes her Chicago debut at the McVickers, followed by 27 curtain calls.

Eastern European Jews start to arrive in large numbers and the Russian Refugee Aid Committee

is established to find shelter and employment for the new immigrants. Several other organizations

are soon set up to aid the poor.

The Chicago Art Guild is organized with showrooms on Wabash Avenue.

Marshall Field buys out Levi Leiter. The store is renamed Marshall Field & Co.

George "Harvey" Schaller opens Schaller’s Pump Restaurant, 3714 S. Halsted St., in Bridgeport.

The fifth generation of the founding family continues to own it.

Eugene A Sitting starts publishing Brauer und Malzer, a trade beer industry journal.

J. Lewis Cochran begins to build an upscale subdivision called Edgewater on 380 acres of farmland.

Cochran also hires an architect, Joseph L. Silsbee who in turn gives Frank Lloyd Wright his first job

as an architectural draftsman.

The first Madigan dry goods store opens across from what is now the United Center. Eventually,

under the farsighted leadership of Joseph Denis Madigan, Jr., stores open in Yorktown Shopping

Center in Lombard (1968, where Madigan's was a charter store), Woodfield Mall in Schaumberg,

Harlem and Irving Plaza in Chicago, North Riverside Mall and Chicago Ridge Mall among others.

The Chicago Literary Club is organized.

1882

Chicago's first cable-car debuts January 28 on State Street, from Madison to 21st street. The cable

weighs 8 tons per mile. It is operated by the Chicago City Railway. Chicago Passanger Railway follows

in 1883. By 1887 Chicago has the largest cable-car system in the world.

Ghosts, Henrik Ibsen's banned-everywhere-in-Europe play, has its world's premier in Chicago.

John H. Haverly opens a new New Adelphi theater, with Robson and Crane in Shakespeare’s

Twelfth Night. In 1885 the theater changes its name to the Columbia.

Asphalt becomes an accepted street surface.

Bicycling is allowed in Lincoln Park.

Wacker & Birk Brewing and Malting Company is founded.

Chicago has a population of 580,693 people and 3,759 saloons, one for every 149 men, women,

and children.

In the 16th and 17th ward, at the lower end of Milwaukee Avenue, there is a liquor license for

every dozen drinkers.

Over one million tons, the most ever, are shipped on the I&M Canal.

Children's Memorial Hospital opens.

At 10-stories, the Montauk Building is the tallest in Chicago.

1883

On March 24, long-distance telephone service is inaugurated between Chicago and New York.

Several major railroads sponsor The General Time Convention in the Grand Pacific Hotel, corner

of La Salle and Jackson. The resulting "Day of Two Noons," November 18, completes the plan

proposed by William F. Allen, to establish four equal time zones across the country, each one

hour ahead of the zone to its west. On that Sunday the Allegheny Observatory at the University of

Pittsburgh transmits a telegraph signal when it is exactly noon on the 90th meridian. Railroad

clocks throughout the United States are then reset on the hour according to their regional time

zone. And, all railroad clocks in each zone are synchronized to strike the hour simultaneously.

The city's Washington Park Jockey Club is established.

There are 190 Chinese-owned laundries registered in the city.

Junk Brewery is founded by Joseph Junk. After his death in 1887, Magdalena Junk, his wife, takes

over the business.

The first electric lighting is installed in Lincoln Park.

The Donohue Building (711 S. Dearborn St.) is the first large printing factory in what becomes know

as printing house row, South Dearborn Street. Until 1971 the Donohue block serves as the

headquarters of the M.A. Donohue Publishing Co.

Oscar R. Mayer and his brothers (German immigrants) lease a meat market in Chicago. Within

five-years the Oscar Mayer Company on Sedgwick Street becomes a successful meatpacking

business.

1884

The Home Insurance Building, corner of La Salle and Adams, is the first building with an iron and

steel frame designed and built in Chicago, possibly the world, by William Le Baron Jenny.

Washington Park Race Track opens.

Levant M. Richardson invents the ball-bearing wheel making possible the modern roller skate.

The Alarm, a weekly anarchist newspaper is launched in Chicago. Its first press run is 15,000 copies.

The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor unions of the United States and Canada convene in

Chicago and declare that the eight-hour day would go into effect across the country on May 1, 1886.

Representing 69 candy makers, The National Confectioners Association is founded.

Louis C. Tiffany & Co. is listed as decorators in the Lakeside City Dirctory with offices in the Central

Music Hall.

There are 13,693 gas lamps in public use in the city.

The Mexican government opens a consulate.

Named Augustana Hospital, a 15-patient facility is founded by the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran

Church at the corner of Cleveland and Lincoln Avenue.

1885

Joseph E. Flanagan and William C. Biedenweg, a German trained craftsman, establish Flanagan &

Biedenweg Co. By 1900 the firm is the largest of the Chicago producers of stained glass windows

for residential and ecclesiastic use. The firm is active until 1953.

By the mid-1880s, several German producers of stained glass windows have opened offices and

made local arrangements to sell and install stained glass windows in Chicago and vicinity.

A typhoid epidemic kills a thousand people.

R.R. Donnelley secures its first contract to print telephone directories for the Chicago Telephone Co.

Street. Its 300-foot tall tower is the highest structure in Chicago.

Purchasing the Chicago Union Brewing Comapny, John S. Cooke, an Irishman, names his purchase

Cooke Brewing Company.

J.R. Bowman of the Bowman Dairy Company of St. Louis buys M.A. Devine Dairy of Chicago and

builds the company into the city's largest home milk supplier.

Chicago's Colored Men's Professional Business Directory lists 15 restaurants and 20 saloons.

The Chicago Opera Festival Association constructs an auditorium in the Exposition Building seating

10,000 people. It holds a successful season of opera at popular prices.

H.V. Bemis of Downer & Bemis Brewing Co. sells his share of the business and opens the city's most

opulent hotel, Hotel Richelieu, on Michigan Ave.(today, 318 S. Michigan). Clad in imported white marble

and fitted with an art gallery, the Parisian inspired hotel with its French cuisine and reknowned wine

cellar thrive, only to go bankrupt in 1893.

On December 2, Charles Cretors is issued the first peddler's license to operate his popcorn machine.

Swift & Co. uses 450,000 tons of ice every year for shipping meat.

1886

On May 1, Albert Parsons, his wife Lucy and their two children lead 80,000 workers up Michigan

Avenue, in what is regarded as the first-ever May Day Parade in support of the eight-hour work

day.

Alessandro Gonnella opens his first storefront bakery on DeKoven Street in Little Italy.

On May 4, striking workers meet to hear speeches in Haymarket Square. As the meeting ends,

170 police arrive, a bomb is thrown, seven police are killed, eight anarchist leaders are arrested,

four eventually hanged. The following year a day of commemoration is set on May 1, May Day.

Some 5,000 cases of typhoid are reported in Chicago.

Construction of a sea-wall begins to protect Lake Shore Drive and Lincoln Park from the Lake.

Its design is by Maj. T.H. Handbury of the Engineering Corps of the United States Army.

Lake View, Hyde Park and Jefferson Park are annexed by Chicago.

Wacker & Seipp, Chicago beer brewers, donate funds to erect a statue of Johann Christoph Friedrich

von Schiller, to Lincoln Park. This sculpture is a second cast by William Pelargus of Stuttgart, Germany.

The sculpture stands on a Chicago fabricated pedestal designed by Professor C. Dollinger, also of

Stuttgart, Germany.

1887

January 1, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to the corner of Clark & Washington.

The world's first softball game is played on Thanksgiving Day in the Farragut Boat Club on the

South Side of Chicago.

The Art Institute of Chicago opens in its first building designed by Burnham & Root at Michigan

Avenue and Van Buren Street.

Electric street lighting is introduced.

The Newberry Library is founded as a free public reference library. Its present building, designed

by Henry Ives Cobb, opens to the public in 1893.

Abraham Lincoln: The Man (a.k.a Standing Lincoln), by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, is erected in

Lincoln Park. It has been called the most important sculpture of Lincoln from the 19th century.

The Chicago Society of Artists is founded.

Hermann Kohlsaat, West Side Park Commissioner and publisher of various Chicago newspapers

founds the Colored Men's Library Association with a basic stock of over 300 books. It's located at

the corner of Dearborn and Harrison Streets.

With 86 miles of track, eleven power plants, and over 1,500 cars, Chicago boasts the largest cable

car system in the world. The longest single cable, 5.3 miles, is on Chicago City Railway's Cottage

Grove Avenue line. The cable weighs 8-tons per mile. The cable cars run until 1906.

Der Braumeister is the official publication of The Master Brewers Association of Chicago.

Richard E. Schmidt, born in Bavaria, opens his architectural practice in Chicago.

The first central station of the Chicago Edison Company is disguised as an office building in the

heart of the financial district at 120 West Adams Street.

Some 21,000 ships arrive and depart from the Chicago River.

President Grover Cleveland lays the cornerstone for the Auditorium building on October 5.

In December, August Schuenemann is believed to have delivered the first boatload of Christmas

trees to Chicago.

1888

Linden Glass Company is founded. The firm manufactures windows for George Pullman, Frank

Lloyd Wright and others until 1934.

More than forty synagogues are scattered throughout the Near West Side Maxwell Street area.

Until the first skyscrapers were built in the mid-1880s, only Chicago's Loop is paved, the rest of

the sprawling city still had mostly dirt streets and sidewalks of wood.

A.G. Spalding takes a group of major league players on the first ever around the world to promote

baseball and Spalding sporting goods. The team stops in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon,

Egypt, Italy, France and England. .

In July, Permit number 2325 is issued to the Germania Maennerchor and the cornerstone is placed

for the Germania Club, Clark and North Ave. September 8, with Mayor Roche in attendance; long-

time Republican leader Hermann Raster, "the Nestor of German journalism in America," editor of

the Illinois Staats-Zeitung gives the opening speech. William August Fiedler is the architect and he

personally lays the mortar using a silver trowel.

Victor F. Lawson takes over full ownership of the Chicago Daily News.

Jacob Bauer of Terre Haute, Indiana founds the Liquid Carbonics Manufacturing Company in Chicago,

becoming the Midwest's first manufacturer of liquedfied carbon dioxide.

The Republican National Convention is held in the partially finished Auditorium Building where

Benjamin Harrison is nominated as a presidential candidate.

Morton Salt builds a seventeen-acre warehouse and packing facility along the pier at Randolph at

the mouth of the Chicago River.

1889

Chicago annexes 120 surrounding square miles by popular referendum, including towns and

villages such as Jefferson, Lake View, Lake, Hyde Park, and part of Cicero, resulting in 182.9

square miles, making it physically the world's largest city.

With an official population of 1,098,576, the census of 1890 declares Chicago the official

"second city" of the United States. This population represented a growth increase of almost 37

times since its founding in 1830. In comparison London's and Paris' populations doubled, Berlin's

quadrupled, and New York's increased by 4.1 times.

Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr found Hull House and introduce the first children's playground

to the United States.

At the Paris World Exhibition, the Chciago Public Library receives the gold medal of excellence.

Lyon & Healy produce their first harps.

McAvoy Brewing Company and the Wacker & Birk Brewing and Malting Company are the first Chicago

breweries acquired by an English-owned syndicate, the Chicago Breweries, Limited. Other acquisitions

quickly follow.

The Chicago stained glass and decorating firm of Healy & Millet exhibits at the great Paris World's

Fair where their entire exhibition of American Glass is purchased for installation in the national

Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Paris, France. This installation signals the birth of Art Nouveau in Europe.

Byron Laflin Smith, son of Solomon A. Smith, founds The Northern Trust Company, and in 1912,

Illinois Tool Works.

Gibson's Steakhouse opens.

Marie Owens becomes one of five female factory inspectors who enforces child-labor and

compulsory education laws in Chicago. In 1891 she is transferred to the Police Department and

given the powers of arrest, the title of detective Sergeant and a police star.

On Memorial Day, the Chicago police erect a commemorative statue to their fallen comrades in

Haymarket Square.

In their plant at 16th and State Arthur and Charles Libby develop a technique for canning corned beef.

Chicago Paper Tube & Can Co. opens.

President Benjamin Harrison dedicates the Auditorium Building on December 9. Opera star Adelina

Patti sings Home Sweet Home.

Louis Sullivan has his offices on the 16th and 17th floors of the Auditorium Building's tower

Renowned contralto, Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861-1936) makes her American debut in

Chciago in "Lohengrin."

1890

Adler & Sullivan design the magnificent Temple K. A. M. at Indiana and 33rd Street. In 1922, the

building becomes Pilgrim Baptist Church. Fire guts the church January 6, 2006, leaving a hollow shell.

On 1 February Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to the corner of Wabash/Congress.

Aaron Montgomery Ward successfully sues the city to keep Grant Park open.

Sara Hallowell, secretary of the art department of the Interstate Industrial Exposition introduces

Impressionist art to Chicago and through Chicago the nation. On display are six Monets, four

Pissaros and one Degas, all borrowed from the avant-garde French dealer Paul Durand-Ruel.

Mickey Finn, a Chicago bartender in the Custom House Levee District, invents an infamous drink.

Ernest Kimball opens Kimball’s, the country’s first public cafeteria. It is the inspiration for many

similar eateries offering “cheap fare with self-service."

Swedes are the third largest ethnic group in Chicago behind the Irish and the Germans.

The 1890 census records 15,000 African-Americans in Chicago.

A city Art Commission is established to approve all works of art before they become the property

of the city. An early notable acquisition is Lorado Taft's "The Fountain of the Great Lakes".

A Municipal Art League is established to motivate and arouse civic pride.

The lavish Tearoom at Marshall Field’s opens offering lady shoppers a place to rest and refresh.

On October 18, the Hyde Park Thomson-Houston Light Company (HPTHLC), begins generating

electricity and "hustling" residential service.

Chicago has 44 swing bridges and 8 fixed bridges over the I&M Canal, the Calumet and Chicago

Rivers.

The section of modern Beverly north of 95th Street was annexed to the City of Chicago.

Marketing itself as the first "electric suburb" because it had state of the art streetlights, Edison

Park, a Far North Side community, receives permission from Thomas Edison to name their village

in his honor. Edison Park joined Chicago in 1910.

Starting October 2nd, the first electric trolley line operates from 95th Street and Stony Island

to South Chicago.

The output of Chicago's breweries was 2,500,000 barrels of malt liquor.

There are forty-three breweries within the city limits employing some 2,200 persons.

1891

On January 1, there were 5,650 saloons in the city employing some 17,050 men, 3,900 women.

Each saloon paid a license fee of $500. per year and a $25.00 per year cigar and tobacoo selling

fee.

Theodore Thomas founds the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and makes its home in the

Auditorium Building.

U.S. premier by CSO of Dvorak's Violin Concerto..

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, Chicago's oldest African-American congregation and second oldest

Methodist church, is designed by Henry F. Starbuck. Its tin clad interior and stained glass windows

are unique reminders of its origin.

Marie Owens, a female factory inspector, is transferred to the Police Department and given the

powers of arrest, the title of detective Sergeant and a police star.

The monthly, Der Braumeister, is taken over by Doctors Max Henius and Robert Wahl and renamed

the American Brewers Review. Published in Chicago until 1939, the American Brewers Review focuses

on local politics and its effect on the industry.

Apartments open. Located on the busy corner of 34th and State, the one block large structure built

around an atrium, has 12 stores along State and 96 flats in its four-stories. In the early 1950s the

much neglected Mecca is demolished and S.R. Crown Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe,

rises in its place.

Provident Hospital, the first Black-owned and operated hospital in America is established by

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, and African-American surgeon.

Walter Crane, British arts and crafts advocate, visits Chicago for 5 weeks, completing his book

The Claims of Decorative Arts, the preface of which is dated "Edgewater, Illinois 1892."

Possibly 1,700 Chicagoans die of typhoid.

Brick paving of streets becomes common.

There are some 4,000 cycling club members.

1892

The University of Chicago, funded by John D. Rockefeller, opens its doors.

Amos Alonzo Stagg, the nation's first tenured professor of physical culture, begins football practice

on a playing area called Marshall's Field, later renamed Stagg Field.

Milton Florsheim and his father, Sigmund, start the Florsheim Shoe Co. and promptly revolutionize

the men's footwear industry by selling under the manufacturer's name, not the retailer's.

The Van Buren Street Tunnel under the Chicago River is completed.

The city inspector report lists 18 central electric stations and 498 self-contained systems that

power a total of 273,600 incandescent lights and 16,415 arc lamps.

On July 1, Samuel Insull assumes the position of chief executive officer of Chicago Edison, a

position he would hold for the next forty years.

The Illinois Pure Aluminum Co. is founded in Lemont, Illinois. In 1897 the company adds a

foundry to make cast utensils.

There are about 700 bakeries.

On June 6, Chicago's first "L" route begins operation between Congress and 39th Street. By May,

1893, the elevated serves the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park.

opening on October 1. In its lobby Herman Michalowski of Milwaukee painted an allegorical mural

showing the Genius of Rhetoric standing between busts of Schiller and Shakespeare, at whose feet

sat Clio, the muse of history, writing names of these titans in the annals of world history. Inside

are two murals by Arthur Feudal and two plaster reliefs by Richard Bock, one of which shows Schiller

riding the winged horse Pegasus, led by the figure of Genius, who holds the torch of enlightenment.

Outside, on the second story loggia facing Randolph Street, and in the tower, sculptor Frederick

Almenrõder created busts of Beethoven, Wagner, and Goethe, among others.

Construction begins on the Sanitary & Ship Canal, eventually reversing the flow of the Chicago River.

Francis J. Dewes, a German brewer, donates a statue of Friedrich Heinrich Alexander Von Humboldt

by the Berlin artist, Felix Gõrling to Humboldt Park.

In September, soap manufacturer, William Wrigley, Jr. adds a new premium to his slow selling

Lotta baking powder line, chewing gum. By 1895 Wrigley is in the chewing gum business.

1893

The World's Columbian Exposition opens. The central attraction of the Exposition is a great wheel

devised by George Ferris. Its axle is the largest forged piece of steel ever made, 33” diameter, 45

feet long. The wheel is 260 feet in diameter, each of its 36 cars carries up to 60 people, 2180 people

per turn. A ride costs 50 cents, lasts two turns, 20 minutes. There are 1,340 lights on the rotating

section and 1,100 bulbs on the supports. In total over 90,000 incandescent bulbs and 5,000 arc

lamps are used.

Sophia Hayden, the nation’s first college-trained woman architect, designs the Woman’s Building.

The “Brownie” is invented by the Palmer House chef to use as a dessert in box lunches at the

Woman’s Building.

The Liberty Bell arrives in Chicago from Philadelphia on the evening of April 28 for display at the Fair.

Photographer Eadweard Muybridge projects motion pictures on his Zoopraxiscope to a live audience

at the World’s Columbian Exposition, two years before the Lumiere Brothers are credited with

beginning the formal history of movies in Paris.

Saccharine is first introduced to the world in the Agricultural Pavillion, German Group 18a, 547, by

Fahlberg, List&Co., Salbwke-Westerhausen an der Elbe. The new sweetening agent made from coal

tar, is 500 times sweeter than granulated sugar. It is unfermentable.

The Illinois Manufacturers Association, the oldest association of its kind in the U.S., is founded.

A chapel designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany wins several gold medals and introduces the world to

"Favrile" glass.

Frederick Douglass speaks on the subject of Haiti, the world's first Black republic at Quinn Chapel.

The Art Institute of Chicago commissions Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co. to create a gallery, funded

by Mrs. Thomas Nelson Page as a memorial to her first husband, Henry Field.

Farida Mazar Spyropolous, a.k.a. Little Egypt, a hootchy kootchy dancer, finds fame on the Midway.

America’s first model electric kitchen is exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

The Ludvik Players perform Gazdina Roba; the first documented professional dramatic performance

in the Czech language in the United States, in Thalia Hall, Pilsen.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the first African-American member of the American College of Surgeons,

performs the first successful heart surgery on James Cornish, July 9, in Provident Hospital.

Two Austrian immigrants bring their frankfurter sausage recipe from Vienna to the World's Fair

and start a taste sensation that becomes the Vienna Beef Empire.

F.W. Rueckheim invents Cracker Jacks to sell at the World's Columbian Exposition. Originally sold

as "Candied Popcorn and Peanuts," the taste treat receives its name, Cracker Jacks, in 1896.

Texas chili goes national when Texas sets up a San Antonio Chili stand at the World's Columbian

Exposition.

Fictional pancake maker, Aunt Jemima makes her debut at the Fair. Chicagoan Nancy Green, a

former Kentucky slave plays Jemima. Buttons were handed out with Green's likeness and the

words, "I'se in town, honey."

R.R. Donnelley prints the innovative Art Nouveau books and posters of Chicago publishers

Stone & Kimball.

Fahlberg, List & Co. Salbwerke_westerheusen an der Elbe intorduces saccharine, a new sweetening

medium made from coal tar, 500 times sweeter than granular sugar.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. is founded and publishes its first catalog, only watches!

Charles T. Lucklow opens the Globe Laundry Co., the city’s first commercial laundry.

Chicago has about two thousand miles of roads, many paved.

Chicago has six panorama mural companies and six panorama rotunda buildings, each housing a

50x400 foot (20,000 square feet) mural.

December 8 is the official opening of the Art Institute of Chicago.

1894

The United States Golf Association is co-organized by the Chicago Golf Club.

On February 12, an intense low pressure results in a "severe gale" over Chicago with record

setting winds of 68 mph and gusts to 87 mph.

Comedian Jack Benny is born as Benny Kubelsky in Chicago on February 14. He dies Dec. 1974.

The two bronze lions, designed by Edward Kemeys, are installed at the main entrance of the Art

Institute of Chicago.

Bismarck Gardens (beer garden) seats about 4,700 at the corner of Halsted and Grace, in Lakeview.

Archibald Motley, age 3, born in New Orleans, moves to Chicago with his parents and settle in

Englewood, the first black family to do so the German and Irish neighborhood.

In the 1890s, asphalt and brick paving of Chicago streets became the norm. (The paving of

Chicago streets started with grading from1835-44, followed by planking, 1844-55, and cedar

blocks in 1874. Asphalt became common in 1882, and bricks in 1891).

Lucy Porter is recorded as the first Chicago woman to ride a bicycle wearing "bloomers."

The Field Museum of Natural History, named after its lead patron, Marshall Field, is established.

The Union Elevated Railroad Company is organized to construct what was officially known as the

Union Loop, referred to commonly as “the Loop”.

Ellen Gates Starr of Hull House collaborates with the Women’s Club to found the Chicago Public

School Art Society.

Tiffany's "Favrile" glass is displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jacob A. Holzer designs a mosaic frieze for the lobby atrium of the Marquette Building.

British writer William T. Stead publishes If Christ Came to Chicago, and expose about the city's

vice and corruption.

Total sales for city saloons were around $70,000,000, beer accounting for $34,000.000 of the total.

Chicago has a total of fifty-three breweries and ranks third nationally after Philadelphia and New York.

On November 13, in Chicago, the inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox patented a version of what he

called a "paper pail," which was a single piece of paper, creased into segments and folded into a

(more or less) leakproof container secured with a dainty wire handle on top. Today we know it as

the Chinese takeout container.

1895

Chicago becomes the nation's bicycle capital with the help of Ignatz Schwinn, a German mechanic,

and Adolph Arnold, a Chicago meatpacker who provides capital. A top-of-the-line Schwinn sells for

about $150.00, half a working-man’s annual wage.

"Colonel" William Nicholas Selig, a magician interested in projection develops a film projection

system, the Polyscope, in Chicago.

Francisco Terrace, the first subsidized housing in Chicago, is a 40-unit "model tenement"

at 255 N. Francisco Terrace until it is demolished in 1974.

Chicago's first bathing beach opens at Fullerton Avenue with separate beaches for boys and girls.

About 276 firms manufacture furniture in Chicago.

Catherine O'Leary (born 1827), an Irish immigrant whose cow allegedly started the Great Fire of 1871,

dies. She is buried at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.

George Halas, the founder and long time owner of the Chicago Bears, is born in Chicago on February

Fifteen Chicago bibliophiles found the Caxton Club.

Chicago claims the world’s largest picture sign with an ad for Wilson Whiskey at the corner of

Madison and Wabash.

Designed in 1893, following a patented design by Swiss-trained Chicagoan, William Scherzer, the first

Scherzer rolling-lift bridge is completed. The Chicago-based Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company

develops an additional 14 bridge patents and builds more than 175 Scherzer bridges nationwide by 1916.

The first ever car race, billed as a "Motorcycle" race, from Jackson Park to Grant Park via Waukegan, is

organized for November 2 between Frank Duryea and Oscar Mueller. When Duryea drops out Mueller

goes it alone and wins!

The first "official" automobile race with more than one contestant is held Thanksgiving Day. The race is

from Jackson Park to Evanston and back. Snow slowed speeds to an average of just over 5 mph. The

winner in 10 hours, 17 minutes, is Frank Duryea and his brother Charles, owners of Duryea Motor

Wagon Co. Second is Oscar Mueller. Both drive Benz (a German made engine) powered vehicles.

The former Hotel Richelieu (today, 318 S. Michigan Ave.) is acquired by Karpen & Bros. furniture

manufacturers, who commission Hessenmueller & Meldahl to do a complete makeover.

Eugene V. Debs, President of the American Railway Union, is released in November after being jailed

for his involvement in the 1884 Pullman strike. The strike effects more than 250,000 workers in 27

states.

1896

On May 25, a tornado, estimated to have been of F3 intensity, cuts a 4.5 mile-long path of

destruction east from the Leyden-Maine town line to the Jefferson-Niles area, directly through

Park Ridge, Edison Park and Norwood Park. At the weather office located in the Auditorium Tower

at Wabash and Congress, winds gusted to 62 mph and a cloudburst dropped nearly an inch and

a quarter of rain in 15 minutes.

Tamale street vendors start a craze for tamales that lasts until about a decade.

At 727 feet long and 300 feet wide, the Coliseum bills itself as "the largest permanent convention

hall in the world."

William Jennings Bryan persuades the Democratic Convention, held in the Coliseum Building in

Chicago to endorse silver as monetary standard. Demanding the free coinage of silver, Bryan

shouts: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not

crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." At age 36, the "Boy Orator" from Nebraska received the

Democratic nomination for President.

Chicago uses landfill to extend Grant Park into the lake.

In July, the Chicago Cycle Club hosts its first indoor bicycle races in the Coliseum Building. The

especially designed track quickly acquires a reputation for "being the fastest indoor track in the world."

William Selig builds the world’s first movie studio. Opening in 1897, it produces The Tramp and

the Dog in Rogers Park. It’s the first narrative film made in Chicago.

Chicago Bicycle Exhibition opens in a blizzard, attracting 10,000 visitors on its first day. Ultimately

100,000 paid the 50cents entrance fee. The Fair covered 60,000 square feet, had 368 booths operated

by 289 separate exhibitors. The one-week long show was estimated to yield $10,000,000 worth of

goods sold to the bicycle agents.

Eugene O. Reed Co. manufactures butterscotch candies.

The Chicago Federation of Labor is founded.

With 25 bicycle manufacturer's in the city (up from 4 in 1890), the Chicago Tribune procalims:

"Chicago is the bicycle center of the United States."

Chicago has 54 cycling clubs.

O'Brien's Art Galleries sell "Favrile" glass.

The Long Man and Short Man Gang terrorize the city.

House Beautiful magazine starts publication in December in Chicago. It quickly becomes the

principal organ for the Arts and Crafts Movement in America.

1897

Albert G. Spalding makes Chicago the center of the sports industry.

Jacob A. Holzer collaborates with architect Charles Coolidge to design the interior of the

Chicago Public Library and Louis Comfort Tiffany and Co. of New York installs the largest stained

glass dome the firm ever fabricates in what is now Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center.

William Hall Sherwood, a celebrated concert pianist and teacher, founds Sherwood Conservatory.

The Chicago Teachers Federation is founded.

Rumors accuse Adolph L. Luetgert, a German sausage maker with a factory at 601-629 Diversey

(corner Hermitage, became a condominium in 1999), of killing his wife, Louise, by stuffing her into

a grinding machine. Police recovered wedding rings and human bone fragments from the factory.

While awaiting trial in jail, Luetgert received 2,385 female visitor; 33 proposed marriage. He dies

within a year of receiving a sentence of life in prison.

In August, The Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company merges into the People’s Gas Light & Coke Co.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. publishes a 500-page catalog.

In August the Chicago Tribune reports that police handled 100 bicycle accidents in the two months.

City officials estimate that about 300,000 people ride bicycles in Chicago, 1 of 5 Chicagoans.

On October 22, the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society is founded at Hull-House. Within six months the

group has 128 members.

The first renowned clock is installed by Marshall Field’s November 26, at the corner of State and

Washington. The current clock is from 1907, the design of Pierce Anderson of D.H. Burnham & Co.

1898

In April the first electrically-powered run is made over the entire "L" system. Five days later, the

first 20 electric "L" cars are placed in service.

The Chicago Telephone Company has 8,000 outlets in use, all of them dial phones.

The Chicago Produce Exchange, founded 1874, becomes the Butter and Egg Board which is a

spin-off entity of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) which is re-organized in 1919, as the Chicago

Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Five sailboats set out from Chicago to Mackinac, the beginning of what will grow into the longest

Annual freshwater sailing race in the world.

A Chicago made silent film named "Something Good - Negro Kiss," was likely filmed in the South

Loop by William Selig. The film stars Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown, both well known at the time.

Herman Joseph Berghoff from Dortmund, Germany arrived in the US in 1870. By 1887, he is,

with his three brothers, brewing Berghoff Beer in Fort Wayne, IN. His sales are so impressive at

the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that he decides to open a café in Chicago. The Berghoff Café

opens its doors on April 15, on the southeast corner of Adams at State. When Prohibition is

repealed in 1933, Berghoff receives liquor license number 1 and sells the first legal beer in Chicago.

DePaul University is founded as St. Vincent College.

Mary Margaret Bartelmes is the first woman judge in Illinois to be appointed public guardian for Cook

County.

Edward Amet and George Spoor produce the first pseudo-documentary and the first use of special

effects "miniatures" in a series of Spanish American War movies.

The Art Institute of Chicago commissions Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co. to construct a dome with a

gold opalescent glass skylight and a brass and crystal electrified chandelier for Fullerton Hall, a gift

of Charles W. Fullerton in memory of his father.

Chicago has about 400 bicycle shops spread across the entire city.

The City Hosts a lantern-lit bicycle parade that includes German Wheelmen, Polish-American,

Cuban-American, even the Mayor of Chicago, among thousands of cyclists. .

Tiffany Glass & Decorating Co. decorates the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall in the

Chicago Public Library in neo-Renaissance style.

To help meet the maximum demand for electricity between 5:00 and 8:00 on winter evenings, the

world's largest storage battery is installed at the Adams Street Station.

National Biscuit Company (known as N.B.C., later renamed Nabisco) opens corporate offices in the

Home Insurance Building. N.B.C. is the merger of 40 Midwest bakeries and the eastern New York

Biscuit Company and the United States Baking Company resulting in an amalgamation of 114

bakeries within the biscuit industry. Its chief architect and first chairman is Adolphus Green, a

Chicago lawyer and businessman.

John Nuveen founds his own investment banking firm.

1899

Giannini & Hilgart is founded and executes Prairie School style windows for Frank Lloyd Wright

and others.

Czar Nicholas II donates the funds for Louis Sullivan to design and build Holy Trinity Russian

Orthodox Cathedral (1121 N. Leavitt St).

Chicago ranks thirtieth in the US in regard to recreation and parks. The need for parks is paramount.

Austin is annexed.

Frank Vernon Skiff founds Jewel in Chicago, as a door-to-door coffee delivery service.

Oscar Lovell Triggs founds The Industrial Art League of Chicago. Triggs is dedicated to the idea that

the more sophisticated machines become, the more essential it was to have intelligently designed

work by skilled craftsmen for it to produce. The League is discontinued in 1904, its function taken

over by others.

A pair of Belgian immigrants open the DeJonghe Hotel and Restaurant. Its signature dish is

Shrimp DeJonghe .

Alzina Parsons Stevens becomes the first probation officer of the Cook County Juvenile Court.

Championed by Lucy Flower, Julia Lathrop and Jane Addams, the world's first juvenile court, opens

in July. Located across the street from Hull House, it serves as a model for the new social welfare

approach that emphasizes individualized treatment of cases instead of rigid adherence to due

process, and probation over incarceration.

Ernest Miller Hemingway is born July 21, in Oak Park, a part of Cicero.

On August 3, Marshall "Major" Taylor, an African-American, sets a world bicycle speed record scorching

one mile in just over a minute and 22 seconds.

Chicago sets an automobile speed limit of 8 mph.

Mary Margaret Bartelmes helps establish Chicago Juvenile Court.

Henry Gottlieb Eckstein, a part owner and partner of Cracker Jack, invents the "triple proof package"

or "waxed sealed package," a moisture proof paper package to retain freshness. Previously sold in

tubs, the new package allows Cracker Jack to mass-produce and distribute nationally. The company

is reorganized in 1902 as Rueckheim Bros. and Eckstein. The box becomes an American icon.

Red Star Inn opens as Zum Roten Stern, in Old Town with access from the Germania Club.

1900

Chicago's population count of 1,698,575 includes more Irish, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks,

Dutch, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Croatians, Lithuanians, and Greeks than any other city in the US.

The census counts 30,150 African Americans.

Chicago has 60 breweries, most of which were German owned.

The Public School census reports that every second child entering first grade in Chicago has one or

both parents who speak German at home.

Clara Barck Welles establishes the Kalo Shop, Chicago's premier maker of hand wrought silver.

Opening of the Sanitary & Ship Canal reverses the flow of the Chicago River and helps start the

cleanup of the lakefront and the river. More earth and rock are moved during the construction of

the Sanitary & Ship Canal than the Panama Canal.

Nelson Max Dunning, architect, wins the first Chicago Architecture Club traveling scholarship award.

In August, the Amalgamated Glass Workers International Association (A.G.W.I.A.) is organized in

Chicago.

By 1900, Chicago is the manufacturing center of the nation's printed materials, cardboard boxes,

live action films, farm machinery, furniture, roller skates, bicycles, and automobiles.

Chicago has 57 working drawbridges.

Chicago issues 300 automobile registrations.

By 1900, Chicago has 60 breweries producing more than 100 million gallons of beer per year,

primarily for local consumption.

By 1900, Chicago has built the longest cable and streetcar lines in the world.

On any given day in 1900, Chicago's streets are filled with some 10,000 horses and the automobile

is seen as a breath of fresh air.

L. Frank Baum and William Denslow publish The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.It is an immediate success.

Theodore Dreiser’s book, Sister Carrie violates conventional morality and is not bought by the public.

Chicago’s stockyards expand to 475 acres.

In 1900, Chicago employs 25,000 out of the nations total 68,000 meat packinghouse employees.

Chicago boasts 65 candy companies.

Frank Lloyd Wright and others invent what becomes known as the Prairie Style.

The White Sox play their first game.

About 1900, ice cream parlor owner Deacon Garwood begins serving sundaes on Sundays.

About 1900, Shrimp de Jonghe is introduced by Belgian immigrant Henri de Jonghe in the

de Jonghe Hotel and Restaurant located on 43-45 E. Monroe just off State Street.

1901

Queen Victorian of England, empress of India (since 1876), dies.

In March, the first “official” Chicago Auto Show opens with about 65 cars on 58,000 square feet

of the Chicago Coliseum, 15th Street and Wabash. Admission is 50 cents.

There are about 15,000 cars in the USA.

In a letter written to the Chicago Record Herald, Edward Paul Brennan suggests that the city use

State and Madison streets as the dividing lines on which the numbering of streets could be based.

He also suggested the odd/even numbering system. The city adopts his suggestions in 1909.

Charles Walgreen opens his first namesake neighborhood store.

Sophonisba B. Breckinridge is the first woman to earn a PhD in Political Science from the

Univesity of Chicago.

Selig Polyscopes makes the first industrial film for a corporate client, Armour and Co.

Automobile drivers wore metal badges displaying their drivers license number.

Marshall Field & Co. becomes the authorized agent for Tiffany in Chicago.

William Day Gates' American Terra Cotta & Ceramic Company (near Crystal Lake, Illinois) starts

to market Teco pottery.

Chicago's first park, Lake Park (founded 1844) is renamed Grant Park.

The White Sox win the American League Pennant.

Walt Disney is born on December 5 in a house at 2156 N. Tripp in Chicago. Walt Disney's father

built the house.

1902

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is formed in Chicago.

On March 27, the Chicago Daily News first uses the term the Cubs, alluding to the team's, at the

time called the Microbes, many young, inexperienced players.

On June 10, Americus F. Callahan of Chicago is awarded patent number 701,839 for the "outlook" or

window envelope. By the 1930s the glassine window envelope had become a standard business tool.

Marshall Field's opens a new State Street store.

Richard J. Daley is born.

Cortland St. Bridge (1400 West at the Chicago River) is the nation's first trunnion bascule bridge.

Frank Vernon Skiff partners with his brother-in-law Frank P. Ross, naming their business Jewel Tea Company.

L. Frank Baum and William Denslow team up with composer Paul Tietjens and director Julian Mitchel

to produce a musical stage version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz under Fred R. Hamlin. The musical

opens in Chicago as The Wizard of Oz, and then runs on Boradway in 1903 and 1904 before it

successfully tours the U.S. until 1911.

On November 26, the site of Leroy Payne’s livery stable is purchased as the future home of the

Chicago Orchestra. An ambitious fund-raising effort brings in 8,000 individual contributions, raising

a total of $750,000.

The Art Institute of Chicago opens its First Annual Exhibition of Original Designs for Decorations and

Examples of Art Crafts having Distinct Artistic Merit.

Henry Haven Windsor publishes the first issue of Popular Mechanics, showcasing new scientific and

mechanical developments "Written So You Can Understand It."

Samuel Insull installs the world’s first modern turbogenerator at the Fisk Street Station.

About 800 people have automobile licenses in Chicago.

The Portland Cement Association, a non-profit, cooperation organization, is founded to promote

the research and market development of cement in building and industry.

Samuel Eberly Gross, a Chicago real estate developer and playwright files suit claiming Edmond

Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac plagiarized from his play The Merchant Prince of Cornville. Both

works featured big-nose characters who helped men woo ladies. Gross wins a favorable ruling in

U.S. federal court with Ronstand paying one dollar in damages to Gross.

Ray Kroc is born in Oak Park.

In December, the City Council requires license numbers on automobiles.

The rollerrink "Coliseum" opens in Chicago. It quickly boasts 7,000 skaters per night.

1903

Max Guler, a Munich, Germany trained china and glass painter, L. Holzchuh and Dennis S. Shanahan,

found Munich Studio.

Henry J. Niethart and Joseph E. Vogel found Temple Art Glass Co.

The Church Glass & Decorating Co. of New York installs the Ivanhoe window designed by E.P. Sperry

of New York, in Bartlett Memorial Gymnasium, The University of Chicago.

James L. Kraft moves to Chicago from Ontario, Canada, and starts selling cheese. In 1916 Kraft

patents a method for making pasteurized process cheese and promptly sells six millions pounds to

the U.S. military during World War I.

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen is born in Chicago.

The city grants a new franchise for a larger underground tunnel, containing an electric railroad, to

the Illinois Tunnel Company, which had bought the tunnel property from Illinois Telephone and

Telegraph. The locomotives ran on 240 DC flowing through wires seven feet overhead. More than

a million tons of freight are hauled through the tunnels in 1933.

Winton Motor Carriage Co. is the first automobile showroom to open on what becomes Motor Row.

Will Ransom and Frederic Gaudy start Village Press in Park Ridge. Village Press is one of the first

private presses in the U.S. and a popular meeting place for artists, especially "Oz" Cooper who

designs the typeface Parsons.

December 30, the Iroquois Theatre, north side of Randolph, between State and Dearborn Streets

(since 1924, site of the Oriental Theatre, today the Ford Center for the Performing Arts) designed

in 1902 by Chicago architect Benjamin H. Marshall (patterned after the Opera Comique in Paris),

burns. Out of an audience of about 1900 people, 602 died. This is twice the number that died in

the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. As a result of this fire, fire alarms, push bar fitted outward-opening

exit doors that remain unlocked from the inside, fireproof scenery and equipment, and steel stage

curtains are implemented nationwide.

With its average temperature of 18.3°, Chicago records its coldest winter on record for the three-

month meteorological winter period from December 1, 1903 to February 29, 1904.

1904

One of the most influential buildings of the 20th century, Unity Temple in Oak Park, is designed

by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Riverview Park, billing itself as the largest amusement park in the world, opens on 74 acres near

Belmont at Western Avenue.

Austin-Wearern of Aurora and Chicago perfects the dump car which help construct the Panama Canal.

On April 1 and 2, at Theodore Thomas' invitation, Richard Strauss, becomes the first-ever Chicago

Symphony Orchestra guest conductor on subscription concerts. He performs Also sprach Zarathustra,

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and Death and Transfiguration.

On April 4, Dr. and Mme. Strauss give a benefit recital for the Russian Red Cross Society at the

residence of Potter and Bertha Palmer on Lake Shore Drive. The event nets $4,500. for the relief

of Russian soldiers fighting in the Far East..

The City's first branch library, the Blackstone Library, 4904 S. Lake Park Ave., opens. It is designed

by Solon Beman and paid for by Isabella Norto Blackstone in honor of her husband, Timothy Beach

Blackstone.

The A.C. Frost Company creates Ravinia as an upscale amusement park to lure riders to the

fledgling Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad.

Theodore Roosevelt is nominated for President by the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Chicago wins Olympic host city bid, but St. Louis steals it away.

Robert Jarvis, one of America's outstanding modern metal smiths establishes a shop in the Fine Arts

Building on Michigan Avenue.

For lack of interest, the great Ferris wheel of 1893 is destroyed in St. Louis after the Louisiana

Purchase Exhibition.

Bakery and confectionary workers unite, designating Chicago as headquarters for its union. By

the 1940s the union has some 80,000 members nationwide.

On December 14, Theodore Thomas opens the doors of the new 2,566-seat Orchestra Hall,

the Chicago Orchestra for the last time, succumbing to pneumonia on January 4, 1905.

Emil Brach opens a storefront called Brach's Palace of Sweets; caramels sell for 20 cents a pound.

The University of Chicago Laboratory School is founded by John Dewey, a pioneer educator.

Norwegian immigrant, Jens Andreas Paaschen, starts the Paaschen Airbrush Co.

1905

The Chicago Defender is founded by Robert S. Abbott and rapidly becomes the most popular

black newspaper in the United States.

Performing in a cabaret at 2700 S. State, the Pekin Theater Company is the city's first black

theater company. The Pekin Theatre is the first black owned vaudeville stock theatre in the U.S.

It could seat 1,200 people.

While lunching on spaghetti at Madam Galli’s (18 E. Illinois), Chicago attorney Paul P. Harris first

discusses what would become the Rotary Club.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is founded in Chicago, June 27. Also known as the

Wobblies, they favored self-management, a worker run shop with worker elected managers. The

IWW reached a self-claimed membership high in 1923 of 100,000.

On July 1, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to 219 S. Clark.

The White City amusement park, billed as "the city of a million electric lights," opens at 63rd Street

and Cottage Grove Avenue.

About 1905, Bunte Brothers pioneers the process of making hard candies with soft fillings.

20 runners register for the first Chicago Marathon with 15 actually starting the race and 7 finishing.

Frederick Stock succeeds Theodore Thomas as music director of the Chicago Orchestra, serving

until his death in 1942.

The Norge Ski Club is founded by Chicago Norwegians who missed ski jumping and wanted to

introduce the unfamiliar sport to their new, very flat, homeland. They build a jump facility in what

is now Fox River Grove.

1906

Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, a bitter denunciation of the Chicago meat packing industry.

Sponsored by Chicagoan Charles R. Crane, Alphonse Mucha, a highly acclaimed Czech painter,

lectures in the fall term at the Art Institute.

Marshall Field dies, leaving an estate of some $120 million.

St. Scholastica Academy, an all-girls Roman Catholic school, is built near the Benedictine Sisters

Convent in Rogers Park.

The Illinois State Highway Commission is organized.

In August, a five-mile race from the Lakeview water intake crib to shore was won by H.J. Handy,

who finished in just over an hour.

In October, the first tenants move into the new Marshall Apartments at the northwest corner of

Cedar Street and Lake Shore Drive. The nine-story building contains eight apartments of 4,000

square feet each. Rent is an unprecedented $4,200 per year. Even before the land on which it

is built is cleared, every apartment is spoken for.

Bosnians establish Chicago's first Muslim benevolent society.

Louis C. Tiffany and Co. collaborates with Edward Bennett of D.H. Burnham & Co. on the Men's

Grille at Marshall Field & Co.

The Chicago Cubs win 116 games this season and the National League pennant.

Camille Saint-Saens makes his only appearance with the Chicago Orchestra as soloist in his

Second Piano Concerto.

The Majestic Theatre Building (Shubert from 1945-2005, now LaSalle Bank Theatre) opens

and hosts Chicago’s first public pay phone.

1907

Cubs win their first World Series. They win again in 1908.

Albert Abraham Michelson, a physicist at the University of Chicago asince 1892, is the first American

to win a Nobel Prize in science for inventing several instruments to measure light waves..

The Logan Medal of the Arts is an arts prize initiated in association with the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Medal is named for arts patron Frank Grangher Logan, founder of the brokerage house of

Logan&Bryan.

Edward Elgar conducts the Chicago Orchestra for the first time in his Enigma Variations, In the

South, and the first Pomp and Circumstance March.

Chicago records 1.3 inches of snow on May 3.

Tiffany Studios designs the arched and domed mosaic ceiling of the five-story atrium at Marshall

Field & Co.

When Garfield Park Conservatory opens, designed by Jens Jensen and Schmidt, Garden & Martin,

it is the nation’s largest garden under glass.

Samuel Insull creates Commonwealth Edison Co.

Chicago has 116 licensed theaters, 320 in 1908, 606 in 1913.

Chicago police start a movie censorship board. It is very active over the years. It ends in 1984.

The Green Mill, a jazz bar then known as Pop Morse's Roadhouse, becomes important as a Chicago

film setting for on and off-screen action.

Essanay Movie Studios, founded by George K. Spoor and Max Aronson (a.k.a. Broncho Billy, the

first movie cowboy) opens on West Argyle Street and quickly becomes a force in filmmaking,

with Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery and Charlie Chaplin as its brightest stars. Essanay closes

its doors in 1917, as moviemaking shifts to California.

A set of 16 teddy bear cartoon postcards is available free with ten sides from Cracker Jack boxes

through Rueckheim Bros. & Eckstein, the Chicago based manufacturer of Cracker Jack.

The Cliff Dweller’s Club is founded.

Steele-Wedeles, wholesale grocers, builds a large warehouse at the Dearborn just north

of the Chicago River.

On September 30, the Chicago Tribune runs John T. McCutcheon's, "Injun Summer" for the first time.

Inspired by a string of beautiful, warm autumn days and remembering his youth in Indiana,

McCutcheon conjures up the illustration that becomes one of the most popular features in Tribune

history. It was reprinted in 1910 and then annually from 1912 to 1992.

1908

The Montgomery Ward Warehouse, a 717-foot long masterpiece of concrete construction, by

Richard E. Schmidt, is completed along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

It takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to go the 73 miles from Evanston to Milwaukee on the Chicago

and Milwaukee Electric Railway.

Crime syndicate leader Sam Giancana is born in Chicago, May 24.

Dr. Ben Reitman founds Hobo College to give homeless a place to gather and hear lectures on

philosophy and literature.

An 8.5 mile roller marathon is organized by a group of roller skating rink owners.

Chicago’s first public school exclusively for children with disabilities, Spalding High School, opens.

State Representative Albert Keeney introduces a bill to form a Forest Preserve District and Outer

Belt Park Commission of Illinois. Public support is high due to the continued efforts of Dwight

Perkins and the Saturday Afternoon Walking Club.

Selig Polyscope makes the first Wizard of Oz film.

Essanay Studio makes the first movie about Jesse James, The James Boys of Missouri.

Selig Polyscope make the first movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

It may be the first American horror film.

Essanay Studio makes the first biographical film about a U.S. President, The Life of Abraham Lincoln.

Chicago becomes the first city in the world to require all commercially sold milk to be pasteurized.

In Chicago, Victor Samuel Johnson establishes the Mantle Lamp Company of America, which began

marketing the Aladdin Lamp. The lamp quickly becomes the most popular kerosene mantle lamp in

America and, for a time, the world.

Alva J. Fisher invents the first electric-powered washing machine; named Thor, it is manufactured

by the Hurley Machine Co of Chicago.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. starts to sell mail-order homes.

Chicago ranks first among cities with the most sideshow freak in residence.

Chicago police log 68 220 arrests for the year, of which 40,875 are for drunkenness-related

occurrences.

1909

Chicago architects Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett unveil their Plan of Chicago. It is radical

and many aspects are implemented.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, the quintessential Prairie School style building, is completed

in Hyde Park.

The ten-hour workday law is passed for women.

Chicago has 470 motion picture houses, one for every 5,350 people.

The Art Institute of Chicago board founds Friends of American Art, a women's auxiliary.

Willard Francis Motley is born July 14. He goes on to publish a column in the Chicago Defender

under the pen-name Bud Biliken and his first novel, Knock on Any Door, is published to wide

acclaim in 1947 Humphrey Bogart stars in the 1949 film of the same name.

Myrtle Walgreen invents the drugstore lunch counter when she starts serving hot meals in her

husband's first drug store, 4137 S. Cottage Grove Ave. (at E. Bowen Ave.), in Barret's Hotel.

Californian Glenn Curtis flies a quarter-mile in forty seconds at the Hawthorne Racetrack in Cicero.

On September 1, Edward Paul Brennan's city street numbering system goes into effect. Using the

intersection of State and Madison as 0, it gives 800 numbers per mile, odd-numbers to the east side

of north-south streets and to the south side of east-west streets, abolishes all duplicate names, and

gives broken-linked streets a single name,

Selig Polyscope produces the first "two-reeler" film, Damon and Pythias.

Essanay's Mr. Flip is credited with being the first "pie-in-the-face" slapstick comedy.

Tom Mix, first western superstar, makes his debut in Selig Polyscope's The Cowboy Millionaire.

Composer Sergei Rachmaninov makes the first of several guest appearances as conductor and

soloist with the Chicago Orchestra.

A. Stein & Co., famous for its Paris garters and later for the perma-lift "will never let you down"

brassiere, incorporates.

S. Rosen bakery creates the iconic Chciago poppy seed hot dog bun.

1910

Fingerprints at the scene convict Thomas Jennings of murder after he had burglarized a house in

Englewood where Jennings killed the homeowner who confronted him. Jennings left fingerprints on

a freshly painted railing outside the house.

Walter Brookins is the first person to makes several passes over the city and lakefront in an airplane.

In April, Chicago has 5 straight days of measurable snow and also 9 days with highs in the 70s, one

day reaches 86.

Nancy Cox-McCormack moves to Chicago, and enrolls at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she

studies sculpture with Charles Mulligan and then has a studio in the Tree Studio Building.

Chicago Opera Ballet, the first ballet company in America, is organized.

The White Sox play their last game at the 39th Street Grounds, losing to Cleveland, 7-2, on June 27.

Comiskey Park officially opens, with the White Sox losing 2-0 to the St. Louis Browns before a crowd

estimated at 28,000. .

The Marx Brothers, at the time known as "The Four Nightingales," move to Chicago and live briefly

at 4649 S. Calumet Avenue and then for 12 years in their own house at 4512 W. Grand Avenue.

12,926 passenger automobiles and 58,000 horse-drawn vehicles are registered in Chicago.

65 Chinese women and 1,713 Chinese men call Chicago home.

On June 2, snowflakes are recorded in the Loop.

The 1910 census notes future Olympian Johnny Weissmuller, age 7 (Austro-Hungarian, Banat

Swabian by birth), lives at 1521 Cleveland, in the 22ndWard. He attends Lane Tech High School,

is a life guard at a Lake Michigan beach, and works as a elevator operator in the Illinois Athletic

Club (112 S. Michigan)

The 1910 census counts only 108 American Indians in the city.

On October 24, the Everleigh Club at 2131 S. Dearborn is closed, followed in 1912, by the closing

of the whole Levee district, officially ending organized prostitution in Chicago.

A group of North Shore residents purchase Ravinia Park in Highland Park and Found the Ravinia

Company under the leadership of Louis Eckstein, a philanthropist.

On December 22, 21 firefighters are among the 24 killed instantly in a blaze at Nelson Morris &

Co. plant in the Union Stockyards.

1911

Chicago hosts the first ever International Aviation Meet in Grant Park. (America's first air competition

had been January 10, 1910 in Los Angeles, followed by meets in Boston and New York.) A.L. Walsh

set a world record when his Wright biplane carried one passenger aloft for more than two hours.

Chicago-area's first airfield, Cicero Field, opens July 4.

Edward E. Ayer, a Chicago businessman, presents the Newberry Library his superb collection

(some 49,000 volumes) of historical source material relating chiefly to the discover, exploration

and colonization of North America and to the native races of North America, the Hawaiian Islands,

and the Philippine Island.

On July 4 the temperature soars to 102°, a record for the day.

After its gala opening Ravinia becomes primarily a summer venue for classical music.

Emil Brach's Palace of Sweets produces some 50,000 pounds of caramels per week.

John C. Shaffer and John G. Shedd launch a bus company replacing horses used on the route to

the State Street Marshall Field store. It is incorporated as the Chicago Motor Transfer Company,

later becoming the Chicago Motor Coach Company owned by John Hertz. Eventually Chicago Motor

Coach becomes part of the Chicago Transit Authority.

Morton Salt starts adding an anti-caking agent, magnesium carbonate to its salt.

John Roeser Sr. opens Roeser's Bakery on North Avenue in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood.

By 2012, Roeser's is Chicago's oldest family-owned bakery maintaining its original location.

The Infant Welfare Society of Chicago is established.

Chicago produces more men’s suits than any other city in the nation.

Walter Burley Griffin is the first Chicago architect to be awarded a commission from a foreign country

when he wins the international competition for the plan of Canberra, Australia.

The state legislature passes the Forest Preserve District Act of 1911. It is declared unconstitutional.

Dwight Perkins and the Forest Preserve District Association remains active.

Chicago experiences its largest 24-hour temperature plunge. Around 4 p.m. on November 11 the

city’s temperature peaked at 74° - a record for the date. Just 20 hours later, on November 12, the

mercury had plunged to 13° - a drop of 61 degrees!

1912

Harriet Monroe founds Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. It is the oldest monthly publication dedicated

to verse in the English-speaking world.

Bernard Carsten starts Progressive Windshield Co. and develops bullet resistant automobile

windshields which sell briskly to mobsters in the 1920s.

Chinatown is built by the On Leon tong.

Maxwell Street becomes an official open-air market about six blocks long with a ten-cents-per-day

fee for pushcarts. Until the late 1950s, the markets flourish.

Chlorination of Chicago’s water begins on the city’s southwest side.

Known today as the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association (since 1942), The Greater Central

Association is formed by business and residential community leaders to provide unity and vision

for the area.

The first film directed by an African-American is The Railroad Porter, independently produced by

Foster Photoplay Company.

Preston Bradley (1888-1983) rejects the fundamentalism of Chicago's Moody Bible Institute and all

Christian orthodoxy when he adopts what he calls "Christian Unitarianism" and nurtures it at the

Peoples Church, 941 W. Lawrence Ave. He eventually spreads his words by radio to millions of listeners.

Prizes are added to each box of Cracker Jack.

On June 5, the first hearings are held in the city's first "auto court."

Chicago hosts the first Clay Products Exposition sponsored by the American ceramics industry.

The Levee district is closed, officially ending organized prostitution in Chicago.

Ravinia Park in Highland Park is bankrolled by Louis Eckstein. Aida opens a series of lavishly cast

summer operas. Within two-years Ravinia earns a reputation as America’s summer opera capital,

presenting such vocal legends as Lucrezia Bori, Edward Johnson, Giovanni Martinelli, Claudia Muzio,

Rosa Raisa, and Tito Schipa. The series is brought down by the Depression in 1932.

Ellen and Maurice Browne open The Chicago Little Theatre in the Fine Arts Building with a

production of The Trojan Women.

Between 1908 and 1912, when it closed this branch of its mail order business, Sears, Roebuck & Co.

sells some 3,500 automobiles.

Gustav Goelitz's co. specializes in making candy corn in its North Chicago factory (In 2001, the

business is renamed Jelly Belly Candy Co.

Last seen November 23, Herman Schuenemann's "Christmas Ship" is declared lost on Lake Michigan

with 17 people, on board.

Born in 1846, Daniel Burnham, noted Chicago architect and acclaimed father of the skyscraper, dies.

Theodore Roosevelt gives his now famous Bull Moose speech in the Auditorium Building where he is

also nominated for President of the United States by the independent National Progressive Party.

1913

October 31, Frederick Stock, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's second music director, conducts

the Orchestra in the American premier of Arnold Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra.

Arthur Andersen founds the Chicago-based public accounting firm.

William Foster founds Photoplay Company; the first black owned film company with offices on

the South State Street “Stroll.”

On the urging of the Juvenile Protection Association, the city council takes actions on July 30

restricting entertainers to perform on the stage, outlaws the wearing of tights and ends public

dancing. The Drake Hotel brings suit and in 1916, the Illinois Supreme Court declared the city

ordinance unconstitutional.

The Adventures of Kathlyn filmed by Selig Polyscope is the first American "cliffhanger" serial.

Known as the Post-Impressionist Exhibition, the controversial Armory Show of New York comes

to Chicago where Chicago lawyer, collector, art critic Arthur Jerome Eddy sees paintings by Wassily

Kandinsky whose work he subsequently acquires making his the first Kandisnky's in the U.S.

The Art Institute of Chicago becomes the first American art museum to present work by Picasso

when it hosts the Armory Show. Exhibited are seven paintings and drawings.

Alice B. Clement, police star 3428, becomes Chicago’s first female detective.

"Policewomen" are officially appointed to work with women and children.

Chicago bans The Miracle because the film depicts "murder, drunkenness and immorality, and is

insulting to religion."

In October, under the direction of superintendent Ella Flagg Young, Chicago Public Schools, launch

the country’s first sexual education classes. The program is shut down June 1914.

The Theodore Thomas Orchestra, know as such since 1905, is renamed the Chicago Symphony

Orchestra.

Through the efforts of Dwight Perkins and the Forest Preserve District Association a third law is

enacted by the State Legislature for the preservation of forests and natural lands.

Chicago is on the western edge of the "White Hurricane," a massive storm that lashes the Great

Lakes on November 9-11.

Chicago City Club hosts a contest for the best “modern suburb" as part of its Housing Exhibition.

There are 22,136 autos registered in Chicago.

1914

Margaret Anderson founds The Little Review, a literary magazine.

Arthur Jerome Eddy’s book, Cubists and Post Impressionists is published.

By early August, Europe is at war.

A fence is erected at Diversey Beach (now Diversey Harbor) extending into Lake Michigan to

separate male and female swimmers.

Colosimo's, is opened by "Big Jim" Colosimo, founder of the Chicago "outfit," in the South Loop.

In the March issue of Poetry, Harriet Monroe publishes Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago and seven

other poems. The line, Hog Butcher for the World,...City of the Big Shoulders. quickly becomes iconic.

April 23 is opening day of Charles Weegham's Weegham Park (designed by brothers, Chicago architects,

Zachary Taylor Davis and Charles B. Davis). Weegham Field is built of fireproof steel and concrete.

Later, Weegham introduces concession stands and sells hot dogs and peanuts. It is known as Wrigley

Field since 1926. Later, Wrigley Field is the first baseball facility to have an organist, a center field

television camera, and to allow fans to keep balls hit into the stands.

The School Census of May 4, indicates that Chicago'sd total population of 2,437,526 consisted in part

of 876,288 foreign-born and another 754,570 with foreign-born paretns. The Germans constituted the

largest foreign group amounting to 399,977, 191,168 born in Germany and another 208,809 of German

parents. Polish 231,346; Russian 166,134; Irish 146,560; Swedish 118,533;; Italian 108,160; Bohemian

102,749; Austrian 58,483; Norwegian 47,496; English 45,714; Canadian 44,744; and 242 Mexicans.

Morgan Park, on the Far South Side, is annexed to Chicago after residents had gone to the polls eight

times (six times voting no and two times yes).

Chicago holds its first aldermanic election in which women can vote.

The American Licorice Company factory is built at Keystone and Belden Avenues.

Charles Pajeau, a tombstone manufacturer, invents Tinkertoys in Evanston.

"Sailor Jack" and his dog, "Bingo," become part of the logo of Cracker Jack.

In a series of ads in Good Housekeeping, Morton Salt unveils its slogan umbrella toting 8-year

old girl and its slogan-"when it rains, it pours."

Helen Keller is the featured guest at a gathering of the North End Club.

Frank Lloyd Wright designs the Midway Gardens.

A bond issue is approved to widen Michigan Avenue and build a new Michigan Avenue bridge across

the river.

On November 3, under the new law, spearheaded by Dwight Perkins, the residents of Cook County

vote in favor of establishing a forest preserve district whose boundaries would be analogous to the

boundaries of Cook County. The Forest Preserve District if officially and formally established.

Roosevelt Road is widened.

1915

Barney Balaban (born in the Maxwell Street neighborhood) and Sam Katz open their first theater

on Central Park Avenue in Chicago, followed by the Riviera in 1918. Balaban & Katz would create

several other Chicago theaters before their style would become a national phenomenon.

Charlie Chaplin shoots His New Job (Gloria Swanson has a small role) at Chicago's Essanay Studios.

While working for Essanayfor about three weeks, Chaplin is paid $1,250 per week, and is later

rumored to have lived in the penthouse of the Brewster Building, 2800 N. Pine Grove.

The first successful newsreel is filmed and released by The Hearst-Selig News Pictorial.

The steamer "Eastland" capsizes in the Chicago River on July 24, 812 drown. In 2015 two film clip,

55 and 30 seconds long are found in a Dutch film archive by Jeff Nichols.

Start of 5-year conversion of Lake Shore carriage drive through Lincoln Park to auto parkway.

Marshall Field’s opens their instantly famous Candy Kitchens.

The White Sox purchase the contract of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson from Cleveland for $31,500.

George Mundelein (age 43) is named Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago.

The Chicago Daily Tribune uses the term "Jazz" to describe music. This may be a first.

Garfield Ridge and Clearing are annexed.

The Chicago Orchestra presents the world premiere of Frederick Stock's Festival Prologue,

composed to celebrate the Orchestra’s 25th anniversary.

John Daniel (Sandor) Hertz founds Yellow Cab Co. in Chicago.

Charles Weegham purchases the Cubs from the Taft family of Cincinnati. Renamed the Chicago Cubs,

they start to play at Weegham Field in 1916.

June 26, Speedway Park, a two-mile, banked wood-planked oval opens near Maywood on Roosevelt

Road with 80,000 people watch as Dario Resta shatters the speed record for a 500-mile race,

averaging 97.6 mph.

Katherine Stinson, 21 years old, known as the "Flying Schoolgirl" of Cicero is the fourth woman

in the US to earn a pilots license and is the first woman to perform a loop.

The Renaissance Society is founded at the University of Chicago to present groundbreaking

exhibitions that eventually including Fernand Leger and Alexander Calder (1936); Jacob Lawrence

(1944); Paul Klee (1945); Diego Rivera (1949); Hans Haacke (1978); Kara Walker (1997); Kerry

James Marshall (1998).

The American Medical Women's Association is founded in the Fine Arts Building on November 18.

Switzerland based Wander Co. opens its first US facilities to produce Ovaltine in Villa Park. George

Wander and his son, Albert developed Ovaltine between 1863 and 1904. A mix of whole milk, fresh

eggs, barley malt and cocoa, Ovaltine used in hospitals as a tasty way to give patients vitamins.

1916

Carl Sandburg publishes his Chicago Poems.

The Chicago Cubs begin to play at Weegham Field, renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.

Supported on 20,000 Oregon timber pilings, Navy Pier opens to the public on June 25. At the time,

the largest structure of its kind in the world, the pier is 3,040 feet long and 292 feet wide with a

3,500 seat Concert Hall at its extreme east end.

Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra make their first set of recordings for the

Columbia label in New York's Aeolian Hall.

Sherlock Holmes, an Essanay Studio film, is the first feature-length movie to feature Arthur Conan

Doyle's Sherlock Holmes character.

The Electric Club, located on North Dearborn at West Calhoun, is founded by Samuel Insull.

July 26-30 average 91.3º, a 3-day heat record.

Samuel Insull buys the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railway and reorganizes it into the Chicago,

North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad. In 1919, Loop to Milwaukee service is introduced.

January 25, 1963, at 10 p.m., locomotive 455 pulls into the yard to end run of Chicago, North Shore

and Milwaukee Railroad.

Elder William Roberts founds the Chicago sanctuary of the Church of God in Christ.

Lake Forest's Market Square opens. Later the National Trust of Historic Places deems it to be the

nations first planned suburban shopping center.

54,000 automobiles are registered in the city.

Rue Carpenter, Alice Roullier and others found the Arts Club of Chicago. Roullier heads the

exhibitions committee from 1918 to 1941 resulting in many artists firsts for Chicago.

There is immediate uproar when the Sower, a seven foot tall male nude statue sculpted by Albin

Polasek is placed on the front steps of the Art Institute of Chicago. It is quickly removed.

Otto Schnering (1891-1953) founds Curtiss Candy Co. By 1919 the company has its own

three-story factory that by 1921-3 turns out Baby Ruth, Butterfingers, and Polar Bar.

During World War I the Germania Club renames itself the Lincoln Club.

Due to anti-German sentiment, the Bismarck Hotel becomes Hotel Randolph, and Kaiserhof

the Atlantic Hotel.

1917

Wallace Rice designs the flag of Chicago. It has two stars representing The Great Chicago Fire and

the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Century of Progress star was added in 1933 and the

Fort Dearborn star in 1939. The two blue bars represent the two branches of the Chicago River. The

center bar of white is the West Side; the narrower white bars are the North and South Sides.

At least seven barber's homes or barbershops are bombed in a union dispute.

Named for his sister Mable, Maybelline cosmetics, locateda at 4750 N. Sheridan Rd, later 5900 N.

Ridge Ave., is started by Tom Lyle Williams.

On September 28, a grand jury indicts 166 leaders of the IWW for sabotage, conspiracy, and plots

akin to treason, of whom "Big Bill" Haywood and 99 others are found guilty on August 17, 1918.

The Dil Pickle Club is founded by John "Jack" Jones, a member of the Wobblies. The Club started

as several weekly forums at the Radical Book Shop on North Clark. Membership quickly grew and

Jones found an old barn on Tooker Alley off Dearborn St. that he named the Dil Pickel Club.

Albert Schorsch, a 29-year-old real estate dealer, sent carpenters and bricklayers to build 16 single-

family homes on the 6000 block of Grace Street in a style that became known as the bungalow.

In a Chicago Tribune essay, H.L. Mencken calls Chicago “the most civilized city in the world” and

stood as “the most thoroughly American of cities.”

November 23, Jascha Heifetz debuts with the Chicago Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

The Slacker, independently produced by the Peter P. Jones Film Company, is the first feature film

by an African-American.

Saint Francesca Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C., born in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy, known as

Mother Cabrini, dies in Chicago. December 22. She is Canonized July 7, 1936 by Pope Pius XII.

Mother Cabrini is the first citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

1918

Illinois celebrates its centennial. Construction of statewide system of hard roads approved by voters.

One of the worst rail disasters in Chicago history occurs on June 22, when an empty train slams into

a circus train, killing between 61 and 86 people.

On February 12, two Chciago German IWW leaders John L. Metzen and Sezerion Oberdan were

tarred and feathered.

Andy's Deli serving Polish restaurant and wholesaler opens on North Milwaukee Avenue.

The Union Stockyards of Chicago are forced to grant an eight-hour day and forty-hour week, wages

increase and overtime is paid.

On May 3, Captain George Hull Porter, president of the Illinois Athletic Club, announces that all

German employees had been discharge.

On May 9, the membership of the Germania Club, founded 1865, decided to unanimously to rename

itself the "Chicago Lincoln Club.".

On May 16, the Chciago Athletic Association accounces that is has dismissed eighteen enemy aliens,

read, German employees.

On May 19, the Hotel Bismark renames itself Hotel Randolph.

June Wayne, born June Claire, March 7, becomes a famous printmaker in the 1950s, founding

Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles. She drops out of high school at 15, holds various

jobs and made paintings of Depression Era scenes. She has her first exhibition in 1935 at a Chicago

art gallery when she is 17.

William Wrigley, Jr. hires William Veeck as the Cubs vice president and treasurer.

John Lloyd Wright, a son of the famous architect, invents Lincoln Logs in Oak Park.

The State Council of Defense of Illinois published an official recipe book of a "Patriotic Food Show,"

entitled What to Eat: How to Cook It. This cookbook is subtitled: "Win the War in the Kitchen," with a

forward by Woodrow WIlson.

Sergei Prokofiev presents two American premiers with the Chicago Orchestra, conducting his

Scythian Suite and performing as soloist in his First Piano Concerto.

Ernest Poole wins the first ever Pulitzer Prize awarded for fiction for the novel, His Family.

On September 4, a bomb explodes in the Federal Building, the police suspect the IWW, killing four

and injuring thirty.

September 5, 1918, the tradition of playing The Star-Spangled Banner at big league baseball games

is started in Comiskey Park, during the 7th inning of Game 1 of the Cubs-Red Sox World Series.

The Great Northern Chair Co. of Chicago is founded. It specializes in making inexpensive bentwood

chairs, modeled after those invented by Thonet in Vienna, Austria, for restaurants.

The patriotic touch underscored America's entry into World War I, which had shortened the season.

At 7.1", Chicago receives its largest ever Christmas Eve snowfall.

1919

Frank J. Drehobl, a glass-cutter for Flanagan & Biedenweg, with his brother Joseph, founds Drehobl

Bros. Art Glass Co. The firm closes in 2006.

Known as the Black Sox Scandal, eight members of the Chicago White Sox are paid cash to lose

the World Series.

Illinois ratifies 18th Amendment, prohibiting liquor and also the 19th Amendment, granting woman's

suffrage.

Swift and Co. publish Jewel Menus with Tested Recipes Using Jewel Shortening.

Benjamin B. Green-Field and his sister Bessie Green-Field Warshawsky, open Bes-Ben Shop that

creates and sells witty and sophisticated ladies' hats.

Claude A. Barnett founds The Associated Negro Press (ANP).

Trumpeter-bandleader Joe “King” Oliver moves to Chicago, continuing a migration of New Orleans

musicians to the bigger, more prosperous city of the north.

The first air delivery of an electric appliance occurred on March 11, 1919, when a plane flew from

Grant Park to the home of Rufus C. Dawes in Evanston. It was a publicity stunt.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.'s first commercial airship, the 186 -foot-long Wingfoot, is hangared at

the White City amusement park, 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Shortly before 5 p.m. on

July 21, while putting on a show and cruising over the city at some 1,200 feet, the Wingfoot caught

fire and plunged through the skylight of Illinois Trust & Savings Bank at Jackson Blvd. and LaSalle

Street. Eleven bank employees and two blimp passengers die, 26 others are injured. Within six hours,

the City Council adopts a resolution to limit flying over the city.

Grace Abbott becomes the first woman director of Illinois State Immigrant's Commission.

On July 27, Chicago's racial tensions come to a head when Eugene Wiliams and four other black

teenagers from the South Side swim at the Twenty-Fifth Street Beach and stray into the "white"

waters of the Twenty-Sixth Street Beach where a man throws rocks and hits Williams who drowns.

White police refuse to arrest the thrower. Blacks gather on the beach, rocks are thrown, shots are

fired at police who are hit and killed. They return fire. For five days gangs of whites clash in black

neighborhoods .

William Veeck becomes president of the Cubs.

Based on a story by Oscar Wilde, Adolph Bolm presents The Birthday of the Infanta for Chicago Grand

Opera. Ruth Page stars as the Infanta. Music is composed by John Alden Carpenter and sets are by

Robert Edmond Jones.

The Communist Party of the United States is founded in Chicago on September 1.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is founded.

1920

Chicago supports some fifty manufacturers of stained glass windows.

Prohibition becomes effective January 16, the day before the Volstead Act becomes law.

The African-American population of Chicago reaches 109,000 and will continue to grow to 250,000

by 1930. In 1920, the Washington Park area had 38,076 residents, 15 percent of them African-

American; in 1930, 92 percent of the Washington Park population of 44,016 is African-American.

A Black Metropolis, also known as Bronzeville, thrives around 35th Street and State St. where

the clubs were home to Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton.

About 1,200 Mexicans live in Chicago.

Woman's suffrage is established.

Groucho Marx marries his first wife, Ruth Johnson, in a Cook County judge's chambers.

The Michigan Avenue Bridge is the first double-decker bascule bridge to open.

George H. Williamson creates the Oh Henry! candy bar. He sells it for 10 cents, twice the cost

of most candy bars. Extensive coordinated advertisement makes it a runaway success.

William Veeck persuades baseball owners to name Chicago-based federal Judge Kenesaw Mountain

Landis as commissioner, establishing a system for overseeing the integrity of baseball that stands

today.

90,000 passenger automobiles are registered in Chicago.

Frederick Stock conducts the American premiere of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Don Roth’s Blackhawk restaurant opens and introduces the Spinning Bowl salad.

Holloway Candy Co. is founded, developer of Milk Duds and Slo Pokes.

In the 1920s landfill expands Lincoln Park from Addison to Lawrence Ave. to 324 acres.

H. Teller Archibald opens the first Fannie May candy store at 11 N. LaSalle Street

(the chain closes and reopens in 2004). All Fanny May candies sell for 70 cent per pound.

Legend has it that the original: smoke-filled room” was in Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel to arrange

the nomination of Warren G. Harding as Republican candidate for president in 1920.

1921

World Premier of Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with the Chicago Opera Company.

U.S. premier of Mahler's Symphony No. 7 and world premier of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto

by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Throughout the 1920s, landfill from Addison Street to Lawrence Avenue alters the lakefront and

enlarges Lincoln Park.

Supported by James H. Bowen, Calumet Harbor gets federal approval to become the city's deepwater

port. The Calumet River and Harbor already handle some 80% of the city's shipping tonnage and 73%

of incoming ships.

The Chicago Theatre opens October 26, the first downtown theater built for Balaban & Katz

on State Street. Opening day fare includes a feature film starring Norma Talmage, a stage show

starring Buster Keaton and a small concert with the theater’s Wurlitzer organ as star.

William Veeck leads baseball executives in banning clubhouse gambling.

On June 15, Bessie Coleman, a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop, becomes the first woman

of African-American descent to earn an international aviation license from the Federation Aeronautique

International and the first American of any gender or ethnicity to do so, but the first woman of African-

American descent to earn an aviation pilot's license.

The Tivoli Theater, with 4,000 seats the city’s largest movie house, opens.

The Morton Salt Girl turns up her right foot.

Ruth Blackwell joins Iannelli Studios.

Curtis Candy Co. sells the nations first 5-cent candy bar, "Baby Ruth," forcing others to follow.

Legendary Chicago ad man, Eddy S. Brandt writes the "Baby Ruth" slogan, "Everything you

want for a nickel."

Greek immigrant Peter George Poulos opens a candy shop on Western Ave. When his son marries

the love of his life, the store is renamed after his wife, Margie's.

Wrigley Field becomes the home of the Chicago Bears (until 1970).

Merriel Abbott’s newly formed dance school in downtown Chicago taught such soon-to-be stars

as Ginger Rogers and June Taylor (later the June Taylor Dancers).

George Trafton, as the center for the Decatur Staleys (Chicago Bears) 1920-21 and 1923-32, is

the first to snap the ball with one hand.

On October 23, the Chicago Tribune reports the "newest wrinkle in housing," the Garlow, a 4-5

room, 20-foot-by-25-foot brick house with garage built on the back of a standard city lot. A few

are built in the Chatham neighborhood on the 8100 block of South Calumet Avenue and the 8000

and 8100 block of S. King Drive.

Chicago experiences its least snowy winter with 9.8" recorded.

The city records an average temperature of 54.4º for the year, the warmest year recorded

since 1871.

1922

The Chicago Tribune announces a worldwide competition to design a new office tower that ushers

in the modern skyscraper.

The Association of Arts and Industry if founded in March.

Seymour H. Perskey is born to Russian-Jewish immigrants in an area west of Maxwell Street. Seymour

becomes a major Chicago philanthropist interested in Sullivan and Prairie School.

Grace Abbott of Chicago is the first woman unofficial delegate to the League of Nations.

Sybil Bauer, born in Chicago, attended Schurz High School, is the first woman to break a men's

440 =yard backstroke in a time of 6:24.8, about four seconds ahead of the old 6:28 record. In all

she broke 23 recods, mostly in backstroke.

Considered to be the first Modern church in the U.S., Chicago architect Francis Barry Byrne designs

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Kimbark at 55th Street.

F. X. Zettler of Munich, Germany provides the windows.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, gives two lectures in Orchestra Hall.

Louis Armstrong moves to Chicago at the invitation of Joe “King” Oliver, and after a brief sojourn

to New York returns to Chicago to establish himself as the first great soloist in jazz.

The Karzas Brothers open the palatial Trianon at 63rd and Cottage Grove Ave. It opens with a major

social gala and continued a “no jazz” policy through the 1920s.

Andreas Pavley and Serge Oukrainsky create Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet, Chicago's first independent

ballet company.

Chas. F. Lorenzen & Co., 521-523 W. Monroe St. claims to be “America’s Largest Tile Jobbers."

Ivar "Pop" Coulson creates the "Malted Milk Shake" at a Walgreen’s soda fountain.

Per year Chicago distributes some 446 million pounds of butter, more butter than any other city

in the nation.

The first jungle gym, invented by Sebastian Theodore Hinton, is placed on the playground of Horace

Mann School (now Crow Island School). It is removed in 2003, but saved.

Barney Rosset is born into a wealthy Chicago banking family, attends Francis W. Parker School

where he published a newspaper called Anti-Everything. In 1951 he purchases tiny Grove Press

in New York and soon publishes Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Che Guevera along with such

banned books as D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer.

On Arbor Day, Joy Morton, of salt fame, plants 17 trees, then another 130,000 in the spring, on his

estate in Lisle, creating the Morton Arboretum. Morton's father, Julius Sterling Morton had founded

Arbor Day in Nebraska, in 1872.

The Forest Preserve District encompasses 21,516 acres.

1923

The Thompson submachine gun becomes a business tool for the first time in the hands of the South

Side Saltis- McErlane gang.

On March 1, the first issue of the Chicago Literary Times appears on newsstands.

On March 12, Chicago records its all-time low air pressure, 28.70".

The original grandstand of Weegham Field is divided into three sections to expand the ballpark.

Chicago has 9 butter making plants; 1,052 commercial bread baking facilities; 38 pickle & jelly

factories; 43 sausage plants; 32 commercial ice cream makers.

Robert Allerton buys Picasso's drawing Sketches of a Young Woman and a Man and gives it to the Art

Institute of Chicago. It is the Museum's first Picasso.

Lou Mitchell's restaurant opens along Jackson Boulevard, near Union Station.

Joe Colton of Chicago's College Inn Restaurant ignites a trend among home chefs with thie innovative

dishes like Chicken a la King and Lobster Newburg made with his signature chicken broth.

Franklin "Frank" Mars develops the "Milky Way," named for milk, not celestial bodies.

The Arts Club presents "Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso," an exhibition for which Picasso provides

instructions on how to mount and display his work.

Willa Cather is awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, One of Ours.

Lucien Harper editor-in-chief of the Chicago Defender, starts the Bud Billiken children's page in

the Defender.

The Club Aluminum Utensil Co. is organized in Chicago. The marketing innovation on which Club

builds its business is a form of selling called the party plan.

Chicago is divided into 50 wards.

Laben Deardorff designs and starts manufacturing the Deardorff camera. When the U.S. Postal

Service issues a photography stamp in 1978, the Deardorff is on it. By the time L.F. Dearborn

& Sons Photographic Equipment went out of business in 1988, some 10,000 cameras had been made.

Highly prized by photographers and collectors, many are still in use.

1924

The Johnson-Reed Act establishes immigration quotas.

There are approximately 20,000 illegal retail liquor outlets in Chicago.

New speed limits are set for Chicago: top of 20 miles per hour in sparsely settles areas, 10 or 13

in the city, less in turns.

March 29 the Tribune Co., a newspaper, goes on the air with WGN (World's Greatest Newspaper) radio.

South Water Street Market is moved to a new 70-acres site at Ashland and 31st Street to make

way for the world's first double decker roadway, Wacker Drive.

Alderman Stanley Adamkiewicz (31st Ward) gets the Chicago City Council, on April 26, to officially

change the name of Western Avenue to Woodrow Wilson Road. By June, the City Council had

repealed the name change.

Clarence Darrow successfully defends Richard A. Loeb and Nathan F. Leopold, who had attempted

to create a "perfect" crime in the murder 14-year old Bobby Franks.

Sybil Bauer represents the US at the 1924 Summer Olymbics in Paris where she wins the gold

medal in th wome's 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:23.2, four seconds ahead of the silver

meadalist. She dies of cancer in 1927, age 23.

An estimated 1 million Chicagoans line the streets when Chicago George Cardinal Mundelein returns

from Rome with his cardinal's hat.

The northern suburb of Area renames itself Mundelein and its University of St. Mary of the Lake is

renamed Mundelein University.

April 4 the Chicago Tribune reports that Chicago has a new airport, Municipal.

The Ford Motor Company opens a plant on Torrence Ave. to assemble Model T’s.

The Federal Trade Commission abolishes the "Pittsburgh plus" steel pricing system that allows

steel to be produced in Gary, Indiana, for 20% less.

WGN Radio broadcasts the Indianapolis 500, for the first time allowing listeners to experience an event

as it happens.

Adolph Bolm helps establish and is first director of Chicago's Allied Arts. The company is considered

the first ballet theatre in the US.

A record high of 105º is recorded on July 24.

Union painters receive $1.50 per hour, making them among the highest paid industrial workers

in Chicago.

The Illinois Brick Company, Chicago’s largest brick manufacturer, produces more than 700 million

common bricks for the building boom that is underway in the city.

The Chicago Bar Association’s “Christmas Spirits” revue starts.

Jules Stein starts booking bands out of the Chicago office of Music Corporation of America, which

becomes Universal Pictures.

Schutter-Johnson introduces "Bit-O-Honey," a taffy based candy bar.

Sears Roebuck goes on the air April 10 and 11 with WES (World’s Economy Store) to test farm

radio broadcasts. The station officially airs as WLS (World's Largest Store), AM 890. On April 19,

WLS radio airs the nation’s first National Barn Dance program (billed as the Saturday Night Barn

Dance), a four hour extravaganza of music, comedy and down-home entertainment. One year later,

Nashville's Grand O'le Opry starts. Sears sells WLS in 1928 to ABC (the Agricultural Broadcasting

Company) a holding company set up by Prairie Farmer Magazine.

Harry Shapiro Jr. is born in Chicago. As the painter Harry Jackson he is one of the most promising

New York Expressionists. As a sculptor of American Western imagery he becomes an acclaimed

artist in the tradition of Frederick Remington and Charles Russell. His bronze statue of his friend

John Wayne is internationally acclaimed.

In 1920s Walgreens designs the open view pharmacy, still in use today.

Johnny Weissmuller wins the 100-meters and 400-meters freestyle and the 4x200 meters relay in

the 1924 Summer Olympics. In all, Johnny Weissmuller wins 5 Olympic gold metals and one bronzed

in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics.

Morton Salt Company of Chicago begins distribution of iodized salt nationally.

Zenith Radio Corporation (incorporated in Chicago, 1923) introduces the "Companion," possibly the

first modern portable radio.

The first event on the official opening day, October 9, of Municipal Grant Stadium (named Soldier

Field in 1925), is a track meet featuring 1,000 Chicago Policemen, reportedly drew a crowd of 90,000.

Dion O'Banion (1892-1924), professional singer, pickpocket, safe-cracker, and gang leader was

assassinated in his flower shop at 726 N. State by Mike Genna with the indifference of Al Capone

and Johnny Torrio.

On November 22, the first football game played in the Municipal Grant Stadium is Notre Dame over

Northwestern.

Harry Houdini gives a lecture demonstration entitled “Can the Dead Speak to the Living?”

While living at 1710 N. Crilly Court, Henry Gerber co-founds the Chicago Society for Human Rights,

the country’s first gay-rights organization. Publishing two issues of its newsletter, Friendship and

Freedom, it was short lived.

Northerly Island is considered for an airport.

1925

MacLean-Fogg starts producing the lock nut. It prevents the loosening of bolted joints.

WGN Radio is granted exclusive rights to broadcast the Scopes evolution trial in Dayton, TN.,

the first trial ever on radio, and Judge John T. Raulston alters the layout of the courtroom to allow

the microphone to pick up all remarks. The Chicago Tribune reports that it costs $1,000.00 per

day to maintain the long distance wires connecting the Tennessee courthouse and WGN in Chicago.

The Bethesda Baptist Church at 53rd and South Michigan is totally destroyed by bombing.

Over 75,000 people attend Chicago's first rodeo, held in Grant Park stadium.

WGN Radio forms its own Studio Symphony Orchestra. It is disbanded in 1956.

WMAQ-AM broadcasts the complete Chicago Cubs season hosted by sportswriter-turned sportscaster

Hal Totten.

On April 25, the first Woman's World Fair closes a successful eight-day run at the Furniture Mart on

North Lake Shore Drive. Attracting more than 200,000 visitors, the Fair highlights women's

achievements in art, commerce and industry, with more than 100 exhibitions of women in business

and earned a net income of $50,000. The Fair was organized by Helen Bennett, manager of the

Chicago.

A new South Water Market, keeping the old name, is built on the Near West Side, sdjacent to the

Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy and Chicago and North Western rail lines, between Racine and

Morgan and 14th and 16th streets.

Collegiate Bureau of Occupations and author of "Women at Work."

Drew Ali arrives in Chicago and officially registering Temple No.9, the Moorish Science Temple. By

the end of the 1920s, there are 35,000 members in 17 temples across the Midwest and upper South.

Leonardo Alanis, aka "Leo Najo," a dark complexioned Mexican shortstop, signs with the Chicago

White Sox. Leo Najo may be the first Mexican and person of color ever to play in the big leagues.

Chicago has 14,956 hospital beds.

Roy Scherer Jr., better known as screen star Rock Hudson, is born in Winnetka.

Chicago has 300,000 passenger vehicles registered.

18,000 horse- drawn vehicles are registered in Chicago.

Arthur F. Woltersdorf, born in Chicago to a Prussian family, attends lectures at the Technical

University of Berlin and translates two articles by Peter Behrens for publication in the American

Architect, August and December, 1925.

Dominick DiMatteo, a Sicilian immigrant, opens his first store at 3832 W. Ohio and Avers Ave.

The American Licorice Co. creates a licorice boot for a starving Charlie Chaplin to eat in the

movie "The Gold Rush."

Scala Packing produces packs and distributes roasted beef, known everywhere around Chicago

today as Italian Beef sandwiches.

Edna Ferber receives a Pulitzer Prize for novel, So Big, about Dutch immigrants in Chicago and

suburban South Holland.

Archibald John Motley, Jr. wins the $200. Mr and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Art Institute Prize. for

"A Mulatress" and the Joseph N. Eisendrath Prize for "Syncopation" from the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under director Frederick Stock, makes its first electrical

recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company in their Chicago studios.

Maurice Needham starts his namesake ad agency in Chicago.

1926

Downtown temperatures were the city’s official readings until Jan.1, when the official site switched

to Rosenwald Hall, University of Chicago.

most important theater venues in the United States.

Lubliner and Trinz open the Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee. Seating over 2,500, it is built by

Fridstein and Company in a melange of styles, freely combing Classical and Italian Renaissance

Revival.

Earl "Little Hymie" Weiss is gunned down on the steps of Holy Name Cathedral.

George Cardinal Mundelein hosts the First Eucharistic Congress of the Roman Catholic Church in the

United States. It is held at Soldiers Field. A million pilprims attend.

Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner is born in Chicago, April 9.

Edwin Clarke designs Spanish styled Plaza del Lago in Wilmette. It is the nation's second mall.

Coffee Tycoon Fred McLaughlin is granted the Blackhawk’s franchise by the National Hockey

league for $12,000.

Sean le Noble from Le Noble and Company tries to manufacture perfectly round chocolate-covered

caramel candy, but fails, calling them "duds." Milton J. Holloway takes over the production calling

them "Milk Duds."

The Lincoln Monument is added to Grant Park.

Marie and Charles Vitner found C.J. Vitner. The company is formed as a collection of retail outlets

consisting of five storefront shops selling candy, magazines, tobacco products and ice cream on

the South Side of Chicago. In the course of the 1930s Vitner developed bar snack foods, popcorn

and potato chips, and develops into a snack food distributor. Vitner's is sold to California based

Snak King Corp. in 2012.

Chicago artist Frederic Clay Bartlett donates Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" (1903-04) to the Art Institute.

It is very likely the first Picasso painting in an American museum and the first on permanent display.

Eugene V. Debs, ran for president five times as Socialis, dies in an Elmhurst sanitorium. He is 70.

Tiffany Studios designs the peacock entry doors for the C.D. Peacock jewelry store in the Palmer

House.

Arnold Shircliffe, a caterer wrote the Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book. It became very popular.

Zenith introduces the Model 27, the first mass-produced home radio using AC household current. .

Maurine Dallas Watkins writes the play Chicago.

By the mid-1920s most of Chicago's neighborhood streets are paved with brick, cement, or asphalt

and the bustle of automobiles begins its reign. In the 1920s, 120 miles of arterial streets are widened

to accommonade cars.

1927

Chicago has 350 movie and vaudeville houses.

The McVicker’s Theatre, 25 W. Madison (demolished in 1984), introduces Chicago to movies with

sound.

The United Biscuit Company is organized out of a consolidation of Midwestern bakeries.

Louis Armstrong temporarily breaks racial barriers by leading a band in the Loop's Blackhawk

Restaurant. The Blackhawk Restaurant on Wabash Avenue becomes one of the first restaurants

in the country to offer a big band for dancing at dinner.

Zenith introduces push-button radio tuning.

Zenith first uses its famous slogan, "The Quality Goes In Before The Name Goes On."

A police drug raid nets some 2,000 ounces of morphine and cocaine, and more than 300 pounds

of smoking opium, all of the finest grade.

Alfredo Capitanini opens the Italian Village Restaurant.

Charles Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic in 33 hours.

The Society of Typographic Arts (STA) is founded.

Mount Greenwood, on the far southwest side, is annexed.

On March 19, WLS radio becomes the first radio station in the U.S. to broadcast Beethoven's entire

9th Symphony (about 77 minutes).

Robert Louis "Bob" Foss is born June 23. He eventually wins eight Tony Awards for choreography.

While training off North Avenue Beach on a stormy day in July, Olympian swimmer Johnny

Weissmuller with his brother Peter encounter a sudden storm that swamps the nearby pleasure

boat "Favorite." The Weissmuller brothers rescue 11 people. The disaster kills 26 of the 71 people

aboard.

Chicago's iconic Buckingham Fountain is inaugurated to Grant Park.

For lack of funds, Chicago's Allied Arts ceases.

The National Restaurant Association moves its headquarters from Kansas City to Chicago and with it,

its annual Restaurant Association show.

Adolph Bolm becomes Ballet director of Chicago Opera.

The Illinois Academy of Fine Arts is established in Chicago. Its purpose is "to promote the production

and sale of the works of living artists of Illinois and for the encouragement of all the fine arts." J.F.

Cornelius, representing the Uptown Civic Music Association, is its first president.

Richard Wright, later to write Native Son, arrives in Chicago. He is 19.

The world heavyweight boxing championship match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney,

forever known as "The Long Count" is staged at Soldier Field, on September 23, before a crowd

of 104,000. Dempsey knocks Tunney down but goes to the wrong corner, losing five seconds

before the referee begins counting; Tunney rises at the count of 9 and goes on to defeat Dempsey.

"Make the World a Better Place to Die In," is the slogan of the tenth annual convention of the

National Selected Morticians held in Chicago, October 4.

Myra Hess makes her Orchestra Hall debut on November 25.

1928

Three graduates of the Architecture School of Armour Institute, Loebl, Schlossman and Demuth,

design Temple Sholom, 3480 N. Lake Shore Drive. Over the years an important collection of

stained glass windows has been installed, including designs by Karel Appel and Leon Golub.

Amos 'n' Andy debuts, March 19, on Chicago's WMAQ radio.

The Chicago architecture firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White double-deck the original Wrigley

Field grandsatnds down the third-base and first-base lines, add projecting ticket booths topped with

clay tile roofs at ground level outside the park and make other decorative changes .

In his only Chicago Symphony Orchestra appearance, Maurice Ravel conducts concerts including

his Sheherazade, Daphnis and Chloe, and La valse.

Journalists Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur write The Front Page.

In May, Chicago Mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson closes public schools, 10 to 20 each day, so

kids could attend Riverview for free, despite protests from outraged teachers and parent groups.

Leslie Townes Hope, decides to go solo as Bob Hope, moves to Chicago. He finally becomes master

of ceremonies at the Stratford Theater.

The Regal Theater opens at 47th and South Parkway (later King Drive). It's Chicago's equivalent

to New York's Apollo Theatre. Next to the Regal the Savoy Ballroom had opened in 1926. The

opening of these two venues moves the heart of the black entertainment district from 31st-35th

and State to 47th.

Richard Hess, incorporates Ace Stores with his store at 5830 N. Clark Street as the flagship. By

1949 there are 133 Ace Hardware stores in seven states.

Television arrives in Chicago when WCFL (W Chicago Federation of Labor)uses its visual station,

W9XAA to broadcast the head and shoulders of E.N. Nichols.

Ella Van Hueson, Miss Chicago, wins the Third International Pageant of Pulchritude and Ninth

Annual Bathing Girl Revue, June 1928 in Galveston, Texas.

Johnny Weissmuller wins 2 gold medals in the Amsterdam Olympics.

Chicago’s Swift & Co. launches Peter Pan brand of peanut butter using a process to keep the oil

from separating developed by Joseph Rosenfield (Rosenfield starts his own brand, Skippy, in 1933).

Heath Confectionery introduces “English Toffee.”

Prophet Noble Drew Ali founds The Moorish Science Temple of America in Chicago.

1929

The Merchandise Mart opens. At 97 acres of floor-space it's the world's largest building.

NBC wires its studio in the Merchandise Mart for television.

Chicago Stadium opens. With its steel trusses that span 266 feet without support, is the largest

indoor arena on Earth.

On February 24, the Chicago Tribune reports Municipal Airport handled more than 30,000

passengers and was home to 10 airlines that handled more than 1.6 million pounds of airmail.

Milton Berle performs on a closed-circuit telecast in Chicago for the American Television Corp.

On St. Valentine's Day, seven members of Bugs Moran's North Side gang are killed in a garage at

2122 North Clark Street.

Drew Ali, founder of the Moorish Science Temple, dies in his home July 20, age 43.

Comet Model Airplane & Supply Company is founded by two Crane Technical High School students,

Samuel A. Goldenberg and Bill Biblichkow, with $5.00 in capital.

Frank Mars opens a factory on the Far West Side to help meet demand for "Milky Way."

Obligatory school year increases from six to eight months in Illinois.

The 3,500 seat, Art Deco style Civic Opera House, built by Samuel Insull, becomes the new home

of the Chicago Civic Opera, moving there from the Auditorium Building. A private club, The Tower

Club, formerly the Electric Club, moves to the 39th floor.

Howell Company of Geneva, Illinois produces the first tubular furniture in the US.

Thirty-one years old Robert Maynard Hutchins, dean of the Yale University Law School, becomes

the president of the University of Chicago.

In the 1920s Chicago claims to have over 1,000 street gangs.

Started in 1927, the straightening of the Chicago River is completed.

1930

The pin-ball machine began as the Whoopee Game and sold briskly under the name Ballyhoo

which in turn gave its name to the Bally Manufacturing Co.

Brothers, Paul V. and Joseph E. Galvin begin to produce the first practical and affordable auto

radio and decide on the brand name, "Motorola."

In his quest to create a two-for-a-nickel snack, James Dewar comes up with the recipe for Twinkies,

first produced on April 6 at Continental Baking Co., River Forest.

Television station W9XAO airs its first drama, “The Makers of Dreams,” starring Irene Walker.

Mars launches a peanut, caramel, and nougat bar named "Snickers."

tallest building in Chicago, 609 feet. A 31-foot, six-ton aluminum statue of "Ceres," the Roman

goddess of grain and harvest, designed by Chicago sculptor John Storrs, tops it.

The name "Bronzeville" is first used by James J. Gentry, a local theater editor for the Chicago Bee.

Tsianina Blackstone, a Cherokee Creek operatic mezzo-soprano and Anna Fitzgerald, a Chippewa,

found First Daughters of America, an American Indian women organization.

Guy Day, co-founder of the Los Angeles based advertising agency, Chiat/Day, is born July 30,

in Chicago.

Antoinette and Francois, cookbook authors and teachers, open the Antoinette Pope School of

Fancy Cookery.

On October 13, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiers Concert Music for piano, two harps,

and brass by acclaimed German composer Paul Hindemith; the piece had been commissioned

by Chicago-born art patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (1864-1953).

Katherine Dunham founds Ballet Negre, one of the first African-American ballet companies in US.

Walgreens creates store-brand items.

Former School of the Art Institute student, Grant Wood, paints American Gothic.

Alexander’s Steak House opens in South Shore (Nicky Hilton flew buckets of their salad dressing

to the Anaheim Hilton when he married Elizabeth Taylor).

About 20,000 Mexicans live in Chicago

The 1930 census counts 246 American Indians in the city.

The Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium open.

WGN Radio airs, "Clara, Lu, and Em" on June 16. The show, a sorority sketch, is created by three

friends, Louise Starkey (Clara), Isobel Carothers (Lu), and Helen King (Em), all from Northwestern

University. Colgate-Palmolive's "Super Suds" becomes the sponsor. A daytime show at first, it moved

to evenings on February 15, 1932.

Irna Phillips creates the first American soap opera, ”Painted Dreams.” It premiers on WGN on

October 20.It's the story of Mother Moynihan and her unmarried daughter.

Jake Lingle, a Chicago Tribune reporter who had been a middleman for those seeking favors from

Al Capone and the city's police commissioner, is killed at the Illinois Central train station at Randolph

Street.

The comic strip Little Orphan Annie, debuts as a 15-minute Radio show on WGN. It goes national

on NBC's Blue Network April 6, 1931.

The Adler Planetarium opens. Modeled after the planetarium in Jena, Germany, it’s the first

planetarium in the U.S.

Adlai Stevenson III is born, in Chicago, October 10. He is a U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1970-81.

US Highway 45 opens to traffic. It is the main thoroughfare between Chicago and Paducah, KY.

That changes with the opening of Interstate 57 in 1970.

There are some 402,916 autos registered in Chicago.

1931

Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Suffering

from tertiary syphilis, he is paroled in 1939 and dies of pneumonia in Florida in 1947, age 48.

The Chicago Historical Society moves into a 105,219 square foot Georgian Revival building

Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite is premiered by Paul Whiteman Orchestra at the Studebaker

Theater.

To help lift the spirits of Chicagoans during what would become the Great Depression, Chicago Mayor,

Anton Cermak commissions a band shell for free concerts. It is named for James C. Petrillo, president

of the Chicago Federation of Musicians from 1922-1962 and president of the American Federation of

Musicians from 1940 to 1958 and a commissioner of the Chicago Park District from 1934-1945. The

free concerts are an immediate success.

Jane Addams wins Nobel Peace Prize.

Katherine Dunham's "Ballet Negre" gives its debut performance at the annual Beaux Arts Ball. One of

the numbers on the program, Negro Rhapsody is well received. No engagements follow, and the group

disbands.

The Chicago Daily News sells WMAQ to NBC.

A quarter of the nation's airmail is carried annually by airlines passing through Municipal Airport.

Earl Carroll’s racy “Sketch Book” revue at the Chicago Grand Opera is raided by police in the middle

of “Songs of the Moonbeams.” Thirty-one people, including actor William Demarest, are hauled off

on obscenity charges. By the time a judge acquitts the group, the notoriety assured a full-house-

every-night run.

Mitzi Gaynor (Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber) is born in Chicago, September 4. Her film

credits include Golden Girl, There is no Business Like Show Business, Les Girls, and in 1958, South

Pacific.

Ms. Frances Harrington, a practicing interior designer, gives a series of lectures to interior design

professionals that she then expands by founding the Harrington Institute of Interior Design. When

she retires in 1959, her former student Robert Marks assumes leadership of the school. He adds

many classes and creates a professional advisory board.

On Saturday nights, W9XAO airs the picture while WIBO radio broadcasts the sound of football games.

Chicago has 7,500 horse-drawn milk wagons.

1932

Industrial Chicago is hard-hit by the Depression. Some 750,000 people are unemployed out of a

population of 3,236,913.

Almost 400,000 automobiles are registered in Chicago.

Bob Walters and Herb Eldean open Twin Anchors. Both are members of the Chicago Yacht Club.

In his nomination acceptance speech for President by the Democratic National Convention in

Chicago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt states: " I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the

American people."

Judge Henry Horner (1878-1940) is elected the first Jewish Governor of Illinois.

At 28.6°, March is the coldest month on average ever recorded in Chicago.

Babe Ruth’s alleged “Called Shot” occurs during the World Series in Wrigley Field.

African-American composer Florence Price completes her Symphony in E Minor.

In August, the city's first outdoor Art Fair is held in Grant Park.

Howard Hawks' “Scarface: The Shame of a Nation,” with contributions by ex-Chicago

newspaperman Ben Hecht, etches the link between Chicago and mobster in the movies.

Mars launches the "3 Musketeers" bar

African-American Marshall "Major" Taylor, former bicycle world speed record holder, dies

in Chicago, forgotten. He is burried in a paupers grave at the Mount Glenwood Cemetery.

Chicago artist John Flanagan (1865-1952) designs the front and backsides of the U.S. 25 cents coin.

Documentary Film Group, Doc Films, is founded at the University of Chicago.

The Chicago Historical Society opens its eight dioramas exhibiting the history of Chicago.

Arnold William Haarlow, Jr. (1913-2003), is one of the first basketball players anywhere to shoot

the ball with one hand. In the last basketball game of the season against Morgan Park High School,

he took a one-handed set shot to become the first Chicagoan to score more than 50 points in a game.

The Reverend James Cleveland is born in Chicago. In 1968, he founds the Gospel Music Workshop

Convention becoming a dominant force in gospel music. Cleveland's recordings of Peace Be Still, Lord

Remember Me, Father, I Stretch My Hands to Thee, and The Love of God are gospel standards.

1933

Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition opens with light from the star Arcturus. The Exhibition

draws 48.8 millions of visitors before it closes November1, 1934. Its lakefront composition is

inspired by the Burnham Plan. The all-glass "House of Tomorrow" by Chicago architects

Keck & Keck draws much attention. The world's first aerial tramway offers rides at the Exposition

and Kraft’s "Miracle Whip" is introduced as the “new food triumph”. Kraft "Caramels" are also introduced.

An audience of 125,000 people see the play "Romance of the People," performed in Soldier Field.

George W. Bay opens a bakery in the Loop to sell his muffins, Bays English Muffins, with orange marmalade.

At 8:30pm on December 6, Illinois officially repeals the National Prohibition Act (aka Volstead Act.

The "Cape Cod Room" in the Drake opens with liquor license number 2.

On June 15, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Frederick Stock, premiers Froence

Price's Symphonie in E Minor. It's the first composition by an African-American woman to be played

by a major orchestra.

The "Empire Room" supper club opens in the Palmer House.

After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, 3.2 percent draft beer is introduced at Wrigley Field. Prima is

the first brand sold, followed by Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Initiated by a major gift from Julius Rosenwald, The Museum of Science and Industry opens, June 19,

to the public in the former World's Columbian Exposition Palace of Fine Arts Palace of Fine Arts in

Jackson Park.

The Illinois General Assembly enacts general sales tax of 2 per cent.

Monument to Christopher Columbus at A Century of Progress, Chicago's second World's Fair. It now

stands in Grant Park, corner of South Columbus Drive and Roosevelt Road.

Barbara Schuenemann, affectionately known as the "Christmas Tree Lady," dies.

Katherine Dunham opens her first dance school, the Negro Dance Group.

The evening of June 15, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents an evening of “Negro Music and

Musicians,” featuring Roland Hayes.

The American Legion veteran's organization celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks. It becomes

a Chicago tradition. The fireworks are so popular that in 1935 they are moved from the lakefront to

Soldier Field.

On July 6, billed as “The Game of the Century,” Comiskey Park hosts the first All-Star Baseball Game.

Kim Novak is born. She and her sister, Arlene, grow up at 1910 S. Springfield, and after high school

move to 2045 N. Sayre Avenue.

Bruna Cani opens Bruna's Restaurant on South Oakley Avenue.

Duke Ellington’s Band performs in the first Bud Billiken Parade.

With Pilgrim Baptist as his base, Thomas A. Dorsey, soon to be known as the “Father of Gospel”,

founds the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.

The I&M Canal is officially closed and filled in within city limits.

Sally Rand is arrested for public indecency at the Chicago Theatre four times in one day.

Ruth Page choreographs La Guiablesse, based on a Martinique legend about an evil spirit, and

features Ruth Page, Katherine Dunham, Talley Beatty, and an all-black supporting cast.

Quincy Jones, one of the most prolific and successful figures in contemporary pop, is born in Chicago.

Rick Cluchey, the Beckett interpreter and playwright is born December 5.

1934

Bank robber John Dillinger is killed outside the Biograph Theater after a show of Manhattan

Melodrama.

African-American composer William Dawson completes his Negro Folk Symphony.

Arnold Schoenberg makes his only appearance at Orchestra Hall conducting his Transfigured Night.

On May 10, a relative humidity of 13% is recorded, the lowest to date in Chicago.

Katherine Dunham revives her company, Ballet Negre, with students from the school, the Negro Dance

Group. They appear at the Century of Progress, Chicago's World's Fair.

The Roller Derby makes its world debut at the Chicago Coliseum. The sport is invented by Leo Zeltzer,

a sports promoter for the Chicago Coliseum.

Jane Byrne, future mayor of Chicago, is born in Chicago, May 24.

On May 31, the earliest over 100º, actually 102º is recorded in Chicago, Midway Airport.

The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.

Joe Louis makes his professional boxing debut on July 4, against Jack Kracken in the Bacon Casino on

the cities south side. Louis earns $59 for knocking out Kracken. Louis goes on to win all 12 of his

professional fights this year.

A July 18-25, heat wave reaches an unofficially temperature of 109º on July 23, at Midway Airport.

Officially Chicago’s highest observed temperature is 105º as measured at the University of Chicago

on July 24.

Raymond Loewy designs the Coldspot Super Six refrigerator for Sears Roebuck & Co.

Elijah Muhammed moves the Nation of Islam headquarters to the South Side.

The first College All-Star Game, brainchild of Tribune sports editor Arch Ward, beginning a

football-season-opening tradition between the previous year’s NFL champion and a college all-star

team that will last until 1976, is held at Soldier Field.

Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly orders that scenes showing mob violence be stricken from movies and

newsreels because it is "not educational' and has a "bad effect on immature minds."

The first Billy Goat Tavern opens. It's across the Chicago Stadium, now United Center.

The Japanese Garden is opened on the Wooded Island around the 1893 replica of the Ho-o-den

Pavilion as an attraction to visitors attending the Century of Progress World's Fair. The Ho-o-den

Pavilion is destroyed by fire in 1944. The garden survives today, having been renovated in 1981,

and in 1992 officially renamed Osaka Garden to honor Chicago's Sister City.

Walter "Lottie" Zagorski, a transvestite, opens Lotties Pub in Bucktown, with a gambling operation

in the basement that featured horse racing, poker, and strippers.

The city's several park agencies are consolidated to form the Chicago Park District.

Fashion Instruction begins at the School of the Art Institute under the direction of Cornelia Stecki,

an in-house designer for Marshall Field’s whose costumes in a parade celebrating the 1933 Century

of Progress World’s Fair caught the eye of the school’s dean.

On 27 December police close the "Star and Garter" (815 W. Madison), an old burlesque house famous

for nude girlie shows. The same day police also close "1230" (1230 N. Clark) and "The Rosal" (1251 N.

Clark), both women's cross-dressing clubs.

1935

Katherine Kuh opens the only gallery in Chicago (540 N. Michigan) specializing in works by

Modern artists.

Some local artists form an association called “Neoterics” to designate what is fresh and new

in art, and to facilitate exhibitions.

The first Heisman Trophy is won by Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.

On July 1, The Chicago Symphony under Eric De Lamarter opens a new municipally sponsored

series of summer orchestra concerts at a band shell in Grant Park. The free lake front series

eventually becomes the Grant Park Music Festival.

The Blackhawk Restaurant sponsors a Monday night music quiz that airs at midnicht on WGN.

The Polish Museum of America is established as the "Museum and Archives of the Polish Roman

Catholic Union in America." Miecislaus Haiman is its first curator, archivist and chief librarian.

Chicago has a total of 358 motion-picture theaters; the largest, the Uptown, seats 4,307.

Nearly 20,000 people show up at the Chicago Coliseum to witness the world premiere of the

Transcontinental Roller Derby.

Sol and Sam Polk open Central Appliance and Furniture on the West Side.

Finnie’s Ball, an annual black drag ball begins in a basement bar near 38th and Michigan. It

continues into the 1960s at the Chicago Coliseum (1653 S. Wabash).

Jacques Restaurant opens (closes 1983) and immediately becomes the place for ladies who lunch.

In its seventh week at the Selwyn Theater, the play "Tobacco Road" is shut down by Mayor Edward

Kelly for its "obscenity" and "filth." He and his wife saw it and didn't like it. The courts upheld his

opinion.

In Chicago, the Illinois chapter of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration is

set up in August, headed by Increase Robinson. The Painting Division is under the direction of

Norman MacLeish; the Sculpture Division is headed by Edouard Chassing and assisted by Peterpaul

Ott. A design workshop is headed by John Walley.

Leo Burnett opens his namesake ad agency.

Paul J. King starts the city’s first black-owned produce firm.

Keyboardist Ramsey Lewis is born in Chicago. He studies classic piano at the Chicago College of

Music and De Paul University before he has great commercial success with pop-jazz instrumentals.

Richard Hunt is born September 12. He becomes a world renowned sculptor.

The School of the Art Institute holds its first fashion show.

1936

The nation's first blood bank is opened in Cook County Hospital.

Solo Cup Company begins producing disposable paper cups, containers and straws.

The city bans cigarette vending machines

On January 14, the Chciago Daily News reports that on a single day two eminent art

hsitorians from Germany, Ludwig Bachhofer and Ulrich Middledorf had joined the art

department of the Univeristy of Chciago.

On January 20, John J. Glessner died.

In February, when CSO conductor Frederick Stock returned from vacation, he directed the

orchestra in a performance of the tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" by Richard Strauss

in memory of John J. Glessner.

Formed as the Ravinia Festival Association, Ravinia becomes the summer residence of the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The McCook Outlaws, a motorcycle club, is organized.

The Society for Sanity in Art is founded by Josephine Hancock Logan. Its members strongly

oppose all forms of modern art, including cubism, surrealism, and abstract expressonism. The

Society gives out awards to artists who meet its standards of "sanity"; these awards include the

Logan Medal of the Arts.

Richard Wright founds the South Side Writers Group.

From July 6-17, Chicago experiences a heat wave of 12 straight days above 90°, 8 of them

above 100°.

Midway Airport records 11 days above 100°.

The Chicago Board of Trade launches soybean contracts.

Robert Johnson writes Sweet Home Chicago. It is recorded in San Antonio, TX, November 23.

Walter E. Olson opens his 22-acre theme park at Pulaski and Diversey to entertain children of

parents who were at Olson Rug and Carpet Co.

Philip Maher designed Illinois Automobile Club, 2400 S. Michigan, opens.

Shaped like a hotdog, Oscar Mayer introduces the first-ever food-themed car – the Wienermobile.

1937

One third of all radios produced in the United States are made in Chicago.

Illinois passes the eight-hour workday law for women.

Chicago has 3,629 miles of streets and 1,370 street names.

On May 30, 10 people are killed during the Republic Steel South Chicago plant strike when a sticks

is thrown and police open fire. Ten strikers are killed by police bullets, 30 others are wounded. The

police suffered some bruises.

Josephine Hancock Logan publishes a book entitled "Sanity in Art."

An average head of beef cattle weighs 899 pounds and yields 470 pounds of meat.

Jim and Eleanor Riley open a general store next to a movie theatre in the Chatham neighborhood;

the store evolves into Riley's Trick Shop.

Up to 125,000 people are said to be at Soldier Field for an Austin-Leo High School football game.

Ivy is planted in Wrigley Field's outfield.

Kungsholm restaurant opens in the Leander McCormick mansion.

The head and shoulders of Anna Short Harrington is registered as a trademark that updates the

look of "Aunt Jemima," a pancake mix mass produced by Quaker Oats.

When Joe Louis meets Jim Braddock in the heavyweight championship fight at Comiskey Park,

June 22, both men wear trunks designed and made by Chicagoan Sammy Frager.

Kraft introduces "Macaroni & Cheese." Some 50 million boxes are purchased during WW II because

shoppers could get two boxes for one food stamp ration.

Recent immigrant to Chicago, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, establishes the New Bauhaus. It closes in 1938

and reopens as the School of Design.

As part of a suite called Primitive Rhythms, Katherine Dunham premieres Rara Tonga at the Goodman

Theater.

Replacing the outfield stands of Wrigley Field, Holabird & Root, a Chicago architectural firm, add new

bleachers, arranged in a boomerang-chaped configuration.

Singer/songwriter Tom Paxton is born in Chicago.

Inspired by the radio ministry of Preston Bradley of the Peoples Church of Chicago, Irna Phillips

writes The Guiding Light. It begins as a 15-minute radio drama and later moves to television.

In August, Vocalion Records releases Robert Johnson's Sweet Home Chicago.

Washburne Culinary Institute is established.

With Mayor Edward Kelly and President Franklin Roosevelt presiding, the Outer Drive Bridge (Lake

Shore Drive Bridge) opens on October 5.

The period from November 12 to November 20 is a 9-day series of consecutive colder days, with daily

highs decline 32º during this period.

The Chicago Housing Authority is created.

1938

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the last director of the Bauhaus, arrives in Chicago with the responsibility

of directing the school of architecture for Armour Institute of Technology. In the mid-1940s, he

starts to design its new campus, named the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Al's Italian Beef starts as a street stand in Little Italy, then moves to a storefront at 1079 West Taylor.

Katherine Dunham is appointed director of ballet for the Federal Theatre, a part of the WPA that

centers dance in one company. The company was unique in its mixing of ballet, modern and jazz.

Katherine Dunham choreographs and produces her first full-length ballet, L'Ag'Ya at the Federal Theater.

A National Confectioners Association committee headed by Otto Schnering coins the national

campaign phrase: "candy is delicious food - enjoy some every day."

The first Chicago Candy Show is held in the Hotel Sherman. Eighteen-year-old Mary Jeanne Drake

is elected "Sweetest Girl."

Paul Hindemith makes his American conducting debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

on March 3.

The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.

Hotelier Ernie Byfield opens the Pump Room inspired by the 18th c. one operating in Bath, England.

Contralto Margery Mayer Voutsas, a Senn High School graduate, is hired as feature soloist on WGN

radio as part of the new Mutual Broadcasting System, where she sings opera and classical programs.

Ms. Voutsas sings with the Chicago City Opera Company production as Nicklausse in "The Tales of

Hoffmann."

After a hobby show at the Hotel Sherman, The National Button Society is founded by Gertrude

Patterson and Otto C. Lightner in Chicago.

Marion Mahony Griffin paints a mural, Fairies, in Armstrong School.

In October, works by Chicago artists in the Federal Art Project are exhibited in the Art Institute.

Nine galleries of the Art Institute are devoted to WPA works under the title, "Art for the Public."

Gabby Harnett’s “Homer in the Gloamin” occurs during the National League pennant in Wrigley Field.

Dad’s Root Beer is named by Ely Klapman for his dad who had experimented with making high

quality root beer.

1939

The Proviso Yards near Melrose Park, operated by the Chicago & North Western Railroad, are the

world’s largest. The Yards cover 960 acres and have a daily capacity of 4,000 cars on 59 tracks.

Ray Manzarek is born on Chicago's Polish South Side. He eventually attends St. Rita H.S., graduates

from De Paul University with a degree in Economics, attends UCLA Film School, 1962-65 and meets

Jim Morrison with whom he founds the Doors in 1965. Manzarek dies May 20, 2013.

The National Button Society holds its first show in Chicago.

Violinist Isaac Stern makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performing

Sibelius’s D minor violin concerto.

Edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, The American Woman's Cookbook is published by Consolidated Book

Publishers for the Culinary Arts Institute. At over 800 pages, it may be the first cookbook to use

four-color printing for its photography. By 1943, 1 million copies had been sold. Berolzheimer served

as director and editor of many cookbooks published by the Culinary Arts Institute from 1938-1949.

Katherine Dunham and Dance Company perform Tropics and Le Jazz "Hot" in the College Inn Panther

Room at the Hotel Sherman.

Zenith introduces the first all-electronic TV station.

Rudolph Weisenhorn paints a cubist inspired mural, Contemporary Chicago, in Nettlehosrt School.

Willard Motley, Peter Schenck, and Alexander Saxton found Hull-House Magazine.

Ed Paschke is born June 22.

George Cardinal Mundelein is the first Chicago Cardinal to vote in a Papal election.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is created by Chicagoan Robert L. May, a Montgomery Ward

copywriter, as a Christmas giveaway storybook for Montgomery Ward stores. It is an immediate

success. Johny Mark, May's brother-in-law and a songwriter developed the lyrics for the musical

version recorded by Gene Autry in 1949.

Henry Blommer Sr. and his brothers Aloysius and Bernard open Blommer Chocolate that begins

manufacturing its chocolate for wholesale distribution, quickly becoming the largest commercial

chocolate manufacturer in the United States.

George Cardinal Mundelein dies October 2. Many thousands pay their respects at Holy Name Cathedral.

1940

Motorola Company develops the world's first hand-held, two-way radio, better known as the

walkie-talkie.

Jack Brickhouse begins to broadcast Cubs and White Sox games, some 5,300 games, until he

retires in 1981.

Leon Finney, Sr. from Mississippi, opens his first restaurant, Leon's BBQ, on East Garfield in

Bronzeville.

The Ramova Theatre, Bridgeport, hosts the Chicago premiere of Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator."

The Loop is whitened by a 2.2-inch snowfall on May 1-2. Midway airport receives 3.7 inches of snow.

Grossing a whopping $4,000 in its first season, the world's first Dairy Queen opens in a storefront

at 501 N. Chicago, in Joliet, IL on June 22.

Keyboardist Herbie Hancock is born in Chicago.

Chicago has 425 Kosherr butcher shops, many of them in Lawndale.

The comic strip "Invisible Scarlet O'Neil," drawn by Russell Stamm, is unveiled in the Chicago Times,

June 3, 1940.

The first Amercain Negro Exposition is held at the Chicago Coliseum, July 4 to September 2.

An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 bungalows were built in Cook County since 1910.

The Society of Contemporary American Art is created at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Theodore Karavidas opens Marie's Pizza in the Mayfair neighborhood, 4127 W. Lawrence Avenue.

Starting June 30, the Chicago Tribune syndicates Dale Messick’s "Brenda Starr" cartoon. Starr goes

national five-days after VE Day, May 1945.

Armour Institute of Technology and Lewis Institute merge as Illinois Institute of Technology.

Eleanor Roosevelt is the first first lady to speak at a convention, delivering a stirring speech to a

fractured party in Chicago.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is nominated for an unprecedented third term and says: "This is no ordinary

time. No time for weighing anything except what we can do best for the country as a whole, and that

responsibility rests on each and every one of us as individuals."

Raquel Welch is born September 5, in Chicago to Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo and Josephine

Sarah whose family origins date back to the Mayflower.

On October 24, Frederick Stock conducts the Chicago Symphony in its first performance of the

First Symphony by John Alden Carpenter, a native of Park Forest, Illinois. The Orchestra presents

the world premier of Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in C, commissioned to celebrate the Orchestra’s

50th anniversary.

The South Side Community Arts Center opens.

Candy impresario Sol D. Leaf introduces "Rain-Blo" gumballs that came in different colors.

The mercury tops 63° at 11 a.m. on November 11, as a cold front moves in from the southwest on

wind gusts of 65 mph plunging Chicago's temperature to 16° by 7 a.m. on November 12.

For the American Negro Light Opera Association of Chicago, Katherine Dunham stages and

choreographs Tropical Pinafore, a takeoff on Gilbert and Sullivan.

Richard Wright publishes his novel, Native Son that opens to critical acclaim in New York City in

March and then in November 1941, to a standing room only crowd in Chicago's Studebaker Theater.

November brings 14.8" of snow to Chicago, a record for the month.

On Friday, December 13, Life photographer William Shrout attended a gathering spread across 13

tables, each of 13 people, of the Merchants & Manufacturers Club of Chicago.

1941

Arturo Toscanini makes his only appearance with the Chicago Symphony.

Bela Bartok performs his Second Piano Concerto as soloist with the Chicago Symphony.

Major Lance is born in Chicago. He helps establish what becomes known as the Chicago soul sound.

The Illinois Legislature creates the Chicago Medical Center District.

Jayne Walton Rosen was the “Champagne Lady” of The Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk, the

house orchestra at the Trianon Ballroom until early 1951, attracting some 7,000 people per show.

Gene & Georgetti’s Steak House Restaurant opens in River North.

The Morton Salt Girl gets yellow clothing and hair.

Jim Stefanovic, a Macedonian, owner of Jim's Original on Maxwell Street and Halsted introduces

the Polish sausage sandwich, a type of large hot dog.

Zenith introduced the detachable "Wavemagnet" loop antenna in portable radios.

Eddie Blazonczyk Sr. is born in Chicago. Eventually he becomes a Grammy-winning polka musician.

The United States enters World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7.

The Auditorium Building, closed since 1929, is taken over by the city of Chicago and used as a

servicemen's center, complete with bowling alleys!

1942

Nelson Algren writes Never Come Morning, followed in 1949 by The Man with the Golden Arm,

and in 1951 by Chicago: City on the Make.

Mayor Edward J. Kelly bans Nelson Algren's book, Never Come Morning from the Chicago Public

Library. The ban remains in effect for decades over the massive outcry by Chicago's Polonia.

Known as the “Father of Gospel”, Thomas A. Dorsey, former bluesman and Paramount Record

agent is choir director of Pilgrim Baptist Church, and is named director of the National Baptist

Convention Choir. In 1931, Dorsey had written Precious Lord, Take My Hand, and founded the

Ebenezer Baptist Choir. Dorsey writes many other memorable songs including, Peace in the Valley.

Dorsey helps launch the careers of Mahalia Jackson and Sallie Martin.

Harrison Ford, an acrtor, is born in Chicago.

Ruth Lee Williams, 18, sings in a small nightclub called the "Stagebar" in the Garrick Building on

Randolph Street. She had learned to sing in the choir of St. Luke Baptist Church, honed her

performance skills in the touring gospel group the Sallie Martin Singers, before picking up some

vocal pointers from Billy Holliday who was appearing at another club in the Garrick Building. Big

band leader Lionel Hampton asked her to sing Sweet Georgia Brown, and asked her to tour with

his band under a new name–Dinah Washington. She quickly became know as the “Queen of the

Blues,” and then “Queen of the Jukebox.”

Curtis Mayfield is born in Chicago. He is a driving force in black music from the early 60s through

the mid 70s.

Jack DeJohnette is born August 9, in Chicago. He plays piano at age 4 and professionally age 14.

DeJohnette takes up drums as his main instrument. Credits his uncle, Roy I Wood Sr. as his

inspiration to play music. Wood is a Chicago disc jockey who later becomes vice president of the

National Network of Black Broadcasters.

Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III on July 13, 1942) is born in Chicago, attends Latin

School and, in 1957, he enrolls as a student at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. In 1964 he

becomes co-founder of The Byrds.

Manny’s Coffee Shop and Deli opens.

Influenced by the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi, CORE, Committee (later COngress) of Racial Equality

is founded in Chicago by an interracial group of students, Bernice Fisher, James R. Robinson, James L.

Farmer, Jr., Joe Guinn, George Hauser and Homer Jack. CORE pioneered the strategy of nonviolent

direct action, especially the tactics of sit-ins, jail-ins and freedom rides.

The Chicago Cubs install an organ at Wrigley Field and start a national tradition of organ music

at baseball games.

In November John H. Johnson launches his first magazine, Negro Digest.

A team of scientists at the University of Chicago led by Enrico Fermi create the first controlled,

self-sustaining nuclear reaction on December 2.

Foote, Cone & Belding, an advertising firm, is founded in Chicago.

1943

In May, McKinley Morgenfield, better known as Muddy Waters, arrives in Chicago from Clarksdale,

Mississippi. He came looking for not merely a job but “to be great…I want to be known cross-country,

not like an ordinary person who just lives and dies.” At the time, jump and jive blues is the dominant

Chicago urban sound. Waters’ amplified grittier acoustic delta blues sound made him a star, and

establishes Chess Records and Chicago as the center of the postwar urban blues scene.

Robert James (Bobby) Fischer, chess prodigy, grandmaster, and eleventh World Chess Champion,

maybe the greatest chess player of all time, is born in Michael Reese Hospital on March 9. He dies

January 18, 2008 (age 64) in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In mid-May, James L. Farmer (1920-1999), a founder of CORE, leads a sit-in at Jack Spratt Coffee

House, Kimbark and 47th Street. It is the first sit-in.

The future Rev. Willie T. Barrow, native of Burton, Texas, moves to Chicago where she studies at

Moody Bible Institute. She focuses on civil rights.

As WBKB-Ch.4, W9XCB, becomes Chicago’s first commercial TV station.

P.K. Wrigley, owner of the Cubs, founds The All-American Girls Baseball League.

The first night game is played at Wrigley Field, a benefit all-star contest featuring women from the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

On October 16, Mayor Edward J. Kelly officially opens the subway system.

Restaurateur Ric Riccardo and his partner Ike Sewell introduce and market “deep dish pizza,

Chicago Style,” at Uno’s on East Ohio Street.

A Georgia O’Keefe retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago is the first retrospective of a female

artist at the museum.

Mary T. Washington Wylie takes the IL CPA exam and becomes the first African-American female CPA

in the USA.

1944

Saul Bellow publishes his first novel, Dangling Man.

Ivan Albright and his brother, Zsissly collaborate on the pictures used in the 1944 movie

The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Louis Eckstein’s widow donates the 36-acre park to the Ravinia Festival Association.

Offended by the provocative pinups drawn by Alberto Vargas for Esquire, offices in the Palmolive

Building (919 N. Michigan Ave.), the U.S. Postmaster General revokes the magazine’s second-class

mailing license. The Supreme Count overturns the ruling in 1946.

The Glass Menagerie, a play in seven scenes by Tennessee Williams, premiers at the Civic Theatre

on December 26.

The Shangri-La restaurant, with tiki-bar and two zombie-drink limit, opens (closes 1968).

1945

A Street in Bronzeville is published by Gwendolyn Brooks.

Amy and Lou's, a soul food restaurant opens at 39th and Indiana.

The first Chicago based record label, "Mercury," opens its offices at 35 East Wacker Drive, and

produces a string of classic blues, R&B, and jazz hits by the likes of Big Bill Broonzy, Dinah

Washington, and Jay McShann.

About 500 Native Americans live in Chicago.

Borden's ice cream is sold for 10 cents by Wrigley Field concessionaires.

Harmonica legend Little Walter moves to Chicago from Mississippi.

The nation’s three largest steel mills are U. S. Steel’s Gary Works, South Works and Inland Steel.

Chicago becomes the world’s largest producer of steel.

Robert Walker founds the Christian Writers Institute, a correspondence school.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is created, marking the beginning of public ownership of the

city's mass-transit system.

M.S. Distributors is founded and run by Milt Salstone. By 1963 M.S. is distributing some forty-eight

labels.

Chicago Shimpo, an Albany-Park based Japanese-American newspaper is first published.

Ebony magazine is launched.

Ora Higgins takes charge of integration initiatives at Chicago based Spiegel, at the time one of the

largest mail-order business's in the world, making Spiegel instrumental in the hiring of hundreds of

female and minority employees.

Robert Reder and Jack Besser found Monogram Models Inc.

Midway Airport counts some 1,300,000 passengers.

1946

Leonard and Phil Chess, Polish-born brothers and a woman named Evelyn, starts Aristocrat

Records. As Chess Records, the company becomes the nation's premier outlet for urban blues

and early rock‘n’roll with hits by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Howlin’ Wolf.

The nation’s first paid political telecast occurs on WBKB when Alderman Bertram Moss seeks

re-election and is interviewed by Bob Elson in a fireside chat.

Roosevelt University moves into the Auditorium Building.

In polka halls along Milwaukee Avenue and in the Southwest side, a “Chicago style” polka is very

popular. Li’l Wally (Walter Jagiello) cut his first two Chicago style polka records, Our Break Up, and

Away From Chicago. Li’l Wally eventually cut seventeen gold and four platinum records.

Central Appliance and Furniture is renamed Polk Bros.

The elegant art nouveau store fixtures of Kranz's Candy store are sold at auction.

On June 5, a fire in the LaSalle Hotel claims 61 lives and injures more than 200.

An entire dinner cost only $3.50 at the swank Kungsholm Restaurant.

The birth of his own son, David, September 19, is photographed, complete with umbilical cord, by

Wayne Miller, is published as a centerpiece in the 1955 exhibition The Family of Man.

Gladys Holcomb’s "Home Cooking" (soul food) restaurant opens in Bronzeville (closes 2001).

John Prine, a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter is born October 10, in Maywood.

With the help of Ed Sprinkle and Mike Jarmoluk, the Chicago Bears pressure the Green Bay

Packers into a 10-7 loss and capture the NFL championship.

On October 28, American Community Buildiers announced that Forest Park would be built.

Construction began October 28, 1947 and is completed late October 1949. The first three families

moved in August 30, 1948. Forest Park is the first fully planned post WWII suburb in the US. .

Arthur John (Jack) Johnson nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” first African-American world

heavyweight boxing champion and arguably the best heavyweight boxer of his generation, is

buried at Graceland Cemetery.

Argonne National Laboratory is established.

1947

Wrigley Field hosts 46,572 people, the highest ever paid admission, on May 18, to see the first black

man, Jackie Robinson, play his first game on a Chicago field.

Avant-garde performance artist Laurie Anderson is born in Chicago. She moves from Chicago to

New York in 1967.

Vivian Carter becomes the city’s first black female disk jockey on station WGES. In 1953,

Ms. Carter co-founds VeeJay records. VeeJay records is considered the first successful

black-owned record company in the United States, predating Motown by a few years.

Wrigley Field hosts its first All-Star Baseball Game.

August records an average temperature of 80.2º, a record.

Zenith introduces the world's first subscription TV system known as PhoneVision.

The first parking meters are installed in Chicago.

Kitty Baldwin and Jody Kingrey open Baldwin-Kingrey, the first Chicago store to import furniture

from Finnish designer Alvar Aalto.

Duke Tumatoe is raised in Beverly. He becomes an American blues musician and guitarist and

is a member of REO Speedwagon.

Willard Motley publishes his first novel, Knock on Any Door. It receives wide acclaim and is

short-listed for a Pulitzer. It is made into a movie in 1949, staring Humphrey Bogart.

Minnie Riperton is born November 8 in Chicago. An angelic five-octave voice makes her one of

pop music’s most distinctive singers.

Katherine Dunham choreographs the musical play Windy City, which premiers at the Great

Northern Theater. It is said to have influenced Jerome Robbin's choreography for West Side Story.

Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantagna, actor, producer, writer, director played bass in a local band called

The Apocryphals which played with The Missing Links, who went on to form the band Chicago,

is born in Chicago November 13.

Harold Finch conducts the first performance of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Nov. 14.

Fritzel’s Restaurant opens. It is home of the three-hour lunch for columnists and other Chicago

luminati.

1948

Chicago has four major television stations on the air.

The Chicago Sun-Times and WGN-TV are launched.

WGN-TV broadcasts its first big-league game on April 16, with Jack Brickhouse calling the White

Sox's 4-1 win against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

In the late 1940s, jazz deejay, Holmes “Daddy-O” Daylie, became one of the nation’s first major

African-American radio personalities on stations such as WAIT, WMAQ, and WGN. Daddy-O gets the

Ramsey Lewis Trio an audition with Chess Records.

Preston Tucker (1903-1956), Alex Tremulis and J. Gordon Lippincott and Co. design nearly

fifty-one identical Tucker automobiles in Chicago before the Tucker Company folds on March 3,

1949 amid allegations of fraud.

Left-handed guitarist, Otis Rush, born in Philadelphia, MS, April 29, 1935, moves to Chicago.

Jimmy Wilson starts to run the Woodlawn Tap, aka as Jimmy's on 55th and Woodlawn.

In the 1940s, consisting predominantly of Puerto Rican males, The Latin Kings street gang is founded

in Chicago. Known as the Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation, its membership quickly swells.

German-born American gymnast, Meta Elste, though 26, helps USA win first women's gymnastics

medal, a bronze, at Olympic Games in London. Ms. Elste is also three-time US Amateur Athletic

Association champion, two-time Olympian, is also three-time US Amateur Athletic Association

champion, two-time Olympian, 1974 inductee into the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and active in

the Lincoln Turner organization until she retires, age 51, in 1972, after winning a gold medal in

the senior ladies AA Division at the Turners National Turnfest in Milwaukee.

Robert Walker founds Christian Life magazine.

Eugene Ormandy makes his debut conducting the Chicago Symphony.

Cricket Hill, the hill at Montrose beach, is shaped from nearby Lake Shore Drive construction debris.

Northerly Island, a landfill peninsula, becomes Meigs Field airport, it exists until 2003.

1949

Construction begins on 860-880 N. Lake Shore Drive, the world's first structurally expressive

high-rise apartment by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Their clean-lined glass-box look influence

skylines around the world.

WBKB, a Chicago television station (becomes WBBM in 1953), made many firsts, including the

first broadcast of any consequence made outside a studio - the Shriner's parade in Chicago, the

first full-length dramatic production ever telecast in "its entirety, with costumes and setting", and

the first midnight mass from Holy Name Cathedral.

University of Chicago law school graduate, Russell Baker teams up with trial lawyer, John McKenzie,

to form Baker & McKenzie. In 1987, the firm becomes the first law firm in the world to employ 1,000

attorneys. By 2004, it is the largest law firm in the world with more than 3,200 lawyers in 38 countries.

On June 14, in Room 1297 A of the Edgewater Beach Hotel, nineteen year old Ruth Ann Steinhagen

stalks and shoots former Cubs first baseman Eddie Waitkus with a .22-caliber rifle. Waitkus survives.

In 1952, novelist Bernard Malamud fictionalizes the story of Waitkus and Steinhagen in his book,

The Natural. In 1984 the novel becomes a film starring Robert Redford and Barbara Hershey.

Municipal Airport is renamed Midway, in honor of the clash near Midway Island in early June 1942

that turned around the war in the Pacific. Midway Airport claims one landing or takeoff every 2 minutes.

Jesse Owens, winner of a gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, settles in Chicago and is buried

at Oak Woods Cemetery.

Burr Tillstrom's puppets join Fran Allison on TV as Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

"This program came to you from Chicago, where ---" is the sign off of NBC's Galloway at Large,

the first "night" show in the U.S. It had a nationwide audience of three and a half million viewers.

For 11 years Clifford T. Johnson broadcasts everything that happens in his Oak Park household from

7:30 to 8:15 am as his daily show on WBBM.

The first Garrett’s popcorn store opens in the Loop.

1950

Chicago's population peaks at 3,620,962 people, boosted by the post-war economic boom, a new

surge of immigration, and the annexation of 41.1 square miles.

Tri-State Highway opens. It is renamed in 1953 for Robert Kingery, former director of the state's

Department of Public Works and general manager of the Chicago Regional Planning Association.

Opened as the Calumet Expressway, it is renamed in 1996 for Chicago religious activist Bishop

Louis Henry Ford, founder and pastor of St. Paul Church of God in Christ in Chicago.

Chicago produces a third of the nation's steel.

Kaunch Hirabayashi opens the Nisei Lounge at Clark and Division. It is named for American-born

children of Japanese immigrants who were imprisoned during WW II.

Zenith developed the Lazy Bones Station Selector, a control module connected via a long cable to

the TV. In 1955 Zenith brought out the first wireless remote, a light beam generating device, followed

in 1956 by the Zenith Space Commander TV Tuner based on high frequency transmission.

Ed "the Claw" Sprinkle, a defensive end for the Chicago Bears, is named the meanest man in football

in a Collier's magazine article.

Kraft produces the first processed sliced cheese.

Dominick's unveils its first large-scale supermarket (14,000 square feet) at 6900 W. North Ave.

Metron Steel is founded by Andrew Athens (Andreas Athanasoulas) and his brother, Thomas.

Robert O. Burton designs the first lunch box specifically for children, the Hopalong Cassidy lunch

box. Aladdin Industries of Chicago manufactures this immediate success. Many more designs follow.

William James "Bill" Murray, is born September 21, in Wilmette. He eventually wins an Emmy Award

for his Saturday Night Live performances.

Harold Pierce opens Harold's Chicken Shack.

Gwendolyn Brooks receives a Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen, her second collection of poems.

Chicago passes its first “J” walking law. The first arrest is made three years later.

Walgreens introduces the nations first full self-service drug store.

November 1, Chicago's temperature hits 80º. The latest date for this high on record.

Abbott Laboratories introduces Sucaryl, 30 times sweeter than sugar.

1951

While employed at the Weber Brothers Metal Works, George Stephen decides to combine two

spun metal domes already in production to develop a cover and bottom for his grill design

that eventually becomes the Weber Grill.

Collier’s magazine calls Chicago the “Top TV Town."

Today, vocal-group aficionados consider the Flamingos, formed in 1951, one of the, if not the,

best of their era. I Only Have Eyes For You is a national hit in 1959. Their style influenced groups

such as the Four Tops and the Temptations.

On September 25, Rafael Kubelik conducts the Chicago Symphony’s first television appearance

over WENR Chicago.

The College of Complexes, a free-speech forum is founded.

Andy's opens as a grungy hangout for Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times pressmen.

Ernest Allen opens Allen Studio of Music to teach piano and organ, and provides musicians to black

churches across the nation.

On December 16, the Chicago Bears play their crosstown rivals the Chicago Cardinals at Wrigley

Field in 2° temperature. The Cardinals win.

Run by Bernard and Rita Jacobs, WFMT, 98.7, goes on the air.

Edens Parkway, named for William G. Edens, a banker known as the pioneer of the "good roads

movement in Illinois," which culminates with the state's first highway bond issue in 1918, opens

On Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 8.6" of snow fall.

1952

On July 26, Adlai Stevenson accepts the Presidential nomination at the Democratic National

Convention. He looses the election to former General Dwight Eisenhower.

A.J. Liebling writes a series of savage articles about Chicago for the New Yorker Magazine that

are subsequently reprinted in a book entitled Chicago: The Second City.

Dan Edelman opens his public relations firm with three employees and one client, the Toni Home

Permanent Co., a neighbor in the Merchandise Mart. Edelman helps develop the advertising

campaign: "Which Twin has the Toni?"

A street-corner a cappella doo-wop group, The Dells, originally known as The El-Rays, are formed

in Harvey, Illinois by Marvin Junior, Charles Barksdale, Michael McGill, Verne Allison, and Johnny

Funches. In 1960, Johnny Funches is replaced by Johnny Carter.

Christine DuBoulay Ellis and RIchard Ellis start the Ellis DuBoulay School of Ballet. It closes in 1992.

The Chicago Tribune headlines that Chicago's "steel output is higher than Britain."

Howlin’ Wolf moves from Mississippi to Chicago and begins recording with Chess Records.

Pastorelli Food Products cans fully prepared pizza sauce.

The Spaniels, a doo-wop vocal group forms in Gary, Indiana and VeeJay Records is formed to

release their material.

Richard Goldstein and Norman Ackerman found Perma Power, a firm that made the first all-transistor

wireless garage door opener that clipped on the sun visor of a car.

Congress Parkway is widened bringing the curb to the southern edge of the Auditorium Building. To

make spae for a sidewalk, several rooms and part of the theater's lobby are removed.

Chicago's American Giants, a Negro League team, disbands.

Pioneering a new use for plastics, Carl Plochman introduces yellow mustard in a yellow squeeze

barrel.

Italian immigrants Gus and Ida Lazzerini acquire Club Lago on Superior and Orleans, and start

serving Tuscan food to the printers and paper salesmen in the Chicago neighborhood originally

known as Smoky Hollow (today know as River North).

The soap opera, Guiding Light, created in Chicago by Irna Phillips (1901-1973), airs on CBS TV,

30 June 1952, after 15 years of radio (starting in Chicago on January 25, 1937, on NBC Radio).

1953

On 23 June, Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle receives its Chicago premier at Playwright’s

Theater Club, 1560 N. LaSalle.

First as gospel singers and then as a soul-pop group, The Staple Singers have several soul and pop hits.

In his Chicago’s Left Bank, Alson J. Smith describes the city as "Florence to New York's Rome."

“Linn Burton for certain!” starts his TV career selling appliances for Polk Bros.

On July 21, Richard J. Daley becomes chairman of the Cook County Democratic Committee.

On August 3, a stolen small plane flown by a young World War II veteran pilot crashes in Wrigleyville.

Founded by Angeline DeCorah, an elder of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Susan Kelly Power, The

American Indian Center, the first urban American Indian Center in the country, opens in Uptown. It

serves more than 100 tribes.

On June 3, Florence Price, composer, dies from a stroke.

White Fence Farms is started by Robert C. Haster on the former estate of coal tycoon Stuyvesant

Peabody on the old U.S. Route 66. His son, Robert J. Haster transformed the southwest suburban

family-style restaurant into a local favorite.

In November the first issue of Hugh Hefner's Playboy appears. Inside, a 1947 photo of Marilyn

Monroe, naked, appears as the first centerfold and first "Playmate of the Month."

Kraft introduces Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.

Koko Taylor, age 18, arrives in Chicago.

Polk Bros. offers a free Christmas tree with a major purchase.

Fritz Reiner conducts his first concert as Chicago Symphony music director on November 14.

DJ Herb Kent coins “dusties” for soulful oldies.

1954

Harold Warp develops skin-packaging, known since 1956 as Jiffy-Wrap.

Ending the city's seven-year operatic drought with a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Lyric

Theater Chicago (later known as the Lyric Opera) is launched by Carol Fox on February 5.

Andres Segovia makes his Chicago Symphony debut playing Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Concerto.

Founded in 1908 by Salvatore Ferrara of Nola, Italy, Ferrara Pan Candy Co. introduces Atomic

Fireballs. By 2003, consumers eat about 15 million Fireballs per week.

The Women’s Board of the Art Institute unveils the Art Rental and Sales Gallery, which makes original

art affordable to average citizens, and creates a new revenue stream for the museum.

Marilyn Alaimo (born 1931) takes a job at Northern Trust Co. as a bond trader, the first woman to do

so at Northern Trust, and one of the first women in the US to do so for a major bank.

Ernest Hemingway, born in Oak Park, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Between June 11 and June 21, Chicago experienced eleven 90ºs days in a row establishing eight new

record highs. In total June experienced sixteen 90º plus days.

On June 26 intense heat generated a line of severe thunderstorms that raced southeast at 60 mph,

reaching Chicago and southern Lake Michigan at about 8 a.m. The storms generated a seiche, sending

6- to 8- foot swells to the Michigan shore around 8:30 am that reflected back to the Chicago shore as

an 8- to 10- foot wave inundating areas from North Avenue to Wilmette. Eight people died, including

seven fishermen swept off the Montrose Harbor pier.

Hugh Hefner moves Playboy out of his apartment into 11 E. Superior St., across the street from

Holy Name Cathedral.

Rickie Lee Jones, a musician, is born in Chicago.

Kraft's Macaroni & Cheese box turns blue. It had been predominantly yellow since its introduction

in 1937.

Ramona Shiffer becomes the first president of the Chicago Police Crossing Guard Associates.

George Johnson borrows $250 from a bank and another $250 from a friend to launch his own company,

Johnson Products, the first hair care brand developed specifically for African American hair. Its first

product is Ultra Wave, a hair relaxer for men

Chuck Renslow opens Kris Studio (7 W. Maple St.) specializing in men’s “physique photos.”

On November 15, Maria Callas as "Lucia" performs Lucia di Lammermoor.

1955

Richard J. Daley is sworn in as mayor on April 20. He is re-elected five more times until 1976, when

he suffers a heart attack and dies.

Chicago’s population is 3,260,962.

Almost 15% of the city’s population is foreign born.

On February 12, a fire in the SRO Barton Hotel on Madison Street claims 29 lives.

Congress Expressway opens. It is renamed in 1969 after Dwight D. Eisenhower, who signed into

law the First Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which called for an interstate highway network to

join cities across the country.

Chicago has five miles of expressway.

Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago native is murdered in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white

woman. He is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip.

O'Hare airport opens and within a decade becomes the world's busiest airport.

Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois. On the first day of business,

proceeds total $366.12.

Nelson Algren’s Man with a Golden Arm is made into a Frank Sinatra hit. It is shot on soundstages

instead of city streets.

Between June 27 and July 23 Chicago experiences 27 consecutive days above 80°.

Chicago experiences 46 days above 90º.

July's average temperature is 81.3º, a record.

Bill Putman Sr. (1920-1989) opens Universal Recording at the corner of Rush and Walton. Putman

changed the art of studio recording by developing the first modern recording console, the first use

of tape echo, the first isolated vocal booth, the first multiple over-dubs of a single voice, the first

8-track recording, the first in half-speed disc recording, and the first use of artificial reverb on The

Harmonicat’s hit song Peg-O-My-Heart. Songs cut here include Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher,

the Four Seasons, Big Girls Don’t Cry, and most famously, Chuck Berry’s Maybelline.

Sonny Boy Williams moves to Chicago and begins recording blues hits for Chess Records.

Paul Glass founds Allstate Record Distribution Co. He quickly becomes one of the largest

independent distributers in the county.

On October 3 Captain Kangaroo, with Bob Keeshan, premiers on CBS. Bob Keeshan, born June 27,

1927 in Lynbrook, N.Y., creates the children's show and bases it on "the warm relationship between

grandparents and children."

Eugene Polley, an engineer working for Zenith invents the Flash-Matic, the first TV remote control.

At 601 feet, the Prudential Building is Chicago’s tallest skyscraper.

1956

WNBQ, part of the NBC network, became the first TV station in the United States to transmit all

of its live programs in color.

At the urging of Franklin Park Dr. Gregory J. White, an early proponent of natural childbirth, seven

women form the La Leche League.

The Rev. Johnnie Colemon founds Christ Unity Center with 35 members and is pioneer in the New

Thought movement, which uses a metaphysical interpretation of the Bible and focuses on healing,

meditati0on and positive thought.

On April 11, Chicago experiences a relative humidity of 13%, tying the record set in 1934.

Eli Toscano and Howard Bendo found Cobra Records on Chicago's West Side. Willie Dixon is "the

artistic vision." Cobra helped launch the recording careers of Chicago blues artists Otis Rush,

Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy. The label goes out of business in 1959.

The Morton Salt Girl gets a yellow umbrella.

WTTW is the first U.S. station to televise college courses for credit.

Robert Adler, a Vienna-born physicist for Zenith, develops the Space Commander remote. It relies

on high-frequency chimes that keyed a sensor to change channels.

The first chick is hatched at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Policewomen are allowed to wear police uniforms, until then restricted to skirt and leather pumps.

1957

Chicago Loop Synagogue is built with a magnificent east wall stained glass window by Abraham

Ratner.

Chess Records starts recording at 2120 S. Michigan.

Chief Records is founded by Mel London to record blues artists.

Landfill of lakefront to Hollywood Avenue is completed.

Ardco introduces the glass refrigerator door into supermarkets.

Chicago hosts the first Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival outside Lithuania.

The Impressions, a group with close vocal harmonies and a big band horn sound, form in Chicago.

In May, the Chicago Tribune prints a map showing concentric rings of destruction radiating out from

a a-bomb that destroys the city's center - "Only the stubs of buildings would be left as far north as

Division street, as far south as 16th street, as far east as the lake, and as far west as Racine avenue,"

one article forecast. Reinforcing this mind-set, about 20 anti-aircraft missile bases ring the Chicago

metro area, including installations in Jackson Park, Montrose Harbor, Arlington Heights, Homewood,

Orland Park and Gary. Whether or not they would have provided actual protection remains untested.

Ultra Sheen, a hair relaxer for African-American women is introduced by Johnson Products.

Mister Kelly's, a nightclub, opens at 1028 N. Rush. It closes in 1975.

A victim of the Eisenhower Expressway, the last Chicago, Aurora & Elgin passenger train runs.

Dorothy Fuller, as assistant fashion director at Marshall Field's, helps bring Christian Dior's

"New Look" (and his young assistant Yves Saint Laurent) to Chicago.

The metameter transmits data by telephone line to the National Weather Service office, where it

is recorded on a circular sheet.

With the purchase of Hyatt House, at Los Angeles International Airport on September 27 from

Hyatt van Dehn and Jack D. Crouch, Jay Pritzker and his younger brother Donald Pritzker get

into the hotel business. By 2012, Hyatt had some 490 properties worldwide.

Buddy Guy arrives in Chicago on a one-way train ticket.

On December 1, folksingers Win Stracke and Frank Hamilton and their friend Gertrude Soltker

found the Old Town School of Folk Music at 333 W. North Ave., with a concert featuring a bagpipe

performance and a sing-along.

On December 8, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to Grant Park, about 100 yards

from the lake just south of Buckingham Fountain.

1958

Stan Musial hits his 3,000th hit in Wrigley Field.

Fifteen-year-old Daniel Barenboim makes his Orchestra Hall recital debut.

Margaret Hillis makes her subscription concert debut conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

and Chorus in Honneger’s Christmas Cantata.

Jerry Butler and The Impressions (Sam Gooden, Arthur Brooks, Richard Brooks and Curtis Mayfield)

sign with VeeJay Records on the strength of For Your Precious Love. Music critic Joe McEwen writes

in Rolling Stone, "the song can almost be considered the first soul record."

After having been a concept in Burnham’s 1909 Plan, Congress Expressway (Parkway) opens and

includes a transit line, but had lost most of its parkway amenities.

"Gold Coast," the nation's first gay leather bar, opens at 501 N. Clark.

The Blackstone Rangers, a street gang, is founded by at the St. Charles Institution for Troubled Youth

by Jeff Fort and Eugene Hairston as a community organization for black youth, 12-15 year olds, living

along Blackstone Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago.

Led by Edward "Pepalo" Perry, the Vice Lords gang is founded by several African American youths, all

from North Lawndale, while incarcerated in the Illinois State Training School for Boys in St. Charles.

African American chef-businessman Argia B. Collins develops and trademarks Mumbo Sauce.

George H. Shorney acquires Hope Publishing and soon focuses on choral music, resulting in a revival.

Fred L. Turner writes McDonald's first operations and training manual.

On October 18, Fire Commissioner Robert Quinn introduces his fire fighting invention, the Snorkel, at

a blaze in a lumber yard on Cermak Road. Quinn's Snorkel changes the way fires are fought worldwide.

Known for keeping the Mexican mural tradition alive, Francisco Mendoza (dies of Cancer, March 2012)

is born in Blue Island. He grows up in South Chicago, earns a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and lives in the Pilsen neighborhood since about 1985 where

he is an art teacher at Orozco Career Academy. His most famous mural designs cover the front of

Orozco Career Academy, 1940 W. 18th Street and the CT Blue Line "L" station mural at 1710 W. 18th

Street.

On December 1, 3 nuns and 92 children die as flames rage through Our Lady of the Angels School.

1959

Bill Veeck becomes the principal owner of the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox win the American

League pennant. A serious believer in democracy, Veeck has no door on his office and during games,

he sits in the bleachers.

Lorraine Hansburry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, opens in New Haven, CN, then Philadelphia, then Chicago,

then on Broadway. Born on the city's South Side; Hasberry's play is partially autobiographical. Sidney

Poirtier and Ruby Dee lead the cast that included Louis Gossett, Jr. Diana Sands and Glynn Turman.

The Second City improvisational theater opens at 1842 N. Wells. It developed out of The Compass

Players, founded at the University of Chicago in 1955, by David Shepherd, Paul Sills, Elaine May,

Mike Nichols,Barbara Harris, Severen Darden, Shelley Berman, and Bernie Sahlins. Second City

alumni include, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, John Candy, Jim Belushi,

Betty Thomas, Bill Murray, Joan Rivers, and Alan Alda.

Chuck Berry cuts his rock’n’roll classic Johnny B. Goode and Reelin’ and Rockin at Chess Records.

Art Shay had won twenty art director awards for his photography before he took Life magazine's

“picture of the year.”

On July 4, about 1,500 Marines, backed by naval bombardment and air support, gain a beachhead

at Montrose Avenue. A Navy flotilla that includes a heavy cruiser, a frigate, numerous destroyers

and submarines waited off shore. This assault is part of a celebration marking the opening of the

St. Lawrence Seaway.

On July 6, a much more refined ceremony welcomes Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain to Chicago.

The Queen visits Chicago for 13 hours.

Polk Bros. donates a half-mile of red carpet on Queen Elizabeth's arrival at Navy Pier. Polk Bros. later

proclaims, "We treat every woman like a queen."

A group of Chicago artists, including Don Baum, Cosmo Campoli, George Cohen, Leon Golub,

Nancy Spero, H.C. Westermann, Karl Wirsum, several of whom were mentored by Vera Berdich,

form the Monster Roster. Franz Schulze coins the group's name.

Tyrone Davis moves to Chicago and over the next 30-years becomes a leading soul singer with

many hit records.

Midway Airport traffic peaks when one landing and takeoff is recorded every 51 seconds.

When Ms. Frances Harrington retires, her former student, Robert Marks takes over Harrington

Institute of Design.

In late August Chicago hosts the Pan American Games, the largest international sporting event to

be help up to that point in the US. There are many problems. The US wins an embarrassing 121 out

of 164 events.

Christine DuBoulay Ellis and Richard Ellis establish the Illinois Ballet.

Lakeshore Air and Water Show starts as a family celebration for kids in the park district day camp

program. With an $88 budget, the show features a watermelon scramble, water ballet and a Coast

Guard Air Sea Rescue demonstration.

The Prime Time, by direct marketing advertising executive and filmmaker, Herschell Gordon Lewis

(nicknamed the 'Godfather of Gore"), is the first feature film produced in Chicago since the 1910s.

Concluding their 59th season in the major leagues, the Chicago White Sox beat Cleveland to win the

American League championship, five games ahead of Cleveland. It is their first pennant since 1919.

1960

Let There Be Light And There Was Light, a 40 feet long stained glass window designed by Abraham

Rattner and fabricated by Barillet Studio, Paris, France, is installed in Chicago Loop Synagogue.

Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan’s Schiller Building is demolished.

Pianist Van Cliburn makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony.

The first Playboy Club opens February 29, at 116 East Walton Place. The club is an instant local

success. In August Playboy reveals the existence of the club and its fame becomes international.

The Northwest Expressway opens. It is renamed for John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Del Close arrives in Chicago and begins working at Second City.

Evelyn Echols begins a travel training program for young women from the House of the Good Shepherd.

Summit Distributors, an independent label record is founded and owned by Seymour Green and

Jack White. It distributes some nineteen record labels including Columbia's Epic and OKeh

subsidiaries, A&M, and Warner Brothers. At about the same time, Ernie and George Leaner of

United Records Distributors are owners of such wonderful labels as Mar-V-Lus, One-derful and

M-Pa.

Margaret Vinci Heldt, owner of Margaret Vinci Coiffures on Michigan Avenue from 1950-1970, is

asked by editors of Modern Beauty Salon magazine to come up with a new hairstyle to usher in

the '60s. She is inspired by a little black fez-style cap with two beaded decorations that look like

bees - she calls it the beehive. Ratted-up with hairspray, the beehive could maintain its shape for

a week between beauty parlor appointments.

White Sox owner Bill Veeck introduces the pinball-inspired exploding scoreboard at Comisky Park. It

is quickly copied by countless other sports teams.

Jim "The Courtesy Man" Morgan, a TV personality, offers a cash prize of $3,675 to the first person

to swim from Chicago to Michigan City. In 1961, Ted Erikson wins the prize.

On the morning of August 28, Velma Murphy Hill, age 21, leads a racially diverse group onto all

white Rainbow Beach. A white mob formed a gantlet and threw stones before police arrived. The

following summer, July 8, 1961, 200 police officers protected nearly 100 activists on Rainbow Beach.

Thousands of whites looked on.

With CTA backing, the Illinois Constitution is amended to describe public transportation as "an

essential public service for which public funds may be expended."

WGN-Ch.9 airs Bozo’s Circus on September 11. Bob Bell is Bozo.

After 36 years of broadcasting farm news, WLS goes Rock & Roll.

The Chi-Lites form. Their yearning ballads, featuring falsetto vocals and close harmonies make

them the leading soul group of the early 1970s.

September 7, temperature hits 100º. The latest date for this high on record.

Chicago Skate Company reintroduces the 100 years-old concept of inline-skating with its inline

wheels directly affixed to the shoe.

1961

McCormick Place is completed for the 34th Annual National Housewares Manufacturing Association

show in January. On the night before the show opens, the building catches fire and burns in what

is the largest fire in the city of Chicago since the Great Fire of 1871.

April 15-17 records Chicago's biggest late season snow, 6.8"

Bill Veeck sells the White Sox.

Fred L. Turner founds McDonald's Hamburger University in Elk Grove Village. It confers a Bachelor

of Hamburgerology degree.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopts the Zenith invented FM stereo multiplex system.

Frozen pork belly futures start being traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. They stop being

traded in July, 2011.

Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley invents the College of Coaches in which the team has no manager but is

run by a group of coaches who take turns serving as head coach. The idea continues through the

1962 season and is then dropped.

Ted Erikson, a 33-year-old research chemist at the Illinois Institute of Technology, sets a world open

water distance record when he swims 43 miles - the actual distance was longer because he was

pushed off course by wind and currents - from Chicago to Michigan City in 36.5 hours.

Dr. Margaret Goss Burroughs founds the DuSable Museum of African American History, the first

African-American history museum in the US.

The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.

Daniel B. Ryan Expressway opens. It is named after the president of the Cook County Board of

Commissioners who died in office that year.

Lloyd Pettit, with Joe Wilson, starts to announce Blackhawk WGN-TV play-by-play. Pettit is sole

WGN-TV announcer from 1963-1970.Pettit is WGN radio Blackhawk voice 1964-1976.

Architects Jerome Sultan and Reinhard Plaut introduce the Four-Plus-One apartment building into

Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods where land use is zoned R5. In these neighborhoods and

along the northern lakefront, the Four-Plus-One remains a popular building type in the 1960s.

By extending Lincoln Park to Hollywood Ave., the Park expands to 1,185 acres.

At the height of the bomb shelter building craze, the Chicago City Council entertains an ordinance

requiring that anyone building a shelter pay $15.00 for a permit.

With 17 people investing $10 each, the Seminary Co-op, a bookstore, opens and quickly becomes

a Hyde Park institution.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra wins its first Grammy award.

1962

The first segment of the Dan Ryan Expressway opens from Congress Expressway (Eisenhower

Expressway) to 71st St.

Earl J.J. Pionke opens The Earl of Old Town at 1615 N. Wells.

Illinois is the first state to repaeals its anti-sodomy laws, opening the way for Chicago's Gay Pride

Parade.

The Ferrara Pan Candy Co. introduces Lemonheads. By 2003, 500 million are produced annually.

Gordon and Carole Segal open their first Crate & Barrel on North Wells Street.

The rUmPuSrOom, the "Newest swank Twistery and Dinner Breakfast Spot" opens on Rush St.

In March, One-derful records is launched by George Leaner. Its first release is a song by McKinley

Mitchello called The Town I Live In, and it is a national hit on the R&B charts.

Wendella starts a rush-hour commuter service on the Chicago River between Michigan Avenue and

Northwestern Railroad Station known as a water taxi.

On August 15, James Duke is electrocuted in the basement of Cook County Jail for the murder of

a Chicago Police detective.

The Gutierrez family opens Nevo Leon Restaurant at 1515 W. 18th Street in Pilsen.

Victor Skrebneski becomes the exclusive photographer for Estee Lauder's new ad campaign, "the

Estee Lauder woman."

Phyllis Connor Reardon, age 34, a Chicago model known as Phyllis Connor, becomes the first "Estee

Lauder woman." She is discovered by Viktor Skrebneski.

O'Hare becomes Chicago's major airport and Midway Airport is considered an "aviation backwater."

Gus Giordano (1923-2008) founds Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.

The Robert Taylor Homes, a public housing development, opens.

Gene Chandler, a fixture in Chicago soul for over 30 years, produces his solo debut, a backward

glance at doo-wop style called Duke of Earl.

Polk Bros. gives a plastic lighted Santa Clause to customers who make a purchase. Santa pop up on

the porches, lawns and rooftops of nearly a quarter-million Chicago area homes.

Evelyn Echols founds the Echols International Travel & Hotel School.

Major Lance writes songs with Curtis Mayfield and signs with OKeh Records. His second OKeh single,

The Monkey Time, becomes a #2 Billboard R&B chart and a #8 pop hit in 1963.

Quirky storefront restaurant, the Bakery, is opened by Louis Szathmáry.

1963

Botti Studio of Architectural Arts opens. The Studio traces its stained glass roots to 17th century Italy.

Marking the end of an era, the last Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railway runs January 21.

Just before 2 p.m. May 9, a fast-moving cold front sweeping south down the length of the dropped

the lakefront temperature 22 degrees, from 84° to 62°, in just 1 ½ minutes.

Mike Royko starts his daily column with the Chicago Daily News.

June 8, Marilyn Miglin opens her store at 112 East Oak Street.

Earl Calloway joins the staff of the Chicago Defender newspaper to cover the fine arts. Mr. Calloway is

a man about town who made readers of black newspapers look at the arts differently.

An 6x12 foot trailer, without a toilet or running water, called The Dog House, is opened by Dick Portillo

on North Avenue in Villa Park.

Maria Goeppert Mayer is awarded the Nobel Prize, the first woman after Marie Curie, in physics for

her work at the University of Chicago.

Leontyne Price makes her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut in Berlioz’s Les nuits d’ete and the

suite from Falla’s El amor brujo.

Ronald McDonald makes his debut and McDonald’s serves its one billionth hamburger.

Founded by Leonard and Phil Chess of Chess Records, the 1000-watt AM station WVON, the call

letters stand for Voice of the Negro, debuts with a rhythm and blues format and is the first 24-hour

radio station aimed at the black community in Chicago. It helps launch and solidify hundreds

of black artist’s careers.

On October 6, 94° is recorded - an all-time Chicago October high temperature and the latest 90° ever

recorded in Chicago. October also records 24 days of 70° plus.

Jim Dattalo opens The Fudge Pot, a fudge/chocolate shop, on Wells Street.

Formed in 1963, the Paul Butterfield Band helps spur the blues revival of the 1960s. In 1965, at the

Newport Folk Festival, after playing their own set, this band backs Bob Dylan for his controversial

premiere electric performance.

Robert Sickinger arrives in Chicago from Philadelphia to guide the theater program at Hull House

Association social services agency. Sickinger's European focused experimental theater quickly

makes his mark, nourished homegrown people like Mamet and Jacobs, and becomes acclaimed as

"Chicago theater."

Jim "The Courtesy Man" Moran posts a $15,000 challenge to swim 60 miles from Chicago's Burnham

Park Harbor to Silver Beach in St. Joseph, MI. The winner in 35 hours, is 34-year-old Egyptian army

officer, Abdel-Latif Abou-Heif. Chicagoan Ted Erikson finishes three hours later and receives $1,000.

Al Fritz, develops the Schwinn Sting-Ray. Going through some 60 different permutations, Schwinn

sells nearly 2 million of them in 5 years..

Loyola University wins the men's NCAA tournament.

The Veg-O-Matic is introduced at the International Housewares Show in Chicago by the Popeil Brothers.

Elmore James dies. James was the one Chicago bluesman perhaps most responsible for shaping the

style of slide-guitar playing that translates blues to rock.

Curtis Mayfield's Gypsy Woman becomes a Top 20s hit for the Impressions. Then his song Amen

makes it into the Top 10 and is included in the sound track of the 1963 MGM film Lilies of the Field,

starring Sidney Poitier.

Written by Curtis Mayfield and sung by Major Lance, Um,Um,Um,Um,Um,Um reaches #5 in the US

pop charts.

1964

The James W. Jardine Water Purification Plant opens just north of Navy Pier. It is the largest

purification plant of its kind in the world.

Beatlemania dawns in Chicago on September 5, as the Fab Four play the International Amphitheater.

They run off 11 songs in 34 minutes for 13,000 screaming fans.

Ruth Duckworth, German-born, internationally acclaimed ceramics artist, moves to Chicago to teach

at Midway Studios, The University of Chicago. Her first exhibition in American is in 1965 at the

Renaissance Society.

The Pump Room is said to have invented adding a celery stalk to a "Bloody Mary" cocktail. A celery

stalk in a "Bloody Mary" is a nationwide feature by 1966.

The Ides Of March, a seven-piece group with horns is formed in Berwyn.

William "Billy Goat" Sianis opens his second Billy Goat Tavern at 430 N. Lower Michigan Ave.

Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson and Jim Falconer with Don Baum, Hyde Park Art Center's director float

the idea of a group show to include Art Green and Suellen Rocca and Karl Wirsum.

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Socialist, Communist, labor activist, co-founder of the ACLU, dies in Moscow,

is given a state funeral in Red Square and is buried in Chicago's Waldheim Cemetery within Forest

Home Cemetery, near the Haymarket Riot Martyrs.

The Southwest Expressway opens. The next year it is renamed after Adlai E. Stevenson II,

former governor of Illinois, United Nations ambassador and two-time Democratic presidential candidate.

The opening of the Stevenson Expressway breathes new life into Midway Airport and United Airlines

starts offering two daily flights to New York.

Seiji Ozawa is named Ravinia’s first Music director.

1965

Ten stained glass windows by Lubomyr Wandzura of Giannini & Hilgart are installed in the Chicago

Temple, The First United Methodist Church, 77 West Washington Street.

A collection of short stories by Harry Mark Petrakis, Pericles on 31st Street, is a finalist for the

National Book Award.

Michael Kutza founds the Chicago International Film Festival.

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is founded by Fred Anderson.

Alfonso Iannelli dies March 23.

On Sunday, April 11, four tornadoes dip down across north and west portions of Chicago, resulting

in six fatalities.

Known professionally as The Wachowskis, Lana and Lilly are film directors best known for the

Matric trilogy. .

William Russo founds The Chicago Jazz Ensemble iat Columbia College.

While some 50,000 fans scream incessantly, the Beatles play two concerts on August 20. After the

concert the Beatles stopped at Margie’s Candies in Bucktown for ice cream.

August 26-27 a Derecho - a widespread and long-duration windstorm associated with a line of rapidly

moving thunderstorms - forms ahead of a cold front dropping Chicago's temperature by 10º in one hour.

On October 28, pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy makes his Chicago Symphony debut.

George Solti and Mstislav Rostopovich make their first appearance in Orchestra Hall.

Michael Bloomfield, born 1944, on Chicago’s North Shore, joins the Chicago based Paul Butterfield

Band. He scores film soundtracks and plays guitar with Bob Dylan and others.

Dr.Donald F. Steiner, University of Chicago, discovers proinsulin.

1966

A new basketball team begins playing in Chicago – the Bulls.

On February 25, the first Hairy Who Exhibition opens at the Hyde Park Art Center. "Harry Who"

is coined by Karl Wirsum after Harry Bouras, a WFMT art critic.

Spanky and Our Gang, formed by Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane in Chicago, is a key part of the late

1960s folk/pop vocal-group movement, with hits like Sunday Will Never Be The Same (1967).

Richard Speck murders eight student nurses on the Far South Side.

Kartemquin Film is founded as a cooperative turned company focusing on social issues.

Dr. Vincent J. Collins of Cook County Hospital authors Principles of Anesthesiology, the core

textbook in the field.

Electrical Apparatus magazine is moved from St. Louis to Chicago by its publishers, Elsie and Horace Barks.

Dr. Charles Huggins, Director of the Ben May Institute, University of Chicago, is awarded a Nobel Prize

for his work on prostrate cancer.

Tootsie Roll Industries moves to Chicago.

Daniel Keyes writes Flowers for Algeron, a novel that goes inside the head of Charlie Gordon, a man

with an IQ of 68 who is painfully aware of his mental limits and yearns to be smart. Keyes wins a

Hugo Award for the 1959 short story and the Nebula Award for the novel. In 1968 the novel is adapted

as the movie Charlie which stars Cliff Robertson in an Academy Award-winning performance. In 1980

the novel inspires a Broadway musical and a 2000 TV movie.

In the 1960s, George J. Dekan invents and patents the 1/100 second Athletic Performance Analyzer.

Roger Ebert calls Tom Palazzolo's film Pigeon People, a film in which he finds poetry in a

hunchbacked old woman in the Loop scattering breadcrumbs for the birds, a "masterpiece."

Magic Slim (born Morris Holt, Torrance, MI), a Chicago Blues man, records his first single, Scufflin'.

During the 1960s, there are more African-American CPA’s in Chicago than any other city in the nation.

Edna Stewart opens her soul food restaurant, Edna's, at 3175 West Madison Street, on Chicago's

West Side. Her earliest patrons include The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

1967

January 24, the temperature hits 65º

During a short duration blizzard on February 23, 3.5" of snow fall at Midway Airport in one hour,

setting a record for heaviest rate of snowfall.

The South American, the last American passenger vessel operating on the Great Lakes, is retired.

Roger Ebert writes his first film review for the Sun-Times on April 3.

On the afternoon of April 21, 11 tornadoes touch down killing 53 people in northeast Illinois,

including 33 in Oak Lawn and 24 in the Belvidere area.

The last riding stable closes in Lincoln Park.

Elizabeth Clark "Liz" Phair, born Aprii 17, raised in Winnetka, later records under the name Girly Sound.

Don Lee, later known as Haki Madhubuti, a black poet from Detroit, starts publishing poems

and eventually forms Third World Press, the largest African-American publisher in the country.

An untitled 50-foot tall sculpture by Pablo Picasso is dedicated August 15, on the Civic Plaza;

initially controversial, it quickly becomes as much a symbol of Chicago as the Water Tower.

Studs Terkel’s Division Street: America is published.

Jack Lanigan Sr.(1927-2018) develops the Mi-Jack, a boom-crane for easing access in tight spaces. .

Dick Portillo's The Dog House is renamed Portillo's and moves to a new building in Villa Park.

On July 13, the Jackson Five cut Big Boy in the One-derful Records Building at 1827 S. Michigan

Ave. It's their first ever studio session. Four months later, another session at Steeltown Records,

in Gary, Indiana results in the January 1968 release of Big Boy. It sells some 60,000 copies.

Chicago is second to New York in air pollution.

The Coq d'Or's "Bookbinder soup" is made with tomato stock and red snapper, and served with

a petit carafe of cherry and an Asiago cheese roll.

Chicago receives federal "Model City" funds.

On August 27, a mural on the side of an abandoned building at 43rd and Langley, entitled

"The Wall of Respect", is dedicated. Gwendolyn Brooks reads a poem she wrote for the event.

The Museum of Contemporary Art opens in a former bakery at 237 E.Ontario St. The opening shows

are, Pictures to Be Read; Poetry to Be Seen. Alison Knowels' The Big Book. Allan Kaprow's Words,

and Claes Oldenburg's drawings, Projects for Monuments.

With five hit singles in 1967 and 1968, the American Breed is one of Chicago's top pop bands.

Formed in 1965, The Buckinghams, rock-with-horns sound, have five Top 20 hits.

A chapter of the National Organization for Women is organized in Chicago.

Larry Lujack (born Larry Lee Blankenurg in Quasqueton, Iowa, becomes a top 40 disc jockey on WLS.

Known as Superjock, Lawrence of Chicago, Uncle Lar, King of the Corn Belt, Lujack becomes widely

known for his darkly humorous Animal Stories and Klunk Letter of the Day.

Over Labor Day weekend, the National Conference for New Politics is convened in Chicago. Some

two thousand young activists attend.

Riverview Park closes suddenly.

The Blackstone Rangers formed "clubs" in other cities, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Gary.

Jo Freeman and Schulamith Firestone found Westside, the first radical feminist group in Chicago.

Lorraine M. Sullivan, superintendent of CPS District 8, located in the Garfield Park and North Lawndale

communities, creates her innovative Chicago Child-Parent Center with six-mobile units, housing half-

day preschool and kindergarten programs for 40 weeks. By her death, in 2013, it is the second-oldest

federally funded early-childhood program in the country. Only Head Start is older, launched in 1965.

William Walker paints a mural he called the Wall of Respect, on a grocery-and-liquor store wall at

43rd St. and Langley Ave. Depicting great African-American achievers, it is the city's first mural. The

mural is destroyed in 1971, by a fire burns the building.

Designed as a “city within a city” by Bertrand Goldberg, Marina Towers are the world's tallest

reinforced concrete buildings and immediately become a Chicago icon.

Sidley & Austin is the new name of the law firm known since 1944 as Sidley, Austin, Brugess & Harper.

Adler & Sullivan’s Auditorium Building reopens October 31.

1968

This year the protests, demonstrations, and agitation for social reform reach their peak. After

decades of efforts by Blacks to gain equality in civil life, that turn into riots touched off by the

murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. The result is destruction of 162 buildings by fire April 5-7 on

Chicago's West Side and the National Guard being called out.

Dr. Hassan Najafi leads the 30-person team that performs Chicago's first successful heart

transplant.

Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm (born 1930) dresses Miss America, Debra Dene Barnes.

Gwendolyn Brooks is named poet laureate of Illinois.

Initially formatted as a coffeehouse by Lenin "Doc" Pellegrino, Kingston Mines opens in a former

machine shop on Lincoln Avenue.

The Democratic National Convention of August 26-29 causes battles between protestors and police.

Police again confronted protestors October 8-11. As the protests escalate, Mayor Richard J. Daley

calls in troops. About 11,900 Chicago police officers, 7,500 Army soldiers and 7,500 Illinois National

Guardsmen are deployed. Hundreds are arrested, and 119 police officers and 100 demonstrators

are injured. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut, in a speech nominating George McGovern, states

"with George McGovern as president of the United States, we wouldn't have Gestapo tactics in

the streets of Chicago." Hubert Humphrey's supporters retain control of the convention. The vice

president is nominated on the first ballot.

Flaming cheese at tableside, or Saganaki, is invented in the Greek Town restaurant, The Parthenon.

WHPK, the University of Chicago radio station, ten watts upgraded to 100 in 1985, starts

broadcasting to Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Kenwood, and much of the south side.

The Dells have a top-40 hit with Stay in My Corner.

Funded by the Kennedy Foundation and the Chicago Park District, the first Special Olympics Games

are held July 20 at Soldier Field with about 1,000 athletes from the United States and Canada.

McDonald adds Big Mac to its menu.

The Gangster Disciples, a street gang, is formed on the South-side of Chicago in the late 1960s when

Larry Hoover, leader of the High Supreme Gangsters, and David Barksdale, leader of the Black

Disciples join forces.

Three sisters, Wanda, Sheila and Jeanette Hutchinson form The Emotions, a gospel turned soul group.

Founded March 1962, One-derful records dissolves. Its influence continues.

Chris Ryan, is one of several owners who open Mother's, a bar, on Rush and Division..

The high-profile closing of Chicago gay bar the Trip led to a legal challenge that went all the to the

Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the bar.

Bobby Rush co-founds the Illinois Black Panther party.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks is founded.

1969

The John Hancock building opens. Designed by SOM, it stands 1,127 feet. Ray Heckla, the original

engineer responsible for the residential floors, 44 to 92, and his family move into a 2-bedroom

apartment, becoming the John Hancock Centers first residents.

On January 14, the Apollo 8 spacemen, Frank Borman, James Lowell Jr., and William Anders, get a

tickertape parade through the Loop. Borman was born in Gary, IN., and the Borman Expressway is

named after him.

Daniel Barenboim makes his first Chicago Symphony appearance as a pianist performing Bartok's

First Piano Concerto (20 February).

The Goodman Theatre, after 38 years of student productions, returns to its status as a professional

resident company with its inaugural production of Soldiers, by Rolf Hochhut.

Pierre Boulez makes his debut conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Christo wraps the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm (born 1930) dresses Miss Illinois, Judith Ford, who goes on to become

Miss America.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a radical group, holds its last convention with all

participating groups present in Chicago.

On April 15, the first production model Mustang is sold by the Johnson Ford dealership on Cicero Ave.

in Chicago to Gail Wise, a 22-year old elementary school teacher. This is two days before Lee Iacocca

unveils it at the New York World's Fair.

Bellwood native Eugene Cernan and fellow Apollo 10 crew members Thomas Stafford and their families

are welcomed on June 29, by tens of thousands of people during a parade that ended at Proviso East

High School in Maywood. Their mission in May was a crucial dry run for the Apollo 11 moonwalk.

Cernan would be the last person to set foot on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Polly Kelly organizes the first Sheffield Garden Walk.

The MCA exhibits Chicago Imagists in an exhibition entitled "Don Baum Sez 'Chicago Needs Famous

Artists.'"

The Chicago Board of Trade introduces silver futures contracts, its first non-grain product.

Chicago Women's Liberation Union (CWLU) is founded. The organization serves as an umbrella

for numerous groups who work to bring awareness and opportunities to women.

Chicago based Hyatt opens its first oversees hotel, the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong.

The Dells have a top-40 hit with Oh, What a Night.

Evolving from collective jazz experiments in Chicago in the early and mid-1960s,

The Art Ensemble of Chicago is arguably the most innovative jazz group to emerge in Chicago.

The Chicago group, Earth, Wind & Fire, is formed and changes the sound of black pop in the 1970s.

Sir George Solti directs his first concert as the Chicago Symphony’s eighth music director

(27 November), beginning a 22-year tenure.

R. Kelly is born on Chicago’s South Side.

McDonald’s “Billion Served” sign changes to “Five Billion Served.”

Steve Toushin opens the Bijou Theatre.

1970

The band formerly called Chicago Transit Authority, now known as Chicago after pressure was

applied by the city, scores a first hit with Smile. Chicago goes on to 20 Top 10 hits and 15

platinum or multiplatinum albums and sell more than 100 million records.

Ernie (Mr. Cub) Banks hits his 500th home run in Wrigley Field.

Ruth Page establishes the Ruth Page Foundation and School of Dance, thus continuing to stress

and create American themes for dance.

Patricia Condon becomes the director of Special Olympics Illinois. A year later she takes over as

supervisor of special recreation programs for the Chicago Park District.

Chicago hosts its first gay pride parade to mark the anniversary of the first night of the NYC Stonewall

events. It starts at Bughouse Square and goes down MIchigan Ave. to the Civic Center.

Chicago is founded as a programming guide for classical radio station WFMT.

Aaron Copland conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in his Appalachian Spring.

Chicago experiences a relative humidity of 13%, tying a record set in 1934 and 1956.

WBEZ joined National Public Radio as a charter member.

Barbara Proctor founds her own ad agency.

The Red Star Inn restaurant closes.

Without a city parade permit, about 100-150 people attended the first gay pride march..

Mary Steedman Bacon Anderson, born in Chicago, January 1, 1948, is the first woman jockey to

win 100 races.

Dawn Clark Netsch serves on the convention that drafts Illinois' Constitution.

Kroger leaves Chicago, selling its stores to Dominick's.

The original "Svengoolie," Jerry G. Bishop (born Jerry Ghan, 1936-2013) hosts Screaming Yellow

Theatre, a horror-film show on WFLD. It airs until 1973.

After allowing an ordinance to expire, Chicago allows women as bartenders for the first time.

Starting August 17, Soul Train, sponsored by Sear, Roebuck & Co., airs 5-days per week on WCIU-TV,

Channel 26. The creation of Don Cornelius (1936-2012), born on the South Side, graduated from

DuSable High School, a music tastemaker, fashion leader, smooth talker and business innovator and

national icon, the show is nationally syndicated in 1971 and moves to Hollywood.

Oakton Community College opens with 832 students in four factory buildings at Nagle Avenue and

Oakton Street in Morton Grove. Raymond Hartstein is its founding chairman.

Powell’s Bookstore opens in Hyde Park, 1501 E. 57th St.

1971

The Chicago Stock Yards close, after years of decline.

McCormick Place Convention Center opens as the largest in the world.

Grease, a new musical by locals Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, based on their experiences at

William H. Taft High School, opens February 11, in the Kingston Mines Theater, 2356 N. Lincoln

(now a hospital parking garage). A sanitized version is presented as a film in 1978.

On Aril 8, a relative humidity of 13% is recorded, tying the record set in 1934 and 1956.

A young conductor from Cincinnati named James Levin makes his Ravinia Festival debut on

June 24, taking over the Mahler Resurrection Symphony on a week' notice at the season-opening

gala. Levin so impresses everyone that he is named Ravinia music director the following year.

The Chicago Symphony goes on its first European tour.

McDonbald's Hamburger University opens a training center in Tokyo one month after opening of

the first McDonald's restaurant in Tokyo.

Plochman's Mustard squeeze barrel is awarded a trademark.

Alligator Records is formed by Bruce Iglauer to record the single Hound Dog Taylor and the House

Rockers.

La Fontanella Restaurant opens on South Oakley Ave.

Faces, a disco club, opens: membership is $500.00. It closes in 1989.

The Chicago Reader begins publishing.

Johnson Products becomes the first African American owned company to be listed on the American

Stock Exchange and its President George Johnson becomes the first African American to serve on

the board of directors of Commonwealth Edison.

David Hernandez self-publishes his first book Despertando: wake up (50 cents). It is also the first

poetry collection published by a Chicago Latino.

Chicago records its wettest year on record, 46.09" of precipitation.

Rich Melman and partner from Lettuce Entertain You open their first restaurant, R.J. Grunts, in

Lincoln Park where they create the first salad bar ever documented.

The Chicago Bears move to Soldier Field after having played at Wrigley Field the 50 previous

seasons (1921-1970).

Women are elected to the city council for the first time.

Jesse Jackson founds Operation PUSH (People United to Save (Serve, a later alternate) Humanity).

William Ferris and his partner, John Vorrasi, found the William Ferris Chorale.

541 S. Wabash Ave. becomes home to Weir Harold’s, an adult bookstore, a massage parlor, and

more. The city shut down the store in 1975.

Shale Baskin (1927-2012) opens his first men's clothing store in the new Woodfield Mall calling it

Mark Shale, using his first name and his brother's, and spent months on its design and layout

perfecting his version of visual merchandising.

1972

Duck Variations by David Mamet is the first in a series of plays by the Chicago playwright to be

produced in Chicago and then New York.

On January 19, to celebrate Stop and Shop's 100th anniversary Irv Kupcinet and Mayor

Richard J. Daley, cut the ribbon to celebrate "Stop and Shop Day in Chicago.

Richard Nickel, one of the great American architectural photographers, dies while photographing

the demolition of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan Chicago Stock Exchange Building.

Mike Royko, Chicago Daily News daily columnist, wins a Pulitzer Prize.

Jean Allard is the first woman partner, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal.

Singer/song writer Steve Goodman, is mostly remembers as author of Arlo Guthrie’s 1972 hit,

The City of New Orleans, a contemporary train song.

Robert Williams moves from New York to Chicago and founds US Studio with a group of friends.

Buddy Guy opens the Checkerboard Lounge at 423 E. 43rd Street in Bronzeville. It quickly

becomes the place to see and hear such greats as B.B. King, Magic Slim, Howlin' Wolf, Junior

Wells, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones.

Sue Gin opens Cafe Bernard, a French restaurant, on North Halsted Street.

William Walker paints the All of Mankind mural on the front of the Strangers Home Missionary

Baptist Church, 617 W. Evergreen.

When construction is completed at 1,136 feet (346 meters), the Standard Oil Building (since 2001,

known as the Aon Center) is Chicago's tallest building and the world's tallest building clad in marble.

In July, Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH purchases former Temple K.A.M., 930 E. 50th Street.

Dawn Clark Netsch is elected to the state Senate, defeating a Democratic machine candidate.

Betty and Bob Sanders host a mid-day mix of news and information talk on WBBM-AM.

Chuck Renslow and Dom Orejudos open Man’s Country Baths, a gay bathhouse.

Henry Darger moves into a nursing home and his landlords, Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner discover

his art.

Howlin' Wolf receives an honorary doctorate from Columbia College, Chicago.

The Dominick's at 6009 N. Broadway is open 24-hours.

On December 8, a Boeing 737, United Flight 553 en route from Washington D.C. to Chicago's

Midway Airport crashes into 3722 W. 70th Place killing two residents and 45 passengers and crew.

1973

On May 3, a crane hoists the final beam, a 2,500-pound white beam carrying 12,000 signatures,

including that of then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, from the street to the top of the Sears Tower. At

1,468 feet, 110 stories, the Sears Tower is declared the tallest building in the world, a title it

holds until 1996 when the Petronis Towers open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Terry Savage is the first woman member of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.

Robert Williams and friends open Chicago's first after-hours juice bar in a commercial space at

116 S. Clinton Avenue.The building burns down and US Studio moves to 1400 S. Michigan Avenue.

Betsy Plank, the "mother" of public relations, is elected the first female president of the Public

Relations Society of America. She is also the first woman to be elected president of the Publicity

Club of Chicago.

The Magic Lantern Society receives an $8,000 NEA grant to become the Film Center under the wing

of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Johnson Publishing launches Fashion Fair, a prestige brand of cosmetics designed for African-Americans.

Jim Croce's Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, become a number one pop hit in July. Both Jim Croce and Leroy

Brown are regulars at Burwood Tap, 724 W. Wrightwood

Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm (born 1930) dresses Miss USA, Amanda Jones.

Chicago Filmmakers is founded.

Pete Special and Larry "Big Twist" Nolan form Big Twist & the Mellow Fellows. It is said that John

Belushi modeled his Blues Brothers band in part on Big Twist & the Mellow Fellows.

The John Hancock Center apartments are converted to Condominiums.

McDonald adds the Quarter Pounder to its menu.

Lynn Hauldren, The Empire Carpet Guy, creates his TV ad character and a lasting impression of

a phone number: "5-8-8, 2-300, Empire!" with his jingle. Hauldren also sang with the a capella

group The Fabulous 40s.

George Allen Jordan, an elder at Christian Tabernacle Church writes Jesus Can Work It Out and

records the first version in 1974 with the Christian Tabernacle Concert Choir.

Motorola's Martin Cooper shares U.S. Patent No. 3,906,166, filed October 17, with several others

for a Radio Telephone System that is developed by Motorola into the mobile phone.

Maria Tallchief becomes director of the Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet.

Lea Wagner becomes one of the first women to officiate in the USA Volleyball Nationals.

Chef Jean Banchet opens Le Francais in Wheeling. It quickly becomes an international dining location.

Dick Locher, Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist becomes staff cartoonist of the Chicago Tribune.

The Old Wicker Park Committee, a neighborhood preservation group, forms to lobby for national

and local historic designation.

Irna Phillips dies 22 December. She is credited with creating Guiding Light, the longest running

soap opera in TV history, 1952-2009. She also created, among others, with Another World

(1964-1999), As the World Turns (1956-ongoing), Days of our Lives (1965-ongoing).

Chicago records 864 people killed this year.

1974

Marc Chagall’s outdoor mosaic is unveiled at First National Plaza.

Saul Bellow wins a Pulitzer Prize.

Larry Edward’s Biograph Theater programs art-house movies for the first time.

Phyllis Apelbaum is the first woman to obtain an Illinois Commerce Commission license to operate

a messanger service.

Barbara Proctor is named Chicago Arvertising Woman of the Year by the Woman's Advertising Club.

The Rev. Johnnie Colemaon establishes her own denomination, the Universal Foundation

for Better Living, which has 20,000 members across the country. By 2000 the church has

a 100 acres campus at 119th street and Ashland Avenue.

Chicago Today is the first of the city’s “big four” newspaper to stop publication.

David Mamet's play Sexual Perversion in Chicago premiers.

The Regional Transportation Act is signed into law. By a slim margin, voters approve creation of

the Regional Transportation Authority, with taxing powers. Chicago plurality overcomes widespread

opposition to RTA in suburbs.

Kenneth H. Richardt organizes the Railroad Day celebration in West Chicago.

John Mulvany founds The Museum of Contemporary Photogrpahy(MoCP) at Columbia College

with the restriction that works be by Americans only and no photograph be from before 1959.

Minnie Riperton's single, Lovin' You becomes a national success. It had been on her 1973 gold

album, Perfect Angel. As a teen Minnie Riperton sings lead vocal with the Germs, a Chicago based

girl group. She sings back-up for various established artists while at Chess Records and sings lead

for the Chicago based funky rock soul group Rotary Connection.

Lyric Opera Center for American Artists opens.

Columbia College is fully accredited.

WBMX’s La Donna Tittle is the number one midday DJ in Chicago.

Chicago records 970 people killed this year.

1975

David Mamet’s American Buffalo opens.

Facets Multi-Media founded.

About 10,000 Native Americans live in Chicago.

The Chicago Board of Trade begins trading U.S. Treasury futures contracts.

Little Jim's is the first gay bar to open on Halsted, corner of Cornelia.

Under the leadership of Nicholas Rudall, Court Theater turns pro.

In December, Bill Veeck saves the White Sox from moving to Seattle by organizing investors to

keep the team in Chicago.

Byron Kouris and Michael Payne open Byron's Hot Dogs at 1017 W. Irving Park Road.

Joan Beck is the first woman Op-Ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Thomaz Klutznick (1939-2019), a visionary developer who as chairman and chief executive officer of

Urban Investment and Development Company, develops the verticasal mixed-use Water Tower Place.

Elijah Muhammad, Nation of Islam leader, dies and is buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens,

Glenwood.

Chicago, a programing guide for WFMT changes its name to Chicago Magazine. Allen Kelson is editor.

Roger Ebert is awarded a Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the first ever awarded for film criticism.

Eliot Wald, a producer at WTTW-Ch.11, Thea Flaum executive producer, pairs Roger Ebert and

Gene Siskel on a television show about movies called Opening at a Theatre Near You.

Japanese Emperor Hirohito and his wife visit Chicago on October 7.

The Chicago area experiences one of its greatest changes in weather during a Thanksgiving weekend.

Heavy snow combined with lightning and thunder Wednesday evening, grinding travel to a halt and

leaving 8" of snow on the ground Thanksgiving Day. Two days later the snow is gone as temperatures

rise into the 60s. The mild air brings strong thunderstorms and heavy rain.

1976

Mayor Richard J. Daley suffers a heart attack and dies.

Saul Bellow receives the Nobel Prize for literature.

A flash fire and smoke kill 23 residents of the Wincrest Nursing Home on January 30.

To commemorate the U.S. Bicentennial, Chicago's Fourth of July fireworks are held on the fourth,

a day traditionally reserved for the American Legion veteran's fireworks.

California artist, Larry Cuba spends several months in the University of Illinois at Chicago Electronic

Visualization Laboratory using its computer to create a computer model of the Death Star that is used

in the Rebel Alliance briefing room scene in the 1977 "Star Wars" film.

Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association is led by Louis K. Quarels Lawson, the first

black woman to head a savings and loan institution. Dr. Rita Simo, a Julliard-Trained classical pianist,

founds People's Music School to offer free group classes and private lessons to children and adults,

regardless of their financial resources.

National Tea phases out its 160 Chicago stores, selling 55 to A&P.

Jeff Fort, leader of the Black P. Stone Nation, is released from prison and announces that he has

converted to Islam. He moves to Milwaukee.

Ravinia’s sculpture collection is inaugurated by a gift of "Music for A While" from Trustee Richard

Hunt, an internationally acclaimed Chicago sculptor.

Roberta Lieberman of the Zolla-Lieberman Gallery initiates the move into the loft district, well west

of Michigan Avenue. Other galleries quickly follow.

Ed Hoy's Creative Craftsman gift shop in Naperville morfs into the third-largest stained glass supplier

in the Midwest.

Harvard Business School calls Barbara Proctor "the first woman in the United States to open an agency

specializing in advertising to the black community."

Proctor and Gardner is dubbed the first black-owned ad agency in the nation.

Botti Studio of Architectural Arts moves from Chicago to Evanston.

Gordon A. Sinclair opens his namesake restaurant Gordon (closes 1999).

Adapting the idea of William John Bauer, The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District begins

construction on the $3 billion Deep Tunnel and Reservoir project. The completion of the 109.4 mile

underground system is scheduled for 2007.

For 43 days, starting 28 December, Chicago experiences its longest streak of days below 32º.

1977

Motorola Company begins field tests of its experimental radiotelephone, today known as a

cell-phone or handy.

Because of snow, Ward Christiansen couldn't get to work on January 27, so he called his friend

Randy Suess and began working on the first Bulletin Board System, BBS, which allowed users

to post messages or share computer codes - via modem.

On May 8, the Sex Pistols played at Le Mere Vipere, Chicago's first punck disco, 2132 N. Halsted..

Esther R. Rothstein becomes the first woman president of the Chicago Bar Association.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago (HSDC) is founded by Lou Conte, artistic director until his

retirement in 2000.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs the world premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's Fourth

Symphony, a CSO commission, under Sir George Solti.

The Chicago Beer Society is founded as a nonprofit educational association dedicated to the

appreciation of beer.

WLUP-FM 97.9, "The Loop," is launched and quickly becomes the nexus of rock music and irreverent

radio.

Frankie Knuckles takes a job at the Warehouse (formerly the Bowery). Here Knuckels soon develops

a sound that becomes known as house music, a rawer brand of 70s disco that would go on to

influence dance music around the world. “We created our own thing in Chicago, because we did

it for ourselves.” Knuckles said. The Warehouse closes in 1982.

Founded in 1847 in Poughkeepsie, NY, Smith Brothers cough drops is acquired by Chicago-based

F&F Foods.

Bleacher Bums, a play written by members of Organic Theatre Company, from an idea by Joe

Mantegna, becomes a 2002 made-for-TV-movie.

Carole Kamin Bellows becomes the first female president of the Illinois Bar Association.

After a school board member took issue with nudity in Maurice Sendak's picture book In the Night

Kitchen, it was removed from the library of Pennoyer Elementary School in Norridge.

Organized by Don Baum, a selection from Henry Darger's In the Realm of the Unreal is first shown

at the Hyde Park Art Center. Darger's work is quickly acclaimed internationally.

Some 4,200 runners participate in Chicago first marathon, named the Mayor Daley Marathon.

Three people were sent to the hospital with powder burn when the starter's cannon misfired.

1978

Bally Manufacturing Co. creates a new industry with the introduction of Space Invaders followed

by Pac-Man in 1980.

With the headline, "So Long Chicago," The Chicago Daily News suspends publication on March 4.

The Hubbard Street Dance Company gives its first public performance at noon, July 7, before a

small audience in the theater of the Chicago Public Library (now the Chicago Cultural Center).

Ann C. Marcou and Mimi Kaplan found Y-Me.

Center for New Television is founded.

Scott Chisholm, owner of Andy's, starts Jazz at Five. It becomes popular.

Chicago Jazz Festival is held on Labor Day. It is the culmination of a festival memorializing Duke

Ellington in 1974, another memorializing John Coltrane in 1978, and a festival organized by the

Jazz Institute of Chicago.

Olson Rug Company closes its park, "Olson Falls".

Devereux Bowly, Jr., writes The Poorhouse: Subsidized Housing in Chicago, 1895-1976 (Southern

Illinois University Press). It quickly becomes a landmark publication on the subject.

Jack Roche, of Burr Ridge, is man in the first Metamucil ad.

McDonald’s 25 billionth hamburger is served.

Rich Uchwat opens Zanies, a stand-up comedy club, on Wells Street.

Lorna Donley forms the all-girl punk band DA!

Marilyn Miglin introduces her first fragrance, Pheromone.

Diablo Cody is born Brook Busey-Maurio in Lemont on June 14.

Crain’s Chicago Business newspaper is founded.

Jeff Fort moves from Milwaukee to Chicago and changes the name of his gang, the Black P Stone

Rangers, to El Rukin ("the foundation" in Arabic). The gang is also known as Circle Seven El Rukin

Moorish Temple of America and the Moorish Science Temple, El Rukin tribe.

Wax Trax is founded by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher on Lincoln Avenue, a couple of doors down

from the old Biograph Theater. Instantly it's the coolest place to hang out.

Chicagoan Harold Ramis writes his first screenplay, National Lampoon's Animal House that launches

John Belushi to movie stardom. Ramis writes several more screenplays and co-stars in films, too.

Siskel and Ebert's WTTW-Ch.11 show is renamed Sneak Preview and syndicated on PBS.

"Twinkie defense" is coined when an attorney for the suspect in a double murder in San Francisco

claims his client's junk food consumption is partly the blame.

Gus Giordano edits Anthology of American Jazz Dance, the first book on this American dance form.

Jerry Manos (1941-2012) is one of the first vendors to sell peanuts outside Wrigley Field.

For 100 days, starting 26 November, Chicago experiences its longest streak of days with snow cover,

resulting in Chicago's most snowy winter with 89.7" recorded.

More than 90% of Lake Michigan is ice covered.

1979

On January 14, Chicago experiences its greatest snow depth ever, 29".

Hair Trigger, an undergraduate literary magazine published by the students of Columbia College,

wins first prize for undergraduate literature magazines from the coordinating Council of Literary

Magazines.

Rob Hecko and Bill Gillmore open B.L.U.E.S. in April. The venue features blues every night, seven

days a week, 365 days a year.

Libby Adler Mages co-produces John R. Powers’ iconic Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect

Up? at the Forum Theater in Summit.

Styx, formed in Chicago in 1963, is named in a Gallup Poll, the most popular rock band among

American fans aged 13 to 18.

George Hendry and Pat Coakley start a parade of childre, later called The Wee Folks of Washtenaw

& Talman Parade, aka the South Side Irish Parade.

On Disco Demolition Night, July 12, 80,000 people showed up at Comiskey Park to watch their

vinyl burn.
Le Bastille, 21 W. Superior, opens as the city's first wine bar.

Larry Acciari, Eric Larson, and Suzanne Shelton open Neo on July 25, replacing a disco called "Hoots."

With 82% of the votes cast, Democrat Jane Byrne (born Margaret Jane Burke, May 24, 1933) is

elected the city's first female mayor. She defeats Republican candidate Wallace Johnson.

The Loop, a radio station, scored its highest ratings in the summer with a 7.3 share that placed it

third among all stations.

First National Bank of Chicago launches Cash Station, ATMs.

Gloria Jean and Ed Kvetko open their first Gloria Jean's Coffees in north suburban Long Grove.

Pope John Paul II visits Chicago. Celebrates mass in Grant Park.

Philip Johnson is the first Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

International Mister Leather (IML), an international conference and contest of leathermen is organized

out of the 1970s "Mr. Gold Coast" bar contest held at Chicago's Gold Coast leather bar, owned by

Chuck Renslow and his partner Dom Orejudos.

Harry Kempf and his brother Guenther organize the first Oktoberfest in Lincoln Square. The first one

was called "German-American Fest."

The National Restaurant Association relocates from Chicago to Washington D.C. Its annual Restaurant

Show remains in Chicago.

Wicker Park receives national historic designation, which qualifies homeowners for low-interest

loans and grants. Reinvestment begins in many of the area's historic mansions.

The Donohue Building (711 S. Dearborn St.) is the first of the city's factory lofts to undergo

conversion into a residential condominium.

1980

Since January 17, the city’s official temperature is measured at O’Hare International Airport.

In May, Chicago stages its first International Art Exposition at Navy Pier.

John Denver opens Poplar Creek Music Theatre in Hoffman Estates on June 6.

Who Chicago? a major art exhibit of Chicago Imagists, opens in London.

On March 12, a Chicago jury finds John Wayne Gacy, Jr. guilty of the murder of 33 men and boys.

The film, Blues Brothers is released.

Doris Christopher founds The Pampered Chef, a kitchen tools direct sales company.

Clarence R. McLean and Roy Wilkes patent a noise suppressor for commercial use.

Luis Barragán is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Raymond Hartstein adds two new campuses to Oakton Community College, one in Des Plains and

another in Skokie.

Maria Tallchief, her sister, Marjorie and Maria's husband, Buzz Paschen found Chicago City Ballet.

Mayor Jane Byrne launches Taste of Chicago on North Michigan Avenue.

Bon Appetit magazine declares Chef Jean Banchet's Le Francais "America's Best Restaurant."

William “Les” Brown starts The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Official census drops city's population below 3 million: Hispanic share rises to 26 pecent.

Chicago's firefighters strike for first time.

Larry Jordan, a teacher in the Chicgo Public School system, with the help of Essee Kupcinet,

Evelyn Glieberman and others, founds and opens the Chicago Academy of the Arts in September.

Paul H. Stepan (1943-) volunteers to fund raise for Richard M. Daley's first run for state's attorney.

City allows women to serve as rank-and-file firefighters.

Judith Baar Topinka wins her first public office to Illinois House of Representatives.

Pen collectors start their own convention, The Chicago Pen Show.

Ambria (French) restaurant opens (closes 2007).

1981

Drehobl Brothers Art Glass Co. fabricate and install the "Twelve Tribes of Israel" windows designed

by Archie Rand for Anshe Emet Synagogue.

Joan Baratta is the first woman to becomes senior vice president and group executive, Harris Bank.

Dan Goodwin, 25, dressed as Spiderman on May 25, is arrested after scaling the 110 story Sears

Tower in 7 1/2 hours.

On Veterans Day, Dan Goodwin climbs the John Hancock Center for the purpose of calling attention

to the inability to rescue people trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers.

Chicago Magazine introduces the Nelson Algren Award, a short story contest.

William Wrigley announces the sale of the Cubs and Wrigley Field to the Tribune Co. for $20.5 million.

Administrative assistant Ardis Krainik succeeds her boss, Carol Fox, deposed Lyric Opera of Chicago

co-founder, as general manager of the company. Within one season the Krainik led team rescue the

company from bankruptcy.

Pat Foley becomes the play-by-play for the Blackhawks.

Rosamond Campbell founds the Dulcimer Society of Northern Illinois.

Chicago City Day School is founded.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) introduces Eurodollar futures.

On March 14, a fire in the Royal Beach Apartment Hotel kills 19 residents.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) permanently moors a buoy in Lake

Michigan about 50 miles east-southeast to archive the lake water temperature.

Styx record an album entitled Paradise Theatre at Pumpkin Studios in Oak Lawn and release it

January 18, 1981. It becomes Triple platinum, Billboard #1 hit album.

Walgreens pharmacy departments are connected via satellite, letting customers refill prescriptions at

any Walgreens.

Chicagoan and Lake Michigan open water swimmer, Jon Erikson, son of Ted Erikson, becomes the

first person to swim the English Channel three times nonstop.

The Cardinal Sins, a book full of scandal, intrigue, violence and sex is published by Rev. Andrew Greeley.

James Stirling is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The first 21 MacArthur Foundation fellowships are announced in June.

Bill Veeck sells the White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn.

After discovering punk rock at a Ramones show, Al Jourgensen moves to Chicago and forms Ministry.

Bill Granger, Chicago Sun-Times journalist, wins the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of

America for his 1980 book, Public Murders.

Independent record label Touch and Go is founded in Chicago by Dave Simson and Corey Rusk.

Dorothy Fuller organizes "Chicago Is...," the first promotion of Chicago's fashion designers.

Dan Edelman's PR firm introduces the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, a free customer hot line, the first

of its kind. It fields 100,000 calls a year.

Touch & Go has a reputation for releasing adventurous noise rock by the likes of the Butthole

Surfers, Big Black and the Jesus Lizards.

Bob Zajdel, the Victory Auto Wreckers guy, starts his one-ad career.

1982

Bluesman Willie Dixon and his daughter, Shirli Dixon-Nelson launch the Blues Heaven Foundation

to support budding blues artists. In 1997, the Foundation moves into the former Chess Records

offices, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue.

Kingston Mines moves to Halsted Street.

Earl J.J. Pionke closes The Earl of Old Town at 1615 N. Wells.

Fred Anderson, a Sun Ra band member, opens the Velvet Lounge, named not for a fabric, but for

the sound of the owner's tenor sax.

Chicago's schools are closed in the wake of a record-breaking cold the previous day, January 10,

when the mercury dropped to 26º below zero. At 11 am on January 11, the tempoerature reaches

zero for the first time in two days .

Steve Albini, an independent-rock renaissance man, forms Big Black, a hard core band of

unconventional racket.

Tom Verhey opens Pops for Champagne in March in a former grocery store redesigned by John

Nelson.

Frankie Knuckles begins to play at the Riverside Club, which becomes the Powerhouse in 1983.

Vince Lawrence starts the group Z-Factor and records "(I Like To Do It In) Fast Cars," released

by Mitchbal Records.

Driehaus Capital Management LLC is founded by Richard H. Driehaus as an independent boutique

investment adviser.

Ken Harrelson joins the White Sox as its radio voice. He becomes the full-time voice in 1990.

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) introduces the first options on futures contract and completes

a 23-story annex to its original building.

Four blocks of Evergreen Avenue in Bucktown are designated Nelson Algren Avenue to

commemorate the writers living and working here from 1959-1975.

Kevin Roche is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate..

Siskel and Ebert sign with Tribune Entertainment and rename their show, At the Movies.

Chicago bans handguns (the law is overturned in 2010).

A&P closes the last of its Chicago stores.

Yoshi’s Café (chef Yoshi Katsumara and wife Nobuko) opens on North Halsted and Aldine, in Lakeview.

On Christmas day the temperature hits 64º and Chicago receives 0.47" of rain, contributing to the

city's rainiest December totaling 8.56".

1983

Harold Washington becomes Chicago's first black mayor.

Eleventh Dream Day, an alternative band of wide influence, is formed by Janet Beveridge Bean

and Rick Rizzo.

Lois Weisberg is named director of the Office of Special Events. She holds that position until 1987.

Chicago International Children’s Film Festival is founded.

Elaine Gonzalz starts Chocolate Artistry, a chocolate consulting firm. She also published a cookbook

with the same name.

Sue Gin launches Flying Food Group with a single catering kitchen at Midway Airport and one airline

customer - Midway Airlines.

Elynne Chaplik Aleskow becomes the first woman television manager in the US when she founds

WYCC-TV, CHannel 20.

The Daley Plaza skating rink opens.

Stop and SHop's Loop location closes.

Gam pong go wings, better know as spicy Asian wings, now a Korean-Chinese-American eating

sensation, were invented by Hsing-Tseng Kao in his Peking Mandarin Restaurant on Lawrence

Avenue and a sweet chilli-flecked sauce was added by Nai Tiao at his nearby Great Sea Restaurant,

both in Albany Park. Nai Tiao also added the lollipop handle by pushing all the down on the bone to

form a handle.

Frankie Knuckles' remix of "Let No Man Put Asunder" by First Choice is released on Salsoul Records.

Robert Williams opens a new club called the Muzic Box in the former R2 Underground space at 326

N. Lower Michigan.

On March 16, fire engulfs the Paxton Hotel on North LaSalle Street, resulting in more than 20 deaths.

In March, Fermilab installs the last of 774 superconducting magnets in an accelerator. Named

Tevatron, in July scientists accelerate protons to world-record energy levels.

Test marketed at the first Taste of Chicago in 1979, to see if customers outside Eli's Place for Steak

restaurant would like it, Eli’s Cheesecake Company starts national distribution.

The Center for Black Music Research (CBMR), the only organization of its kind in the US, is founded

by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. at Columbia College to collect, preserve and disseminate information about

the common roots and parallel histories of black music in all parts of the world.

I.M. Pei is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

MacDonald's Hamburg University training facility moves to Oak Brook with attendees from more

than 120 countries. The facility can provide simultaneous translation in more than 28 languages.

Steve Stone starts analyzing Cubs and White Sox baseball.

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is established to benefit historic preservation, architectural and

landscape design and conserving open space. The Foundation also supports the performing and

visual arts and poverty initiatives.

Brittany Heyworth "Brit" Marling is born in Chicago August 7. She goes on to make co-write, co-produce

and act in films, Another Earth (2011), Arbitrage (2012), and The East (2012).

In the face of a funding crisis, legislators amend the RTA Act, creating three service boards,

including the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra commuter rail and Pace suburban bus. The RTA's

primary responsibility becomes the financial and budget oversight of CTA, Metra and Pace, and

regional transit planning issues.

Thirty-nine four-letter, 10-letter and 12-letter expletives are used by Cubs Manager Lee Elia's in his

three-minute, 448-word tirade against booing fans. This may be a major league record for managers.

Chicago records its wettest year on record, 49.35" of precipitation.

Becky Bush is crowned Miss Chicago.

Claudio Abbado, the Chicago Symphony’s principal guest conductor from1982 to 1985, directs a

partially staged version of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless host the first national conference on homelessness.

Chicago records its coldest December average temperature of 14.3°.

1984

Journalist John Callaway launches Chicago Tonight on WTTW, which becomes the longest-running

daily local show in American television history before it ends in 1999.

On 2 January, Oprah Winfrey takes over as host of WLS-TV, AM Chicago.

David Mamet wins both the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for his play

Glengary Glen Ross.

Dr. June Singer helps create the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago.

Lee Collins begins his "Disco Madness" broadcast on WHPK.

Farley "Funkin" Keith releases his first twelve inch record "Funkin With The Drums" on House Records.

Chicago hosts its first Blues Fest.

Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd co-write and, with Bill Murray, co-star in Ghostbusters.

Walgreen’s celebrates the opening of its 1,000th store.

Ed Hoy, a stained glass supplier, becomes a wholesaler and produces a 176-page catalog featuring

tools, chemicals, pattern books, glass, jewels, glass cutters and hot and fused glass supplies.

Consumers line up to buy Motorola’s first cellular phone, the DynaTAC 8000X. Affectionately called

“the brick,” it weighs 2 pounds, offers half-hour of talk for every recharging and sells for $3,995.

Marc Smith inaugurates a poetry reading series at Chicago jazz club, Get Me High Lounge. It quickly

develops into the Poetry Slam.

Morningstar, a financial-data firm, is founded by Joe Mansueto from his one-bedroom Chicago

apartment. The name Morningstar is taken from the last sentence in Walden, a book by Henry David

Thoreau, "the sun is but a morning star."

The City of Chicago ends its Police Department Film Review Section, a film censorship board.

Judith Baar Topinka wins election to Illinois Senate.

Block 37 is razed resulting in 2.85 empty acres along State Street.

Richard Meier is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Steve Jones, breaks the world record with 2:08:05 in the Chicago Marathon.

Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's dies.

Chester Novell Turner and Shirley L. Jones write, produce, direct and act in Black Devil Doll from Hell,

a Chicago horror film shot on VHS tape on Chicago's South and West Sides. It is self-distributed to

video rental stores.

Mike Wittkowski wins the Illinois Lotto $40 million jackpot with the numbers 2-3-10-26-30-43. It's the

single largest lottery prize in the U.S. history.

The Artful Dodger, a legendary tavern, opens in Bucktown – closes in 2005.

CTA extends train service to O'Hare.

Sixteen Candles is filmed in Skokie,Highland Park and other locations on the North Shore.

With Spiaggia, Tony Mantuano introduces Northern Italian cuisine to Chicago.

In November, Ruth and her husband Leonard Horwich donate the 29-foot high Jean Dubuffet sculpture

Monument with a Standing Beast, in front of the Thompson Center.

On December 8, Captain Kangaroo, with Bob Keeshan, signs off the air. It had been the

longest-running nationally broadcast children's show of its day.

Marshall Field sells the Sun-Times to Rupert Murdoch and changes Chicago journalism for ever.

1985

On January 20, Chicago records its lowest temperature on record, -27° at O'Hare.

Helmut Jahn’s State of Illinois Center (now Thompson Center) opens.

Joe Sedelmaier, a Chicago ad film producer, contributes the “Where’s the Beef” TV spot for Wendy’s.

Fermilab achieves the first collisions of protons.

Jeff McCourt founds Windy City Times, one of the most successful and influential gay newspapers in

the US.

The Steans Institute for Young Artists is Ravinia’s professional studies program for young artists,

and is one of the world’s most sought-after summer study programs.

Chicago hosts its first Gospel Fest.

With Don Cornelius as its host until 1993, Soul Train is syndicated by Tribune Entertainment

until 2007.

DJ International, its subsidiary labels, and Trax Records are two of the main sources locally and

to the world for the House Music sound of Chicago.

Chip E releases the seminal "Jack Trax EP" to city-wide acclaim, which launches him to startdom.

Studs Terkel's The Good War wins a Pulitzer Prize.

Serving homeless women, Deborah's Place opens.

Al Piemonte, of the Melrose Park Ford dealership, as TV auto pitchman, puts the focus on promises

of best price and best selection.

Hans Hollein is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Blanche Artis Lewis founds Opera Factory. Opera Factory presents the American premier of Jose

Serrano's Los de Aragon and Amadeo Vives' Bohemios.

Arun Sampanthavivat opens his namesake restaurant, Arun’s, to quick acclaim for the most elegant

Thai eating in the US.

Café Ba-Ba-Reeba, Spanish tapas-style by Richard Melman, opens in Lincoln Park.

The Wabash Street bridge over the Chicago River is named The Irv Kupcinet Bridge by unanimous

approval of the City Council on December 23.

1986

The Chicago Bears win the Super Bowl (NFL Championship).

On April 20, the Bulls' Michael Jordan scones 63 points against the Boston Celtics. The Bulls

loose, 135-131.

In a record smashing, two-hour live television special, Geraldo Rivera entered Al Capone's alleged

vault, fires a submachine gun, detonates dynamite, sings Chicago, and finds a few empty bottles.

Lifelong Chicagoan, Larry Heinemann wins critical applause with his novel PAC’s Story.

Zeleke Gessesse opens the Wild Hare. Instantly it becomes the Midwest's reggae music center.

Oprah Winfrey’s first syndicated show airs, September 8.

The first 20 women firefighters join the Chicago Fire Department.

Russ Tutterow is named artistic director of Chicago Dramatists.

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert join Buena Vista Television, a division of The Walt Disney Co. and

change the name of their show to Siskel & Ebert at the Movies. The two are the most powerful

film critics in the world.

Spiaggia chef Tony Mantuano wins a James Beard award as Best New Chef.

Chester Novell Turner writes, produces, and directs Tales from the Quadead Zone, a Chicago horror

film shot on VHS tape on Chicago's South and West Sides. It is self-distributed to video rental stores.

Joanie Pallatto and Bradley Parker-Sparrow release their first CD, Whisper Not on their Southport

record label.

Gottfried Bõhm is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Rolling Rock Beer is introduced to Chicago by Hugh Haller of Local Option, a Lincoln Park tavern.

The Chicago Theater reopens.

The Uptown Poetry Slam starts at the Green Mill Lounge.

Charles H. Kerr Company, a socialist publishing house, celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Lake Shore Drive's S-curve is straightened.

Jean Joho opens Everest, a restaurant. It immediately becomes a bastion of haute French taste.

1987

Raya Dunayevskaya dies in Chicago. Dunayevskaya arrived in Chicago in the 1920s after having

served for two years as Trotsky’s secretary in Mexico. She wrote the first English translation of

Marx’s 1844 manuscripts and developed a critique of the totalitarian tendencies of Marxist

philosophy know as Marxist humanism.

David Hernandez is commissioned to write a poem commemorating the city’s 150th anniversary.

Poetry moves into a rent-free nook in the Newberry Library.

With the blessing of Mayor Harold Washington, Dorothy Fuller founds the Apparel Industry Board.

Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor, dies in office of a heart attack.

Charlie Trotter opens a fine dining namesake restaurant in a former home on Armitage Avenue

that becomes a five-star destination restaurant for diners from around the world.

Chicago City Ballet closes.

Roscoe's is the first LGBT bar on Halsted to have floor to ceiling windows open to the street.

Jim Corno makes Sports Vision the first 24/7 regional operation in the country.

Kenzo Tange is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Using maps and a research team from the Newberry Library, Helen Hornbeck Tanner publishes

Atlas of Great Lake Indian History. The epic work documents the displacement of Indian

communities from 1640 to 1871, due to disease, destruction of their culture by white settlers

and duplicity.

Paul Freeman founds the Chicago Sinfonietta..

Larry Lujack's final WLS broadcast takes place on August 28.

Elaine Gonzalez, a renowned chocolate specialist, is voted best cooking instructor by her

peers in a Chicago Tribune poll, and she is among the first to lead chocolate tours of Mexico.

Annoyance Theatre, formerly Metaform, is founded by Mick Napier and opens with Splatter Theatre

in Cabaret Metro.

On October 19, Starbucks opens its first store outside Seattle at 111 W. Jackson.

Chicago born leggy dance diva, Jody Watley is awarded Best New Artist Grammy for her slamming

dance-pop solo debut, Looking for a New Love and Don’t You Want Me.

The Mexican Fine Arts Museum opens in Pilsen.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications opens.

Rick Bayless opens Frontera Grill and changes the way we think of tacos.

A reborn Sieben's becomes Chicago's first brewpub.

1988

Lights on 33 feet high towers are installed by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, Ohio, and the first

Cubs home night game is played at Wrigley Field.

Big Monster Toys is founded as a direct descendent of Marvin Glass & Associates, one of the most

innovative toy-designers of the 1950s and 60s.

Lookingglass Theatre Company is formed. Its first production is Lewis Carroll's Through the

Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

Opera Factory performs the world premier of The Magic Cup with music by Chicago composer

the Rev. Edward J. McKenna and libretto by the Rev. Andrew Greeley, based on Greeley's novel.

Goose Island Brew Pub opens.

Oscar Niemeyer and Gordon Bunshaft are the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.

On June 20, O'Hare recorded its first ever over 100º with 104º. On June 25, temperatures reached

105° by the lake, 104° at Midway Airport and 103° at O’Hare.

The B1 bomber makes its debut as 1.5 million people attend Chicago’s Air and Water Show.

1989

Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, is elected mayor.

Lois Weisberg is named commissioner of Cultural Affairs.

Chris and Mike Schuba open Schubas Tavern in a former Schlitz Brewery owned "ied house."

Paul H. Stepan organizes the fundraising campaign for Daley's successful mayoral race. In less than

five months he raises a staggering $6.5 million from lawyers, developers and businessmen.

A record 30.98" barometric pressure is recorded on February 16.

Nine art galleries perish April 15, in a fire that leveled nearly an entire block of historic buildings in

the River North gallery district.

Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm (born 1930) dresses Miss France, Peggy Zlotkowski.

James Ginsburg founds Cedille Records, a for-profit classical music recording company featuring

Chicago area musicians. It is the first Chicago-based record label to do so.

Chicago records .5 inches of snow on May 6.

On May 7, Mayor Richard M. Daley and Gov. James Thompson help break ground for the new

Comiskey Park.

General Director Ardis Krainik sacks tenor Luciano Pavarotti for canceling 26 of his 41 scheduled

appearances with her Lyric Opera of Chicago within nine years.

Billy Corgan forms The Smashing Pumpkins in Chicago.

With less than $1,000 in hand, Tony Brummel launches Victory, a highly successful independent

record label.

Around the Coyote forms under the direction of Frenchman Jim Happy-Delpech.

Frank Gehry is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Chicago Festival Ballet, aka Von Heidecke's Chicago Festival Ballet is founded.

Sylvester "Syl" Lulinski is voted into the American Cribbage Congress, ACC, Hall of Fame.

River North Chicago Dance Company is founded.

From October 18 to 20, Chicago officially records 6.3" of snow, though warm ground and

above-freezing temperatures limit accumulation to 1-2".

Ben Hollis and WTTW-Ch.11 producer John Davies create Wild Chicago. At the time, there is nothing

like it on TV. It is an immediate hit.

Rich Bayless opens Topolobampo, a few tables inside his Frontera Grill restaurant, and instantly

introduces the white-tablecloth experience to Mexican eating.

Chicago experiences the least days without measurable snow in a year, 164.

1990

Cher opens the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park (now Tweeter Center).

Daniel Barenboim leads the Chicago Symphony in the world premiere of John Corigliano's

Symphony no.1, commissioned for the Orchestras centennial.

The Shelter nightclub opens in March. It is the dominat club for most of the next decade.

Von Heidecke School of Ballet is founded in Naperville, Joliet and Chicago.

Aldo Rossi is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Rialto's Tap, a legendary gay club in Chicago's Loop, closes. It was known for playing House Music

to its African-American clientele.

Stuart Dybek publishes "The Coast of Chicago," a quickly acclaimed collection of short stories.

Suzanne Flandreau establishes The Center for Black Music Research (CBMR) Library and Archives.

Dawn Clark Netsch defeats Republican Sue Suter for state comptroller.

At 311 S. Wacker architects Kohn Pederson Fox, build the world’s tallest concrete framed building.

Tortoise, an inventive Chicago music collective is formed.

1991

The Chicago Bulls, with the help of Michael Jordan, win the National Basketball Association

championship for the first time.

The new Comiskey Park baseball stadium (now known as U.S. Cellular Field) opens on the South Side.

Gallery 37 art programs starts.

Holly Agra founds First Lady Cruises. Its main client, the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

Jazz Dance World Congress (JDWC) is founded by Gus Giordano.

Neil Funk becomes the Bulls radio and TV play-by-play man.

The supreme funk parlor, Red Dog Nightclub opens.

The Music Box, a club, closes.

After working in Hong Kong at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer moves to Chicago and

opens The French Pastry School at City Colleges of Chicago with the mission to bring excellence and

quality to the pastry industry through hands-on educational opportunities.

Robert Venturi is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Robert S. Boone founds Young Chicago Authors (YCA).

Lindy and Edwin Bergman give the bulk of their modern art collection, including works by Picasso,

Ernst, Magritte, Miro, Dali and Cornell to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Corner Bakery Cafe is founded as an offshoot Maggiano's Little Italy.

Wicker Park is granted landmark status by the Chicago City Council, 12 years after it received

national designation.

Daniel Barenboim is appointed new music director of the Chicago Symphony. The 101st season

opens three weeks late, on October 1, because of a labor dispute.

Richard Speck, who murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, dies in prison on

December 5, a day short of his 50th birthday.

1992

In March, Chicago’s climatological record keeping moves to Meigs Field.

The Chicago Bulls win another NBA Championship.

Willie Dixon, Chicago Blues legend, born Vicksburg, MS, July 1, 1915, dies Jan 29, age 76.

Iconic DJ, Ron Hardy, of the Music Box, dies March 2.

The Goodman Theater wins a Regional Theater Tony Award.

On May 25, Chicago experiences its latest freeze. It is the start of a very cool summer.

Ed Farmer becomes announcer for the White Sox.

Chicago born Mary Ann McMorrow is the first female judge to be elected to the state Supreme Court.

Walgreens opens its first drive-thru pharmacy.

Chicago native Curtis Jones produces his first track "Coffee Pot (It's Time for the Percolator)" as

Cajmere on Clubhouse Recods.

The world's first inverted roller coaster opens at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee under the

name Batman: The Ride.

Assault weapons are banned in Chicago.

Madusa's closes in June.

Alvaro Siza is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

WKQX-FM hires Carla Leonardo as its on air personality when it shifts from an adult-contemporary

to an alternative rock format.

Polk Bros. close their five remaining stores.

WSCR, or The Score, an all-sports radio format, begins broadcasting on the frequency of former

WPNT (AM 820).

Video game, Mortal Kombat is created by Ed Boon for Midway (today called NetherRealm).

With the rupture of a utility tunnel beneath the Kinzei Street Bridge on the North Branch of the

Chicago River, basements and underground facilities throughout the Loop are flooded with an

estimated 250 million US gallons of water.

1993

The Beanie Babies' "Squealer the pig" is born on April 23, followed two days later by

"Legs the frog", and "Chocolate the moose" on April 27, in Oakbrook, Illinois.

Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, Eric Babcock found Bloodshot Records, an independent record label.

Fort Sheridan is decommissioned, allowing for redevelopment of the site.

Columbia College’s Hair Trigger receives the Gold Crown award from the Columbia University

Scholastic Press Association.

Chinatown Square opens.

The Chicago Bulls win their third NBA Championship. The series of three championships is

coined “Three Peat.”

The AIA Guide to Chicago Architecture is published.

The CTA rail system opens the Orange Line to Midway Airport.

Chicago gets its second all-sports radio station when WLUP-AM1000, once home to pro-labor and

Christian programming, changes to WMVP.

Mayor Daley launches Chicago's Graffiti Blasters initiative.

Fumihiko Maki is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Josh Squire, a Northwestern University students and bicycle fanatic, starts Bike Chicago, a cycle

rental company.

The International Mister Bootblack Competition is added to the International Mister Leather program.

Red Orchid Theatre opens with Jack Gelber's The Connection.

Median planters are constructed as part of North Michigan Avenue’s streetscape improvement

project with plantings designed by Douglas Hoerr.

Midway Airport records the city's wettest year on record, 49.64".

1994

When Bump N’ Grind hits No.1 on February 19, South Sider R. Kelly affirms that he has

become the dominant rhythm and blues performer of the decade.

Punk Planet begins to track the local and international punk scene.

John Wayne Gacy is executed May 10, at Stateville Penitentiary, Joliet.

Ana Castillo writes her acclaimed book, My Father was a Toltec.

Lee Godie, the city’s most famous outsider artist, dies.

Christian de Portzamparc is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The United Center opens.

Tom MacDonald and Janan open Webster's Wine Bar in the former Robert Henry Adams Fine Art gallery.

Del Close collaborates with Kim Howard Johnson and Charna Halpern on his book, Truth in Comedy:

The Manual for Improvisation.

Chicago hosts the World Cup.

Cedille Records, founded by James Ginsburg in 1989, is transformed into a not-for-profit record label

under the umbrella of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation.

Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm is the recipient of the Designer of the Year Award by the Apparel Industry

Foundation.

Kartemquin Films releases Hoop Dreams.

Christoph Eschenbach is named Ravinia’s music director, a post he holds until 2003.

Chicago experiences the most days without measurable snow in one year, 290.

1995

Fermilab sets world record for number of high-energy proton-antiproton particles collissions.

Navy Pier reopens after an extended restoration.

The top quark, an elusive subatomic particle, is discovered at Fermilab.

Micahel Jordan, in a two-word news release saying simply, "I'm back, announces, on March 18,

his return to the Chicago Bulls after an 893-day retirement.

Bettina Richards moves Thrill Jockey Records from New York to Chicago.

Tadao Ando is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Navy Pier opens its 148-foot Ferris Wheel in honor of the original Wheel at the 1893 World's Fair.

On July 13, Chicago hits a sweltering 104º.

Mayor Daley assumes authority over city's public schools.

Andrew Athens, Greek-American philanthropist, is elected the founding president of the World

Council of Hellenes.

Lake Michigan reaches a temperature of 81.3º at the NOAA buoy on August 13, an official high.

Doug Zell and Emily Mange, his wife, found Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago.

Seymoure H. Perskey offers the Society of Architectural Historians, based in Philadelphia, the

James Charnley House, 1365 N. Astor St. They accept and move.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and Upfront columnist for Chicago Magazine, Henry Hansen, dies.

On October 26, Daniel Barenboim conducts the Chicago Symphony in Shulamit Ran's Pulitzer

Prize-winning symphony. Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony join with trumpeter

Hannibal Lokumbe, a jazz quartet, and African drummers for a concert version of Lokumbe's

African Portraits.

Kroch's and Brentano's, once the largest privately-owned bookstore chain in the US, closes.

1996

The Chicago Bulls win their fourth NBA Championship.

On the summer solstice, the Museum of Contemporary Art has a 24-hour preview of its new

building designed by Berlin architect Josef Paul Kleihaus on the site of the former U.S. National

Guard Armory at 220 E. Chicago Avenue.

Pat Hughes becomes the play-by-play voice for the Cubs.

The jimbario is introduced by Jaun C. Figueroa at his Borninquen Restaurant in Humboldt Park.

Red Orchid Theatre becomes an Equity Theatre house.

Raphael Moneo is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Lisel Mueller wins the Pulitzer Prize for poetry with Alive Together.

The City closes its last municipal incinerator.

Claudia Cassidy, fabled 1940s to 1970s Chicago Tribune theater, dance and music critic dies.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardine of the Chicago Archdiocese dies, November 14, age 68.

Chicago's City Council bans the sale of spray paint.

In June Chicago countts 90 homicides.

Another attempt to revitalize State Street is announced.

The CHA is taken over by a federal agency.

Chicago starts to demolish its CHA high rises.

In August Chicago counts 85 homicides..

A storefront home for the Leather Archives and Museum opens. It quickly outgrows its space.

For a cooling unit at 400 S. Franklin, Exelon Thermal Technologies builds the world's largest

reinforced cast-in-place ice tank, measuring 110x100x40 feet high.

In October Chicago counts 80 homicides.

1997

The Chicago City Council approves a resolution absolving Mrs. O’Leary’s cow of all blame for the

Great Chicago Fire.

Juice, a 24-year old Chicago MC performs against up-and-coming Detroit rapper Eminem at

Scribblejam, the annual Midwestern hip-hop festival. Juice wins the battle, but Eminem wins fame.

The Chicago Bulls win the NBA Championship, again.

Boystown is designated a neighborhood and becomes the nation's first officially gay village.

Thomas J. Klutznick Co. develops a full-block retail and hotel complex on North Michigan Ave. that

includes the Peninsula Chicago hotel, Tiffany&Co. Banan Republic, Polo Ralph Lauren, American Girl.

Janet Jagan (Rosenberg) is elected president of Guyana. Born in Chicago in 1920, she marries

Cheddi Jagan in 1943, who, in 1992, is elected president of free Guyana.

Sverre Fehn is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Roosevelt Road is extended east of Michigan Ave., across the Illinois Central tracks.

For $8 million, the Field Museum buys fossils for a T-Rex named Sue.

The Score, talking sports radio, moves to AM 1160, becoming 24-hour.

The Chicago Board of Trade completes its 60,000 square-foot trading floor to house its financial

and stock-index complexes.

Over 100 of Chicago's public schools are placed on academic probation.

Orchestra Hall is renovated and on Oct.4, Daniel Barenboim leads the Chicago Symphony in the

opening night of the renamed Symphony Center.

Eugene Polley and Robert Adler, both of Zenith, share an Emmy from the National Academy of

Television Arts for their contribution to Zenith's introduction of the wireless remote.

Studs Terkel retires from WFMT radio after 45 years.

Mayor Richard M. Daley officially recognizes Boystown as Chicago's gay district.

The redevelopment of former Glenview Naval Air Station begins.

Paul Kahan puts Contemporary American food on the map when he opens Blackbird.

1998

Two great Chicago sports announcers die, Harry Caray (1914-1998) and Jack Brickhouse (1916-1998).

The Chicago Police Department names its first female deputy superintendent, Jeanne Clark.

After 35-years in business, The Busy Bee Restaurant, 1546 North Damen Ave., closes.

The Chicago Bulls win another NBA Championship.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company wins a National Medal of the Arts.

The Art of Chocolate (Chronicle Books) is written by Elaine Gonzalez.

Renzo Piano is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Ed Hoy (1920-2013), a stained glass supplier, opens a 75,000-square-foot warehouse in Warrenville.

His firm, Ed Hoy's International, is one of the largest stained glass suppliers in the US.

The Fire Museum of Greater Chicago acquires a building at 5218 S. Western Ave.

Jim Corno helps bring the Cubs to Fox Sports Net, marking the team's initial venture into cable.

Sammy Sosa of the Cubs becomes the 4th player in Major League Baseball history to reach 60-home

runs in one season.

Apolinar P. Gonzalez and a few friends found the Northern Illinois Tejano Cultural Society in Aurora. Its

function is to promote and preserve the language, culture, traditions, family values and positive

contributions of Mexican immigrants from the Southwest.

Sue Berry, Donna Kirchman and Bill Davenport open Davenport's, a cabaret at 1383 N. Milwaukee.

In their first season, the Chicago Fire soccer team wins MLS Cup and U.S. Open Cup.

Bc meson, the last of the quark-antiquark pairs know to exist are discovered at Fermilab.

1999

The Chicago Shakespeare Theater opens at Navy Pier. It is designed by VOA Associates.

Mayor Daley announces Millennium Park and a bandshell designed by Frank Gehry.

Bear's great Walter Payton (1954–1999) dies at age 45.

The death of Walter Payton is memorialized with a "34" in the south-facing windows of the

Blue Cross-Blue Shield Building by Chris Gillott, an electrician in the building.

Wendella's rush-hour commuter service between Michigan Avenue and Northwestern Railroad

Station is known as RiverBus.

Neo of the Matrix film series is named for neo, the bar 2350 N. Clark.

Norman Foster is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Khalid Khannouchi sets a world speed record, 2:05.42, in the Chicago Marathon.

Daniel Barenboim conducts the world premiere of Pierre Boulez’s Notations VII for Orchestra,

a Chicago Symphony Orchestra commission.

The Cubs move nearly half of their games off WGN-TV to Fox Sports Chicago on cable.

Walgreens.com is launched, giving consumers the option to meet their health care needs at home.

James Taylor, a singer-songwriter, performs with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum opens in Lincoln Park.

Gene Siskel, age 53, dies.

Led by Joseph W. Bean, the Leather Archives and Museum moves into its own permanent building.

Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa becomes the first player in Major League Baseball history to reach 60

homers twice.

Chicago's City News Bureau closes.

Twinkies are placed in the nation's millennium time capsule.

Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City of Chicago invite two people from every country on the globe

to Chicago for a New Year's Eve dinner celebrating the new millennium. Three hundred eighty-six

people accept and join 1000 Chicagoans for dinner and fireworks at McCormick Place.

2000

Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows opens at Navy Pier. It is estimated that some 3.5 million

viewers visit the Museum in its first year.

The new Goodman Theater opens at the corner of Randolph and Dearborn Streets. It is designed

by the Toronto, Canada based firm of Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg.

Barbara McDonald becomes the Chicago Police Department’s director of administrative services,

the city’s highest ranking Police Department woman.

Rem Koolhaas is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Fermilab's Tevatron is featured in Dan Brown's novel Angel & Demons, the prequel to The Da

Vinci Code (2003).

The Score, all-sports radio, lads at AM 670, the former all-news WMAQ.

Dr. Shutsung Liao is named the first director of the University of Chicago's Tang Center for Chinese

Herbal Medicine Research.

Renowned tenor Placido Domingo, joined by Daniel Barenboim, performs his first American solo recital.

In the 2000 census, German descent ranks number one among those claiming European heritage.

The Chicago Fire wins another U.S. Open Cup.

27870 runners finish the Chicago Marathon with an average finish time of 4:21:46.

Fanning the international interest in dinosaurs, The Field Museum unveils Sue, a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The first evidence of the direct observation of a tau neutrino, a neutral subatomic particle, is made at

Fermilab.

2001

The Richard H. Driehaus Gallery of Stained Glass opens at Navy Pier.

Amy Schroeder begins publishing Venus Zine in Chicago.

The 1.5 (2.4km), tri-oval Chicagoland Speedway opens in Joliet.

Richard H. Driehaus, helped by Skip Grisham, initiates the Driehaus Awards for Fashion Excellence.

Victory Gardens Theater wins the Regional Theatre Tony Award.

With a time of 2:18:47, Catherine Ndereba breaks the women's world's marathon record in Chicago

while 28390 runners finish the Chicago Marathon with an average finish time of 4:19:28.

Boeing moves its headquarters to Chicago.

Jacques Herzog & Pierre de Meuron are the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.

Kevin Coval founds Louder Than a Bomb in collaboration with Chicago Youth Authors (YCA).

The city establishes a Motor Row Landmark District along South Michigan that includes 55 buildings.

Named for a Simpsons character, Fall Out Boys, a pop punk band, is formed in Wilmette. The band

consists of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Peter Wentz, guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer

Andy Hurley.

The second South Water Market is replaced by a stete-of-the-art Chicago International Produce Market.

In October, Brian Posen creates Sketchfest, a venue to showcase the city's besketch comedy troupes,

and provide a venue free of financial burden.

Rosamond Campbell, a dulcimer player, writes an instructional book, Playing Dulcimer in the

Chord-Melody Style (Mel Bay Publications).

WTTW originates Check, Please, a show about the frantic Chicago restaurant scene. The show is

hosted by Alpana Singh whose opening lines have become famous: "Hi, I'm Alpana Singh, This is the

show where regular people from all over Chicago recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

Here's how the show works: Every week we have three guests, each recommends his or her favorite

stops, then the other two go check and see what they think."

Abraham Lincoln: The Man, a statue by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Lincoln Park is awarded City of

Chicago landmark status on December 12.

2002

The first Sketchfest opens January 2002 and rund for seven weeks. It's a success. It is renamed:

Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival.

It takes 13 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes for Chicagoan Steve Fossett to circumnavigate the globe

solo in a balloon.

Eli Lilly pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly endows Poetry magazine with more than $100 million.

Brooklyn restaurant owner Christopher Sell introduces the deep-fried Twinkie, now a staple at

county fairs.

Glenn Murcutt is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The City of Chicago purchases Block 37 for $32,500.000.

Judith Baar Topinka becomes the first woman to chair the Illinois Republican Party.

Chicagoan Mary Ann McMorrow is the first female chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) IPO, is the first U.S. exchange to go public.

French advertising giant, JCDecaux wins the CTA Bus Shelter with advertising competition. Called

Street Furniture, Robert A.M. Stern, an American architect and Driehaus Prize winner, is selected

to design them.

With a time of 2:17:18, Paula Radcliff breaks the women's world's marathon record and sets a course

record in Chicago while 31093 runners finish the Chicago Marathon with an average finish time of

4:19:51.

Michael Polsky, founder and CEO of Invenergy, donates $7million endowment to the University of

Chicago's Booth School of Business.

2003

The Smith Museum opens its new Victorian and Louis Comfort Tiffany galleries.

Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, is published. It quickly becomes a

New York Times Best Seller and won the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize and a British Book Award.

On April 1, philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus founds the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in the former

Samuel Mayo Nickerson residence, starting a five-year restoration effort to preserve the structure

and its magnificent interiors. It opens to the public in 2008.

Twenty-one people are killed on February 17, in a stampede after a pepper spray is used to break up

a fight at the crowded E2 nightclub on the city's Near South Side.

Léon Krier of Luxembourg is the first Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

Meigs Field, Chicago's small downtown airport, is shut down by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Jørn Utzon is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Bruce and Stephanie Tharp's design, the Cubby, a coat hook, wins a best-of-the-year award

from Interior Design magazine. The Cubby never makes it past the prototype phase.

The Chicago Fire wins the U.S. Open Cup, again.

Chicago city and area garbage collectors go on strike October 1. The strike lasts 9 days.

The first Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market is held in Wicker Park.

Magic Slim & the Teardrops win the Blues Music Award for Blues Band of the Year 2003.

Intelligentsia Coffee pioneers the direct-trade coffee model with their DT relationship, ensuring both

the quality of the coffee beans and the quality of life conditions for the communities that farm them.

The Modern Poetry Association becomes the Poetry Foundation. It establishes and begins a series of

initiatives, including awards for a first book of poetry, humor in poetry and a Children's Poet Laureate,

given to a poet who writes for children.

Avec Restaurant opens in the West Loop.

2004

July 16, Millennium Park is officially completed and open to the public.

Piet Oudolf, Dutch master gardener, designs Lurie Garden in Millennium Park, his first creation in the

US.

Chicago police officers are equipped with Segways to cover greater distance than on foot.

Barack Obama is elected to the U.S. Senate by the largest margin in the history of Illinois.

On April 20, over 30 twisters rake northern and central Illinois and Indiana during the late afternoon

and early evening. One tornado hits Utica, IL. killing eight.

Board Chair J.B. Pritzker and President Sam Harris persuades Rick Hirschhaut to become the first

executive director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie.

Days after his death, East-West Tollway is renamed after Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the US.

The tollway passes just south of his childhood home in Dixon.

Demetri Porphyrios of Greece is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

After a fire at its Roscoe Village location, Doug Sohn opens Hot Doug's at 3324 N. California and

quickly becomes a Chicago culinary hot dog institution.

With the formation of CSN, which the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks own jointly with

Comcast, Jim Corno makes sure they all work together to develop a network that has high

ratings and profits for everyone.

Zaha Hadid is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The Dells are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Comcast, on October 1, along with Chicago's sports teams, create Comcast SportsNet Chicago on

cable.

Helen C. Doria is named Millennium Park's first executive director.

After 53 years as principal trumpet, Adolph Herseth retires from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Named after a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, Dorothy Stang Adult High School (DSAHS) is founded

by a small group of educators and community activists to meet the needs of Latinos, ages 25 and

older, who want to continue their education. Ninety-eight % of DSAHS students graduate.

2005

Ball Horticultural Co. is awarded patents for a Verbena plant named Balazgagic, a Nemesia

plant named Balartublue, and Double Impatiens named Balfiesink.

Margaret James introduces the first Twike, a three-wheeled vehicle that runs on both human power

and an electric motor, to Chicago. It is a curiosity.

Quinian Terry of the United Kingdom is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

After 10 years in nearby Evanston, Kendall College moves its Culinary School to Chicago and

becomes the largest professional school in the city.

Thom Mayne is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The Regional Planning Act is signed into law. The Regional Planning Board (later to become the

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning) is formed.

Ray Nordstrand (1932-2005), president and general manager of WFMT, dies.

Chicago's first Lollapalooza is in Grant Park.

Jimmy Buffet and his entourage play Wrigley Field, the first show at the legendary baseball

stadium – ever.

The Chicago White Sox win the World Series, their first in 88 years.

Chicago experiences its most ever over 80º F days in one year, 103!

On November 23, a Metra train slams into several vehicles caught in a traffic jam on a busy road

in Elmwood Park, starting a chain reaction that injures at least 10 people.

Grant Achatz opens Alinea and immediately becomes an international foodie destination.

2006

The city's cultural identity takes another serious hit when Berghoff, an iconic Loop

Restaurant, closes February 28.

The warmest May 28-30 period in 135 years of official weather observation is recorded.

Chicago born singer Lou Rawls dies at age 72.

An expansion adds 1,790 bleachers seats of Wrigley Field. The work is done by

HOK Sports+venue+events of Kansas City, MO, with historic preservation consultants,

Vinci-Hamp Architects of Chicago.

Ken Griffin and Anne Diase Griffin donate $19 million towards the construction of the

Art Institute's Modern Wing. The building's central hall is named the Kenneth and Anne

Griffin Court.

On April 26, the City Council votes to ban the sale of foie gas.

Hot Doug's restaurant continues to serve its foie gras wurst and is fined by the city. The fine

is posted in the restaurant's window for all to see.

The 100th anniversary of Sox over Cubs in the 1906 World Series, results in a score of

Sox 4 - Cubs 2.

Paulo Mendes da Rocha is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) launches electronic ag futures trading.

Judith Baar Topinka becomes the first woman to win state GOP governor nomination. She

and her running mate, Joe Birkett, lose the general election to incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The CTA's Pink Line begins service.

Allan Greenberg of South africa is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

GrugHub is launched by Mike Evans and Matt Maloney. By 2011 GrubHub has some 14,000

restaurants and 250,000 menus listed making it a standout in its industry.

Elaine Gonzalez is inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame.

“Agora,” an installation of 106 metal sculptures by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz,

opens November 16.

The Chicago Fire wins another U.S. Open Cup.

Hyde Park cultural leaders convene with the Hyde Park Jazz Society to create an annual event.

The Bs matter-antimatter oscillations Sigmab baryon is made at Fermilab.

2007

Barack Obama announces his run for President of the United States.

Chicago is selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee as the United States Bid city for the 2016

Olympic Games.

August 8m the Chicago Independent Radio Project, affectionatly known as CHIRP, held its first public

meeting. Eventually CHIRP plans to start broadcasting at 107.1 FM.

Sunday October 7, 2007, the Chicago Marathon ended in chaos and commotion when temperatures

reach the city's all time record of 88ºF (31ºC) two hours after the race starts. Several runners faint

or vomited because of the exceptional heat, and when the water stations started running out of

water the organizers found it necessary to shut the race down 3½ hours after it started. Patrick Ivuti

of Kenya wins in 2:11:11.

Anne Lurie gives $100 million to Children's Memorial Hospital. After a subsequent move from

Lincoln Park to Streeterville, it is renamed the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital.

Richard Rogers is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Diablo Cody wins her first Oascar for the screenplay, "Juno," a comedy.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) merge, called CME

Group.

The discovery of Cascade-b baryon is made at Fermilab.

Hugh Hefner has 20,000 copies of the first Playboy reprinted.

Julie and Jeff Jenkins founds Midnight Circus.

Jaquelin T. Robertson of the United States is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

An Illinois auditor general report calls for better coordination and oversight of service boards by RTA.

Andrew Barber creates Fake Shore Drive, a website devoted to Chicago rap.

Under Steve Hannah, The Onion, a satirical weekly newspaper, consolidates editorial and business

operations in Chicago.

The inaugural Hyde Park Jazz Festival is held in September, with the University of Chicago as founder

and lead sponsor. Almost 5,000 fans enjoy 12-hours of free, nonstop jazz.

The Center on Halsted opens in Lakeview as a silver LEED-certified facility serving the city's LGBT

community.

Originally called the Northwest Tollway, it is renamed in honor of Jane Addams, a Nobel Peace Prize

winner and a founder of Hull House, America's first settlement house where social workers lived with

immigrants and the poor.

The Chicago Bears reach the Super Bowl but lose to the Colts.

2008

The World Premier of Toyota Motor Corporation's personal mobility concept vehicle i-REAL, and its

conceptual collaboration with Chicago, fashion designers Agga B., Anna Fong, Melissa Serpico, and

Lidia Wachowska is launched.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater wins a Regional Tony Award.

The discovery of Omegab baryon is made at Fermilab.

Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of the United States is the Driehaus Architecture Prize

Laureate.

Jean Nouvel is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Alex Fruchter and Mike Kolar found Closed Sessions, a hip-hop record label and management

company.

On June 3, Barack Obama wins the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, becoming the first

major party African American candidate for president.

William Slavin self-publishes a 256-page manuscript, The Golden Age of Ballet Instruction in Glen

Ellyn, Illinois, 1927-1962.

Barack Obama is the first Chicagoan elected president. He holds his national victory rally in Grant Park.

Katie Lorenz is crowned Miss Chicago and goes on to be crowned Miss Illinois.

In the face of "doomsday" fare hike warnings, legislators increase the RTA sales tax in Cook and

collar counties, and increase Chicago's real estate property transfer tax. RTA's powers are broadened.

Chicago records its wettest year on record, 50.86".

2009

Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States.

Sunday, March 1, The Beethoven Project Trio, Sang Mee Lee, violin, Wendy Warner, Cello and

George Lepauw, piano presented the world premier of Beethoven's newly discovered Piano Trio

in E Flat Major, Hess 47, in the newly restored John B. Murphy Auditorium.

April 16, WYCC-TV transmitting from the John Hancock Center switches to all-digital broadcasting,

becoming Chicago's first TV station to stop broadcasting in an analog signal.

In May, the Leather Archives and Museum announces that International Mister Leather would be

placed in a trust to benefit the museum.

Peter Zumthor is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

Norman Pellegrini, program director of WFMT from 1953-1996, dies July 2.

Nettlehorst School is the first elementary school to participate in the Gay Pride Day Parade.

The discovery of single top quark production is made at Fermilab.

Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil of Egypt is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

Brad Keywell, co-founder of Lightbank and Groupon, Chairman of Illinois Innovation Council,

founds Chicago Ideas Week.

Koko Taylor, born Cora Walton, 28 September 1928, dies age 80 in Chicago, June 4.

The Chicago Reader, an alternative weekly tabloid, is sold to Atalaya Capital Management, a New

York-based hedge fund. The Reader distributes about 120,000 copies per week.

On October 27, while going through bankruptcy, WGN's parent company, Tribune Co., sells the

Cubs to the Ricketts family for $845 million.

Bela Gandhi launches Smart Dating Academy.

The first store opens in Block 37 on November 21.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is impeached and tossed out of office.

With 42,887 minutes out of a possible 80,626, Chicago experiences the cloudiest June, July

and August in 115 years.

2010

Alinea (opened 2005) is acclaimed the finest restaurant in the Americas and the 7th best in

the world.

January 3, the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, an international labor union) moved its

GHQ offices to 2117 W. Irving Park Road. Also known as the Wobblies, the IWW had reached its peak

in 1923 with a self-claimed membership of 100,000.

Chicago speedskater Shani Davis wins the gold medal in the 1,000 meter skate in Vancouver, British

Columbia, making him the first person to win twice in the event at the Winter Olympics.

The junction between the Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290) and the Kennedy and Ryan

Expressways (Interstate 90/94) in downtown Chicago known as the Circle Interchange is ranked

number 1 on the Federal Highway Administration list of most congested truck bottleneck in the nation.

Rafael Manzano Martos is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

GO TO 2040 is adopted by leaders across the region. It's the first comprehensive plan for northeastern

Illinois since the Burnham Plan (1909).

Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa are the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates.

Neal Sabin of Weigel Broadcasting, a family owned group of stations, launches ME-TV, digital

subchannels for each of its TV stations and programs, becoming the largest diginet in the US.

Number 2 is the Kennedy Expressway junction with the Edens Expressway (Interstate 94).

On May 26, Lee DeWyz of Mt. Prospect, is named the new American Idol.

Defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3 in Game 6 overtime, the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley

Cup.

Between July 2 and 29 Chicago experiences 29 consecutive days above 80°.

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (1936-2011) is honored with a Grammy award for the best traditional blues

album for Joined at the Hip. Smith played drums and harmonica with Muddy Waters.

Worker-made, worker-owned, and worker-operated cooperative that roasts, packages, and distributes

fair-trade coffee, Cafe Chicago, is founded by the Latino Union of Chicago at the Albany Park Workers'

Center.

The Chicago History Museum is inducted into the Chicago Lesbian and Gay Hall of Fame.

A record 38,131 runners competed in the Chicago Marathon and a record 36,159 finished.

Made of a synthetic substance called Skating in the Sky, a 50x20 foot ice skating rink opens on

the 94th floor of the John Hancock Center.

Judy Baar Topinka wins bid for Illinois comptroller, becoming the first woman to win election to two

statewide executive offices.

Alinea, headed by chef Grant Achatz, and L20, until recently headed by chef Laurent Gras, are both

awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide Chicago 2010.

Listed as the world's 52nd-oldest person, Evelyn Margaret Ralson of Evanston, born October 17,

1899, dies December 29.

2011

Overnight of February 1- 2, Chicago is slowed by the third most powerful winter storm in its

recorded history. Complete with thundersnow, the storm closes Lake Shore Drive overnight with

some 900 cars stranded, 1,300 flights are cancelled at O'Hare and Midway, all public schools are

closed as well as colleges and universities and countless offices. The storm is blamed for at least

a dozen deaths.

On February 17, an early morning low of 47º F surpasses the highest low of 42º F set in 1890

and a high of 58º F at Midway surpasses the high of 56º F set in 1981.

On February 22, with 55.2% of the vote, Rahm Emanuel becomes Mayor elect, taking office in May.

With 28.6" of snowfall recorded in February, Chicago surpasses its previous record of 27.8" set

in 1896.

Robert A.M. Stern of the United states is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

Eduardo Souto de Moura is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The 2010 census shows 60 of the city's 77 neighborhoods decreased population resulting in a

citywide loss of some 200,000 people.

Mei-Ann Chen becomes music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta.

Lookingglass Theatre wins a Regional Theatre Tony Award.

Dick Locher ends his 32 years of drawing the Dick Tracy comic strip for the Chicago Tribune on

Sunday, March 13. On Monday, March 14, Mike Curtis and Joe Staton continue the strip.

Andy Karzas, host of WFMT's From the Recording Horn, weekly since 1976, dies.

On April 18, Chicago receives .6" of snow, a record for the date.

Grant Achatz's Alinea is rated the 6th finest restaurant in the world

Chicago experiences its least sunny April ever with 7671 minutes of sunshine out of a total of

24025 minutes possible. This is 32 % while the average is 53 % and the old record of least sun

set April 1953, stood at 34%.

Robert W. Finzel dies. He designs backdrops, murals and props for Chicago's major institutions,

including the gold horns that have since 1991 hung above the State Street store of Marshall Fields

(now Macy's) and the Heart at the Museum of Science and Industry.

On May 1 Chicago's gas prices average $4.352 per gallon, a national high. By May 3, some stations

are selling gas for $5.05 per gallon.

On May 25, after 25 years of recording her daytime show here, Oprah Winfrey bids adieu to Chicago.

The discovery of Xib, a heavy relative of the neutron is made at Fermilab.

Vonda Urban, age 92, dies. She was a famous mambo, rumba and cha-cha instructor at the Aragon

Ballroom from 1954 on. In the 1960s she became a Theosophist.

Cinespace Chicago Film Studios launches in North Lawndale in May.

The Poetry Foundation opens its newly constructed building by John Ronan in River North.

Poetry wins two National Magazine Awards.

After a contest for a name change, the former Ambassador East hotel's, The Pump Room is renamed

the Pump Room.

A hailstorm breaks thousands of panes of glass of the Garfield Park Conservatory on June 30.

Wilfred Santiago publishes a graphic novel, 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente. It receives acclaim.

As of July 21 Chicago had received less than a half-inch of rain, the 6th driest on record. Then

8.41" fell July 22-23, including the most rain in any one day ever on July 23, 6.86". Another 2"+

fell July 27-29, for a total of 11.15", making this the wettest July on record by a wide margin.

The old record was 9.56" in 1889.

Fermilab's Tevatron sends its last subatomic particle crashing around its underground racetrack

September 30. The Tevatron is eclipsed by the Large Hardon Collider, near Geneva, Switzerland.

On October 9 Moses Mosop set a course record in winning the Bank of America Chicago Marathon

in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 37 seconds. Liliya Shobukhova becomes the first runner to win a third straight

title.

On October 10, The Rosie Show debuts hosted by Rosie O'Donell.

Absolute Software, a Vancouver based theft recovery firm, determined that Chicago is No.1 in the

nation in laptop thefts. O'Hare International Airport ranks No. 3 among U.S. airports.

On December 23, the Tower Club, 39th floor of the Civic Opera House, serves its last meal and drink.

2012

Ten hours of steady snowfall on January 20 blankets the city with 7.3" at Midway Airport, breaking

a 62 year record for the date set with 4.9" in 1949.

Charla Krupp, entertainment and beauty editor for Glamour and other magazines, author of

How Not to Look Old, dies of breast cancer, age 58.

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich goes to jail in Colorado on March 16, months after being

found guilty on 17 of 20 counts in his 2011 corruption trial.

Summer Girlfriend, an all-female band, is founded.

Michael Graves of the United states is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

On April 16, Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich wins the Pulitzer Prize for commentary; it

is the paper's 26th Pulitzer.

The City of Chicago publishes a Gang Book, a guide to names, turf, and maps for police.

British-based Restaurant magazine ranks Alinea Restaurant 7th finest restaurant in the world.

On March 22, Chicago experiences a high of 87º F at O'Hare and 84º F at Midway, eclipsing the

previous high of 79º F set in 1938. This high marked the end of 11th straight days of over 70º F

and 9th straight day over 80º F, eclipsing the previous run March 12-16, 1995.

April 30, Elite Travel Magazine names Alinea the world's best restaurant.

Wang Shu is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

A high-point of Drill, a hip hop rap subgenre from Chicago's South Side (Woodlawn) defined by

grim, violent lyrics, is achieved when Chief Keef plays at Lollapalooza and Pitchfork music festivals

and signs with Interscope Records.

Block 37 is purchased for $84 million by CIM Group, a Los Angeles based real estate fund.

Chicago hosts its first NATO summit, May 18-21. Attending are U.S. President Barack Obama,

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Belgium

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen

Harper, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, Denmark Prime

Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Estonia Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, France President Francois

Hollande, Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greece Prime minister Lucas Papademos, Hungary

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Iceland Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, Italy Prime Minister

Mario Monti, Latvia President Andris Berzins, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Luxembourg

Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Norway Prime Minister

Jens Stoltenbrg, Poland President Bronislaw Komorowski, Portugal Prime Minister Pedro Passos

Coelho, Romania President Traian Basescu, Slovakia President Ivan Gasparovic, Slovenia Prime

Minister Janez Jansa, Spain Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Turkey President Abdullah Gul, U.K.

Prime Minister David Cameron.

The University of Chicago hosts Comics: Philosophy & Practice, a gathering of 17 of the most

important alternative cartoonists of the past half-century. Among those attending are R.Crumb,

Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Justin Green, Seth, Lynda Barry,

Phoebe Gloeckner, Art Spiegelman, and Francoise Mouly.

The Chicago Reader, an alternative newspaper, is sold to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Earliest 97º at O'Hare on Sunday, May 27 makes it the warmest Memorial Day on record with 95º.

Unanimously Chicago's City Council approves licenses allowing produce merchants to set up

moveable outdoor fruit stands on private property and 30 designated location on the public way.

With an official reading of 102º at O'Hare, the hottest 4th of July recorded is shared with 1911.

On July 5, the temperature at O'Hare reaches a record-high 103º, then drops 20º to 84º as

thunderstorms with winds of 52 mph at O'Hare and 95 mph at the crib off Navy Pier, pass through.

A high of 103º is recorded at O'Hare, Midway reaches 105º, to make July 6 the third-straight day

of over 100º in Chicago. At an average of 92.2º, July 4-6 is the hottest 3 day period on record

since 1871.

On July 6, the great Santa Fe sign is removed from atop the Railway Exchange Building, 224 S.

Michigan, taking away one of the last indicators that Chicago was once the nation's railroad hub.

In mid-July, the Hancock Observatory is sold to Paris-based observation-deck operator Montparnasse

56 Group.

With food sales, not including alcohol, of about $24 million, Forbes magazine finds Bob Chinn's Crab

House restaurant in Wheeling the top-earning restaurant in the U.S. The restaurant flies in 3,000

pounds of seafood daily. Owner, Bob Chinn is the 89-year-old son of Chinese immigrants.

Said to be the world's largest, a new Ronald McDonald House opens in July in Streeterville at 211

E. Grand. It's located in close proximity to the new Lurie Children's Hospital which bills itself as the

world's tallest children's hospital.

Nordic Thunder, Chicagoan Justin Howard's stage name, wins the 17th annual world's air guitar

championship in Oulu, Finland.

Charlie Trotter closes his restaurant on August 31. The Chicago Tribune runs a series of articles on

Charlie Trotter's lasting influence on American restaurants and his worldwide influence.

Rick Bayless celebrates Frontera Grill's 25th anniversary by staring in Lookingglass Theatre Company's

Cascabel, a dinner-theater show Bayless co-created with Tony Hernandez and Heidi Stillman.

September 5 is Chicago's 75th day this year to reach at least 85º, eclipsing the old record established

in 1953.

International Beethoven Project opens this year's festival, Revolution 2012, on September 8. It runs

through September 16 at the National Pastime Theatre, in the Peoples Church, 941 W. Lawrence Ave

and presents many World and Chicago Premiers: David Winkler's Forze Vita; Mohammed Fairouz's

Violin Sonata and Furia; Mischa Zupko's Occupy; Locatellis' Caprice from Sonata Op.6 No.12 in D;

Evan Johnson's die Bewegung der Augen; Salvatore Sciarrino's Vanitas, still life in one act; Michael

Hersch's The Vanishing Pavilions; 12 World Premiers in Rockefeller Project Curated by Joe Darnaby

and Mischa Zupko; Mikolaj Gorecki Project; Living Cinema; 18 World Premiers curated by Mischa

Zupko, Beethoven's The Creatures of Prometheus, Opus 43, a fully staged ballet.

Monday, September 10, the Chicago Teachers Union calls a strike, the first Chicago Public School

strike in 25 years. The strike ends and classes resume on September 19.

Global Business Travel Association research finds Chicago has the nation's highest travel taxes.

On September 19, The DePaul University's College of Commerce, one of the ten oldest in the

country, is rededicated as The Richard H. Driehaus College of Business.

On October 6, Logan Park resident, Keith Liddell, age 26, threw a punch measured at 44 mph and

set a record upheld by the Guinness Book of World Records.

On October 7, 5' 2" tall Ethiopian Segaye Kebede wins the Chicago Marathon in a record breaking

time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 38 seconds, breaking last years record breaking time by 59 seconds.

Second place goes to Ethiopian Feysa Lilesa with at time of 2:04:52 and third place is Ethiopian

Tilahun Regassa with 2:05:26. Atseda Baysa of Ethiopia wins the women's title in 2:22:03 besting

second place Kenya's Rita Jeptoo by 1 second.

On October 11, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (915 E. 60th),

Helmuth Jahn changes the name of his architectural firm Murphy/Jahn to Jahn.

President Obama is re-elected on Tuesday, November 6.

A photo of President Barack Obama hugging First Lady Michelle Obama titled Four More Years

officially becomes the most re-tweeted photo ever shared on Twitter. The photo had been taken

earlier in the day in Chicago.

Chicago is named the 2012 National Bible City.

Marisa Buchheit is crowned Miss Chicago. She conceptualizes, creates, and hosts Fashion of the

Opera 2012 to benefit the Merit School of Music.

U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from Congress on November 21.

The new Chicago Burberry store is the only American flagship launch this year and is the only US

providing shoppers with the option to digitally customize their trench coats via program called

Burberry Bespoke.

Buddy Guy receives the Kennedy Center Honor for his impact on American culture through the arts

from President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.

Monday, December 3, the temperature officially reaches 70º, the third time since 1871. Midway

Airport records an unofficial 72º, the highest ever recorded in the city for this date.

With 197 new startups attracting $391 million, the National Venture Capital Association lists Chicago

as No.7 in the top 10 cities for startup investments.

The founder and CEO of Invenergy, a Chicago based wind energy company, Michael Polsky donates

$8 million to the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, renaming it the

Michael P. Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

December 11, Chicago officially broke the record for longest stretch between measurable snowfalls

at 281 days.

December 16 passed without measurable snow, a record latest date for no snow in the city.

Using a series of bedsheets knotted together, Joseph Banks and Kenneth Conley escape from the

Loop's Metropolitan Correctional Center on December 18. Banks is captured December 21, Conley,

January 5, 2013.

After 290 days of no snow, a predicted storm for the night of December 20 resulted in hundreds of

flight cancellations and a measurable 0.1" of snow at 6:30 pm at O'Hare. O'Hare also recorded the

city's heavies rainfall in 5 months, 1.32".

On December 30, at 309 consecutive days on which Chicago's temperature rose to at least 32º, the

city breaks the long-standing record of 308 consecutive days at or above 32º recorded in 1878.

With an average temperature of 54.5º, 2012 is officially the mildest year on record in Chicago.

The Chicago Tribune names its Chicagoans of the Year: George LePauw for Classical; Rachel

Rockwell for Theatre; Tony Karman for Visual Art; Mark Fishman for Movies; Gillian Flynn for Books;

Gustavo Ramirez Sansano for Dance; Frank D'Rone for Jazz; Lupe Fiasco for Pop and Rock.

The Gang Book of 2012, published by the Chicago Crime Commission, boasts that the city has

more gang members than any other city in the US. 150,000 members.

Roger Ebert writes 306 film reviews this year.

The city experiences 506 homicides this year.

2013

Three homicides are recorded New Year's Day in Chicago.

At 335 days without at least 1" of snow, on January 25 Chicago receives 1.1" of snow and passes

the 319 days record set in 1940.

First recorded in 1899, on January 18 Chicago breaks the city's latest 1" snow on record, then records

1.1" of snow at O'Hare on January 25.

Lake Michigan reaches a record low of 2.78 feet below its long-term average.

Federal prosecutors accuse Jesse Jackson Jr. of diverting campaign funds for personal use, a federal

offence. His wife, Sandi Jackson is accused of improper tax filing. Both have resigned their public

offices, he in the House of Representatives, she in the Chicago City Council.

Michael Jordan is 50-years old on February 17.

Thomas H. Beeby of the United states is the Driehaus Architecture Prize Laureate.

Magic Slim born 1937, a Chicago Blues singer/guitarist legend, dies Feb.21 in Philadelphia.

Dawn Clark Netsch, pioneer Illinois politician who was the first woman to run for governor on a major

ticket and helped rewrite the Illinois constitution, dies, age 86, March 5.

Going into their March 8 game, The Chicago Blackhawks have 24 consecutive wins, the longest

such streak in NHL history, experiencing their first defeat since March 25, 2012 on March 8.

Poetic film critic Roger Ebert, born Urbana, Illinois, June 18, 1942, dies, April 4.

Toyo Ito is the Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.

The Syl Lulinski Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nev. is named for Sylvester "Syl" Lulinski,

American Cribbage Congress champion from La Grange Park.

Maria Tallchief, dazzling ballerina and Muse for Balanchine dies April 11.

Alinea named 15th finest restaurant in the world by British-based Restaurant magazine.

Adolph Herseth (1921-2013), 53 years as principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony dies April 14.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago film student, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, wins the Cinefondation's

short film competition at Cannes with her film, Needle.

Inspired by a book of vintage photographs published by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, the

Chicago River is celebrated in 5 movements in a symphony by Orbert Davis.

Best selling author, Rev. Andrew Greeley (1928-2013), dies May 30.

The Chicago School of Architecture: Building the Modern City, 1880-1910 (Shire Publications) by

Rolf Achilles, is published.

Bernie Sahlins, born 1922 in Chicago, a crucial and essential improv impresario of American comedy

and a founder, with Howard Alk and Paul Sills, of Second City, died Sunday, June 16.

The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.

Hands Together: An Icon Incarnate, an exhibition of Praying Hands from the collection of Rolf Achilles

and Maral Hashemi, with relevant Roger Brown paintings from the collection of SAIC, opens August

26 at the Roger Brown Study Collection. The exhibition may be the first on this subject in the US.

Beethoven Festival, Love 2013, opens September 7 with the first Chicago performance of J.S.Bach's

Saint-John Passion, 1725 version, performed by Prometheus Baroque Ensemble and Chorus led by

Matthias Pintscher. A world premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Lieber by Dominic Armstrong and

George Lepauw. The first performance of Tigue and Robert Honstein's An Index of Possibilities in

Chicago. First performance in Chicago of Sound Love. Daniel Rowland makes his Chicago debut.

Probably the first performance in Chicago of Robert Ballard's Music from the Premier Livre de Luth,

Paris, 1611; John Dowland's Music from the Varietie of Lute Lessons, London, 1610 and Giovanni

Girolamo Kapsperger's Music from il Primo Libro di Lauto, 1611. Debut of Prometheus Modern.

Chicago debut of Christian Chamorel. World premiere of John Zorn's The Confusion of Tongues;

Mohammed Fairouz's Al-Sham; Mischa Zupko's Love Obsession, and Chicago premiere of Philip

Glass's Work for a Solo Cello. Premier and Chicago debut of Gray: A False Sense of Silence. World

premiere of An Original Work, Music Becomes Visible, Images Become Sound by Rachel Monosov

and Seppe van den Berghe. Chicago premiere of Michael Hersch's Tenebrae (2010) and 2 Lullabies

(2011). US. premiere of Wolfgang von Schweinitz's Plainsound String Quartet "Holy Cow". Premiere

of a Multi-Disciplinary Electro-Acoustic-Visual Project led by Alex Rowney. 28 World classical and rock

premieres inspired by Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Chicago premiere of Mohammed Fairouz's Piano

Sonata Number 2 "The Last Resistance" and Matthias Pintscher's Songs from Solomon's Garden.

Inese Driehaus, Skip Grisham and Ted Seymour directed Designers of Passion, that showcased

designs by Alison Elizabeth, Rachel Frank, Haj Gueye, Agnes Hamerlink, Elaine Hoang, Erin von

Kannon, Cynthia Roman, Austin Yamada, and Sandra Yau.

A high of 95º at O'Hare on September 10 ties a record first set in 1983, but it was coupled with a

morning low of 77º that set a record high low for the day and it's the city's highest minimum for so late

in the year.

On September 28, The Richard H. Driehaus Museum inaugurates its first large-scale exhibition, Louis

Comfort Tiffany: Treasures from the Driehaus Collection. David A. Hanks curates. A lavishly illustrated

catalog accompanies the exhibition.

Earl J.J. Pionke (born about 1933), dies, age 80. He opened the Earl of Old Town, 1615 N. Wells in

1962, and closes it in 1982.

Sunday, October 13, Dennis Kimetto of Kenya sets a Bank of America Chicago Marathon course

record of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya wins the women's elite division in

2 hours,19 minutes, 57 seconds (her personal best). Ernest Van Dyk of South Africa wins the male

wheelchair division in 1:30:37, and Tatyana McFadden of Champaign, Illinois marks her third

consecutive win in the female wheelchair division with 1:42:35. Some 45,000 marathoners registered

with 40,143 crossing the starting line. Maickel Melamed, a Venezuelan man with muscular dystrophy

crosses the Chicago Marathon finish line 16 hours and 46 minutes after he began the race.

Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, both faculty at the University of Chicago, with Robert Shiller of

Yale University, share the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics.

Marianne Paloian (born Helen Kerdian), celebrates her 107 birthday in St. Gregory the Illuminator

Armenian Church on the city's Northwest side. Born 1906, she is one of the last survivors of the slaughter

of Armenians in 1915.

Traces of snow were seen at both Midway and O'Hare on October 22, matching the first snow-of-the-

season date set in 1937.

Charlie Trotter, Chicago's internationally acclaimed, revolutionary chef, dies, November 5.

Greg Edson, owner of Brollytime Inc., a Chicago firm, introduces his smart-phone friendly Brolly

umbrella in 7-Eleven stores across the country. The umbrella features an ergonomic handle with four

finger holes, leaving the thumb free to text.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based in Chicago, ruled on November 12, that one

World Trade Center, 1,776 feet with spire, surpasses the Willis Tower, 1,451, as the tallest Building in

the US.

The approval of the merger of American and US Airways on November 12, knocks Chicago based

United Airlines to world's second largest carrier.

On November 21, Walgreens officially opened what it believes is the first store in the US to produce at

least as much energy as it consumes. The store is at 635 Chicago Avenue, Evanston.

Aaron Moore, 2-handed piano blues and boogie-woogie player dies November 27, age 95, of cancer

in Rush University Medical Center, Chicago.

Aaron Moore is recorded on the Delmark label.

The Smith Museum opens a permanent exhibition of 22 American Victorian windows in Macy's

Pedway.

The Chicago Bears retire Mike Ditka's No. 89 in ceremony during halftime of game at Soldier Field on

December 9.

Eataly opens in Chicago at 43 East Ohio, its second location in the U.S., after New York City. There

are 25 Eataly stores worldwide: 10 in Italy, 13 in Japan, 1 in Dubai, 1 in Istanbul.

In celebration of Terri Hemmert's 40 years at WXRT, Mayor Rahm Emanuel makes a surprise visit to

WXRT studios to declare December 18, Terri Hemmert Day in Chicago.

In December, Dominick's closes its remaining seventy-two stores.

2014

A record low of -16º is recorded at O'Hare for January 6.

For the second year in a row Chicago is awarded the distinction of being ranked first in the nation in

bedbug infestations by Orkin, an exterminating company.

Betty Jane "Lindy" Bergman dies January 18. She was a Trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago, The

University of Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Museum and several other noted institutions. In

the early 1950s, she and her husband, Edwin, became established as modern art collectors and

assembled a legendary collection of mostly Surrealist art, including the definitive collection of works

by Joseph Cornell.

Chicagoland, an 8-hour CNN series produced/directed by Marc Levin and Mark Benjamin with Robert

Redford as executive producer is publicly screened on January 19 at Redford's Sundance Film

Festival. The film receives its Chicago premier on March 4 (the birthday of the city) at the Bank of

America Theater in the Loop and is seen nationally on CNN for 8-weeks starting March 6.

Chicago(Cook County) issues its first same-sex marriage licenses February 21, followed on

February 22 by the first marriages.

Second City alum, screen writer (Ghostbusters, Animal House, Groundhogs Day) and Chicagoan,

Harold Ramis, age 69, dies February 24.

February 25, President Barack Obama announces a public-private innovation institute for Chicago

named the Digital Lab for Manufacturing. It is funded with $70 million from the Defense Department

plus additional commitment of $250 million in state and private-sector money and other contributions.

Born on Chicago's North Side, Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz (born 1954) dies on March 4. He had been an

energetic force in the city's Hasidic Jewish community, overseeing the Lubavitch-Chabad movement

in Illinois and helping establish 37 Chabad centers around the state.

Ken Griffin donates $150 million to his alma mater, Harvard for student financial aid.

Through March 5, measurable snowfall has been recorded on 45 days this winter season, setting a

record.

On March 7, Lake Michigan is approximately 92 percent ice-covered - most since 1979.

Pier Carlo Bontempi of Italy is the 2014 Richard H. Driehaus Prize Laureate and Professor Yisan

Ruan of China is the recipient of the 2014 Henry Hope Reed Award on March 28. The award is

presented in Chicago.

Known as the "Godfather of House Music," Frankie Knuckles dies April 1, age 54.

Wonuts, a waffle donut, is introduced by Alex Hernandez at his Waffle Cafe.

British-based Restaurant magazine ranks Alinea Restaurant 9th finest restaurant in the world.

On March 24, a CTA Blue Line train operated by Brittney Haywood injures more than 30 riders and

causes more than $6 million in damages when it derailed and crashed into an escalator at O'Hare

International Airport.

The Goliath wooden rollercoaster opens at Six Flags Great America. It has the world's longest drop

of a wooden roaler coaster, speeds up to 72 mph are reached on an 85-degree 180 -foot cliff that

ends in a hairpin turn, two upside down twists and a zero-gravity stall.

37,500 freight railcars, 25% of the nation's freight train traffic, passes through Chicago each day.

May 30, Wilmette resident Julia Collins wins her 20th consecutive game of "Jeapordy" becoming the

games second most successful winner, ever.

Alia Abiad, 14, of Western Springs, ties for 5th place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The Cubs sign a deal with CBS-owned radio station WBBM-AM on June 4, to broadcast games

starting in 2015.

Thalia Hall (built 1893), 1807 S. Allport, in Pilsen neighborhood, opens its restored and renovated

concert hall in June with performers by Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin.

Paul Balan, a Filipino immigrant, of suburban Rould Lake, is chosen to design the new National

Humanities Medal.

Jessie Mueller, from Evanston, wins a Tony for best actress in a Broadway musical, Beautiful-The

Carole King Musical.

Awarded at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, June 13, Shigery Ban of Japan is the 2014 Pritzker

Architecture Prize Laureate.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces, June 24, that Chicago will host an Architecture Biennial in 2015.

BP is the sponsor.

On June 24, pending approval by the Chicago Planning Commission, the George Lucas and Mellody

Hobson announce that the George Lucas collection of art and movie memorabilia will move to a site

between Soldier Field and McCormick Place and that the new museum will open in 2018.

According to the FAA, O'Hare is the first airport in the US to use recycled asphalt shingles in runway

construction.

Ruth Horwich, philanthropist and arts patron and collector, dies July 21, age 94.

On July 29 to July 30, the longest game in Cub's history, Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies, lasts 16 innings,

but takes 6 hours and 27 minutes to complete at Wrigley Field. That's an average of 24 minutes and

11seconds per inning.

August 1, Charles Joly of The Aviary wins the Diego Reserve World Class Bartender of the Year

competition in London, UK.

Devereux Bowley, Jr., dies on August 6. He was one of the original founders of 57th Street Books,

and, in 1971, one of the original team of docents to lead architecture tours for the Chicago School

of Architecture Foundation, today known as the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

John Kearney, a sculptor known for his chrome bumper animals, dies on August 10, age 90.

Robert Morris University is the first school in the nation to offer athletic scholarships for video game

players.

Jackie Robinson West, American Little League Champions, is the first team from Chicago since North

Roseland in 1967, to qualify for the Little League Baseball World Series. Jackie Robinson West takes

second place with an 8-4 loss to South Korea in the Little League Baseball World Series.

The Circle Interchange where the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways meet Congress

Parkway just west of downtown is named, as of August 29, the Jane Byrne Interchange, a title Gov.

Pat Quinn said is appropriate because of her inclusive style.

September 11, 12 and13 reached official highs of 56ºF, 55ºF and 59ºF, the first time in the city's

recorded temperature history that three consecutive days below 60ºF occur so early.

With an average of 54ºF, 11.8ºF below the long-term average, Chicago records its chilliest September

11-17.

On September 17, Lou Conte, Richard Hunt, Ramsey Lewis, Lois Weisberg, Auditorium Theatre,

receive the city's first Fifth Star Award in a ceremony at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millenium Park.

Anne De Mare and Kirsten Kelly, in collaboration with Kartemquin Films, direct and produce The

Homestretch, a no-frills documentary film about three of Chicago's homeless teenagers.

On September 20, Bishop Blase Cupich of Spokane, Washington, is selected to be Chicago's ninth

archbishop.

A spotted gar, undocumented in Chicago waterways, is seen and photogrpahed in the North Shore

Channel in Lincolnwood.

On October 3, Hot Doug's, the fabled Avondale wiener emporium, serves its last "dog."

On November 3, Nik Wallenda's high wire walk of 454 feet at an incline of 19% between Marina City

and the Leo Burnett Building set a world's record for incline high-wire walks. His 94 feet blindfolded

high-wire walk between Marina Towers also set a world's record.

Michelin Guide Chicago 2015 awards Alinea three stars for the fifth year in a row and Grace, under

chef Curtis Duffy, three Michelin stars. 42 grams, run by chef Jake Bickelhaupt, receives two Michelin

stars in its first year of consideration.

Jane Byrne, 81 years old, Chicago's first female mayor, dies on November 14.

The days of November 12-19 are the coldest on record, and there was a period of 179 consecutive

hours in which the temperature failed to reach 32 (the old record was 173 consecutive hours set in

1903.

Mike Nichols, a Second City and WFMT pioneer, a Hollywood legend, dies, age 83, on November 22.

Judy Baar Topinka wins re-election as state comptroller, November 4, dies, December 3, after

complications from a stroke.

2015

On Friday, January 10, the new general Manager of the Chicago Bears, Ryan Pace, is introduced by

Bear's President, Ted Phillips. Pace is 37 years old, the youngest GM in the NFL. A few days later,

John Fox is secured as coach.

Ernie Banks dies, age 83, January 23.

With 19.3 inches recorded at O'Hare between Saturday, January 31 and February 2, with 16.2 inches

on Sunday, February 1, making it the snowiest February 1, the total accumulated snowfall marked it

as the fifth largest in Chicago history.

Orbitz Worldwide, the city's premier online travel agency, is purchased by Expedia for $1.33 billion.

Around 6:20 AM, on February 19, the temperature at O'Hare dropped to 8° below zero, a new record

for the day.

Early Saturday, February 28, the temperature at O'Hare reached 10° below zero, breaking the record

of 0° set in 1884

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Janet Baer, formally ended the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Irish developer

Garrett Kelleher's Shelbourne North Water Street, better known as the Spire, on March 18.

In March, the Willis (Sears) Tower is sold for $1.3 billion to Blackstone Group, a New York-based

private equity group.

On March, 22, real estate mogul and preservation/philanthropist Seymour H. Perskey, age 90, dies.

Hillary Rodham Clinton announces, on April 12, her intention to run for President in 2016.

Age 78, Cardinal Francis George dies, April 17. He guided the nation's third-largest archdiocese for

17 years.

Robert Morris University is the runner-up in the North American Collegiate Championship in the

multiplayer battle game, "League of Legends." Robert Morris University offers the nations first

athletic scholarship for video gamers in 2014.

Duncan Keith scoers in the second period and directs a dominant defense that shut down Tampa

Bay's high-scoring attack, and the Blackhawks beat the Lightning 2-0 in Game 6 on Monday, June

15, for their third NHL title in the past six seasons. The Blackhawks's win clinches the Cup on home

ice for the first time since 1938.

Ramsey Lewis marks his 80th birthday August 8 at Ravinia with the world premier of his Concerto

for Jazz Trio and Orchestra.

Sponsored by Madeleine Plonsker, Frank Fernandez performs on August 18 at Ravinia, making the

festival the first U.S. presenter to engage the Cuban virtuoso.

Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson give more than 40 contemporary and modern art works worth an

estimated $400 million to the Art Institutue of Chicago.

Installed in 1995, the last turn of the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel occured midnight, Sunday to Monday,

September 27-28, accompanied by fire works. Monday, September 28, the dismantling started. A new

Wheel, 196 feet tall, is planned to revitalize Navy Pier during its centennial in 2016.

Robert Taylor, a award-winning creative director, dies. He worked for Leo Burnett and DDB Needham

and others creating such campaigns as the McDonald's "Big Mac Attack,"and the National HIghway

Safety Administration public service announcements featuring crash test dummies, Vince and Larry.

The Baseball Writers Association of America names Joe Maddon of the Chicago Cubs the National

League Manager of the Year.

Cubs' ace Jake Arrieta wins the National League Cy Young award, November 18.

With 17 inches of snowfall across Chicago's northern suburbs, and a total of 11.2 inches at O'Hare

International Airport.

Chef Yoshi Katsamura dies. His wife, Nobuko continues to own and run the Lakeview restaurant.

Chicago received its largest November snowfall in 120 years.

In 2015 Chicago draws a record 51.7 million visitors, according to Choose Chicago.

2016

In January, fabled Lava LIte of Elk Grove Village becomes Lifespan Brands.

For the fourth year in a row, Chicago is number 1 on the list fo 50 Bed Bug Cities, according to pest

control compnay Orkin.

Jelly Belly Candy's organic jelly beans are made exclusively at its North Chicago plant. Ten flavors are

available: apple, berry, blueberry, cherry, coconut, lemon, orange, peach, pear, and strawberry.

January 16 Lois Weisberg (1925-2016), age 90, City of Chicagho Commissioner of Cultural Affairs

from 1989-2011, dies.

January 20, Vail Resorts purchases Wilmot Mountain ski area, between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Chicago's skyline is named number two in the world, after Dallas in a USA Today survey of the world's

best skylines. Chicago beat out Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, New York City, Hong Kong, San Francisco

and Seattle.

May home prices in the Chicago area climbed more than in any other major city, according to the

S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

Three-time heavyweight champ Mohammad Ali dies June 3. He is 74.

Dorothy Braude Edinburg, a Massachusetts art collector, leaves the Art Institute of Chicago $35

million in her will.

Demolition in July and August of Oprah Winfrey's former Harpo Studios on the Near West Side will

clear way for McDonald's new corporate headquarters to be constructed on the site by spring 2018.

Hillary Clinton is nominated to become the Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party.

She is the first woman to be so nomnated by a major political party.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama selected Jackson Park as the site of his

presidential library.

On July 28, Hillary Clinton becomes the first woman to accept a major party’s presidential nomination.

Of the 19 people shot in Chicago on August 8, nine of them were killed, marking the most homicides

in a single day in the City since July 5, 2003.

Evan Reese Jager, born March8, 1989 in Algonquin, wins the silver medal in the men's 3000-meter

steeplechase of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17.

With 90 homicides, August is the City's most violent month since July 1993 when 99 were killed.

An official City Landmark since 1989, the 740,000 square-foot Tribune Tower is sold for $240 million.

Barry Nemerow, former co-owner of The Wiener's Circle, where hot dogs had an attitude, dies, age

60, August 31.

After more than 70 years, Sam's Red Hots, 2345 W. Armitage, Western and Milwaukee, closes.

Bicycling Magazine praises Chicago as the nation's most bicycle friendly city.

The Cubs (93-53) clinched the division title, their first National League Central title since 2008.

Ceremonial groundbreaking by CMK and City of Chicago of 62-acres Riverline project, September 12.

"Cantharellus chicagoensis," a new species of Chanterelle mushroom is identified by Patrick Leacock of

the Field Museum and colleagues from the Chicago Botanic Garden and Northwestern Universtiy.

The Cub's 3-1 victory over the Cardninals on September 25 set the record for most wins at Wrigley

Field in a season with 57, breaking a tie with the teams from 1933 and 1935.

Phil Chess, founder, with his brother Leonard, of Chess Records dies on October 18, age 95.

Chicago Cubs defeat L.A.Dodgers 5-0 to win NLCS and advance to their first World Series since 1945.

Herb Kent, known as the "Cool Gent," and the longest-running DJ in radio history, 70 years, dies

October 22, age 88. While at WBEE, Kent coined the phrase "dusty records" or "dusties".

The City counts 78 homicides in October.

The curse is broken! Cubs win World Series on November 2, beating Cleveland Indians 8-7, winning

3 straight games, to end 108-year title drought.

Cubs World Series celebration on November 5 attracts an estimated 5 milion people to Chicago. This

is thought to be the largest gathering in American history and the 7th largest in human history.

Ear Taxi Festival, co-curated by Augusta Read Thomas, October 5-10, focuses on new music that is

composed in the classical traditions of acoustic and electronic music, featuring 32 events, more than

300 musicians, 88 composers and 53 world premieres—including two afternoons of free music at the

Chicago Cultural Center.

Time Out Magazine reports the most fun city overall in the world is Chicago, Melbourne is second,

Lisbon is third.

Twenty-six restaurants receive one or more Michellin stars this year, up from 22 last year.

Open since 1933, the Cape Cod Room in the Drake Hotel serves its last meal New Years Eve.

Chicago counts 762 murders.

Chicago counts 54.1 million visitors.

2017

Macy’s sells iconic Marshall Field’s Frango chocolate brand to Garrett Brands, the Chicago-based

owner of popcorn shops.

For the first time in 147 years, Chicago records no snow in January and February.

With more than 78 million passengers in 2016, O'Hare International Airport is the 6th busies in the

world.

Chicago has its warmest ever March 24, when temperatures reached 82° at 2:26 P.M., breaking a 78-

year-old record.

United Airlines injures Dr. David Dao while forcebly removing him from an overooked flight. The action

receives wide attention.

Receiving wide attention, a giant rqabbit dies on a United Flight.

Macy's offers to sell floors 8-14 of its Chicago store, the former Marshall Field's.

Tribune Media is bought by Sinclair Broadcast Group for $3.9 billion.

New Zealand coffee chain, Mojo, opens first U.S. shop in Chicago, 200 S. Wacker Drive.

On May 20, the $108 million Riverwalk officially opened.

Oscar Lopez Rivera, convicted in 1981 for his role as a leader of the FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist

group, is released from prison and receives a hero's homecoming welcome in Humboldt Park.

Ken Griffin donates $125 million to the University of Chicago to support the widely influential

Department of Economics.

The fabled Chicago blues drummer, Casey Jones dies May 3, age 77.

The Chicago Plan Commission approves guidelines for the North Branch Corridor development of 760

acres for residential and commercial use.

With a donation of $100 million dollars to the University of Chicago supporting science and medicine,

Craig and Janet Duchossois make the largest single gift in support of University of Chicago Medicine.

Herb Kraus (1921-2017), famed Chicago publicist, dies on May 20 in his sleep. He was 95.

Louis Bernard is named director of the Obama Presidential Center museum, to be located in Jackson

Park.

Census numbers show that Chicago has lost population for the third consecutive year as other major

cities gained population.

On May 25, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Amtrack CEO Wick Moorman announced that Riverside

Investment & Development will lead in the construction of a $1 billion project to rehab Union Station

and redevelop some of the are around it.

Pakistani-American Ali Mushtag, age 27, wins International Mr. Leather held at the Congress Plaza

Hotel late May.

Former All-star and Gold Glove outfielder Jimmy Piersall diesat 87.

The city's elevated train celebrates 125 years on June 6.

After six months, Chicago's 7 cent per disposable bag tax, aimed to raise $9.2 million in its first year,

has earned $2.4 million, while decreasing the use of disposable bags by 42 percent.

On July 22, Chicago hosted the first-ever Pokemon Go. Some 20,000 fans from around the world

descended on Grant Park.

Chicago is named the Restaurant City of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine.

A new CTA station at Washington and Wabash opens August 31. It's the first new CTA station in 20

years.

Giada Gambatese sells a record 30,120 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.

The city's Hispanic population in 2016 stands at more than 803,000, or 29.7% of the city's residents.

The city's black population in 2016 stands at about 792,000, or 29.3 % of the city's residetns.

The city's white population in 2016 stands at nearly 882,000, or about 32.6 % of the city's residents.

The Chicago Sinfonietta opens its yearlong "Project W: Commissions by Women Composers."

On September 17, Chicago's Lena Waithe shares a writing Emmy with Aziz Ansori for the Acclaimed

"Thanksgiving" episode of "Masters of None."

With a 5-1 win over the Cardinals, the Cubs clinch the National League Central title on September 28.

Hugh Marston Hefner, Chicago born founder of Playboy, dies. He was 91.

The British coffee chain, Department of Coffee and Social Affiars opens its first USA location in

Lakeview, 800 W. Diversey Parkway.

Conde Nast claims Chicago is the Best Big City in the U.S.

At 4,966 square feet, the new Adidas Originals flagship in Wicker Park(1532 N. Mailwukee) is the

world's largest Adidas Originals shop.

Galen Rupp wins the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 8, in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 20 seconds. He

is the first American winner in 15 years. Abel Kirui of Kenya is second, and Bernard Kipyego of Kenya

is third. Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia is the woman's winner with a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 31

seconds. Brigid Kosgei of Kenya is second and Jordan Hassey of USA is third.

For the third year in a row Chicago is named the rattiest city in the USA by Orkin, a pest control

company.

On December 10, bitcoin futures trading begins on CBOE exchange.

On December 17, bitcoin begins trading on the CME.

Five new hotels opened in Chicago in 2017.

2018

Chicago welcomes 55.2 million visitors in 2017, a new record.

Divvy bike-share congratulates Kerdia Roland for being the program's #1 rider of 2017, with 2,462

trips, that's 6,275 miles.

The city opens its first two Culver's Restarants January 23 in Bronzeville and January 29 in Portage

Park.

With 44 sets of twins and one set of tripplets, New Trier High School's sophmore class set a Guiness

World Record.

Starting in a church basement in Western Springs, Whearton College gradaute, Rev. Billy Graham

dies February 21, age 99.

The Chicago Loop Alliance has hired two armed security guards who will begin patrolling State Street

on March 1 with the goal of supplementing police presence, curbing shoplifting and dealing with

panhandlers.

Chicago rock station WLUP-FM 97.9, "The Loop," is sold by Merlin Media to broadcaster Educational

Media Foundation for $21.5 million and switches formats to Christian music

5 junios at Whitney Young High School scrore perfect 36 on ACT. The feat by students Jack Fetsch,

Jake Gerenraich, Sophie Ljung, Charlie Nevins and Dorothy Tarasul sets a record for the school.

On April 12, Sears announces it will close its last store in Chicago, the city that helped launch its

growth into a major retail presence. The store is in the Portage Park neighborhood.
Bon-Ton Stores, parent company of Carson’s, formerly known as Carson Pirie Scott, filed for

bankruptcy protection in February and announced in April it had been unable to find a buyer to

purchase the department store chain, effectively ending it.
Former President Barack Obama accepts an offer to become an honorary member at Beverly Country

Club on Chicago’s South Side, affording him the opportunity to play without having to pay an initiation

fee or dues.

Alinea is named world's best restaurant by Elite Traveler. Alinea has been at the top of Elite Travelr's

poll six times.

Janet and Craig Duchossois give $50 million in unrestricted funds to the Art Institute of Chicago.

On April 12, Sears announces it will close its last store in Chicago, the city that helped launch its growth

into a major retail presence. The store is in the Portage Park neighborhood.

Bon-Ton Stores, parent company of Carson’s, formerly known as Carson Pirie & Scott, filed for

bankruptcy protection in February and announced in April it had been unable to find a buyer to

purchase the department store chain, effectively ending it.

Former President Barack Obama accepts an offer to become an honorary member at Beverly Country

Club on Chicago’s South Side, affording him the opportunity to play without having to pay an initiation fee

or dues.

Richard Gray, Chicago art dealer and cultural philanthropist, dies May, 16, age 89.

“Past Times.” a painting from 1997 by Chicago based African-American artists Kerry James Marshal

that hung in McCormick Place since the late 1990s brought a final sales price of $21.1 million at a

Sotheby’s auction May 17 in New York City.

On what would have been her 101st birthday, June 7, a bust of Gwendolyn Brooks by sculptor Margot

McMahonm entitled "The Oracle of Bronzevill," is unveiled in Gwedolyn Brooks Park.

Labor activist, Edward Sadlowski (1938-2018), dies. He represented thousands of steelworkers in

Chicago and Gary.

Chicago publishes its second Gang Book listing 59 active street gangs with some 100,000 members

in more than 2,400 factions.

Closed since 1981, the 4,381 seat Uptown Theatre is awarded $75 million to restore and rebuild.

Forbes Magazine names Pilsen to its top 12 "coolest" neighborhood in the world!

Led by Rev. Michael Pfleger and other community activists,on Saturday, July 7, thousands of

demonstraters march north on the Dan Ryan Expressway from 79yh to 67th Street against gun

violence, joblessness, crime and poverty plaguing city neighborhoods.

Over the weekend of July 20-23, 7 people are killed and 37 shot.

July 24, The Chicago City Council approved the renaming of Congress Parkway between Grant Park

and the interchange Ida B. Wells Drive.

Organized by the Coalition for a New Chicago and Violence Interrupters, the demonstration closes

Lake Shore Drive between Fullerton and Irving Park on August 2, then proceeds along Belmont to

Clark ending at Wrigley Field.

Stanley Mikita, Chicago Black Hawks ice hockey Hall of Fame great dies August 7, age 78.

Deniel Romanschuk of Champaign, IL wins men's wheelchair Chicago Marathon with 1:31:34 on

October 7. Manuela Schar of Switzerland wins Women's wheelchair Chicago Marathon with

1:41:38 on October 7. British runner Mo Farah wins Chicago Marathon with 2:05:11 on October 7.

Brigid Kosgei of Kenya wins women's Chicago Marathon witn 2:18:35 on October 7.

Waren Saunders, TV news anchor dies, age 83, October

Marshall Bennett (1921-2018) dies, developed concept of modern industrial park.

Henry L. Henderson, Chicago's first commissioner of the Department of Environment, an advocate for

clean air and water, dies November 5, age 66.

November 19, three people are shoot and killed during an attack at Mercy Hospital.

Walter Nathan, born In Frankfurt am Main, dies November 27, age 95. He moves to Chicago, age 14 in

1938, to join his parents and two older brothers. He graduated from Lake View High School and then

studies mechanical engineering at IIT, graduating in 1944. In 1950 he co-founds Round Tubes and

Cores, making paper tubes and cores for industrial use. Walter designs the tube making machines. His

wife ran Ann Nathan Gallery.

David Shepherd (1924), co-founder of the Compass Players, Hyde Park, University of Chicago, dies

Monday, December 17, age 94.

About 350 buildings, most of them ubiquitos Chicago bungalows in the Northwest side community of

Hermosa, become the 12th bungalow histori districts in Chicago.

More than 117 milion people vist Illinois this year.

2019

Thomas Klutznik (1939-2019), Chicago visionary developer of Water Tower Place, The Peninsula

Hotel block, dies, age 79

WIth 23 below zero recorded at O'Hare on January 30, Chicago sets a second cold temperature

record.

The city holds a ceremony on February 12, unveiling Ida B. Wells Drive, formerly known as Congress

Parkway.

Extreem February weather swings are blamed for cracks appearing in Lake Shore Drive Bridge over

the Chicago River resulting in a two day closure of the bridge. Some 60,00 cars per day use the

bridge.

Ken Nordine, age 98, guided late-night listeners through his show Word Jazz, dies February 16.

Famed drag-club and bar Baton Show Lounge moves to 4713 N. Broadway.

January-February fourteen candidates are vying to succeed Mayor Rahm Emanuel. After the

primary election, Lory Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle face off for the final vote.

In January and March ground is broken for the 1,011 feet tall, 76-story One Chicago Square

skyscraper at 740 N. State, across from Holy Name Cathedral.

The path to canoninzation for an ex-slave and Chicago transplant who went on to become the first

acknowledged black Catholic priest in American history took a big step forward Febraury 5 when the

nine-member commission voted unanimously to take the cause of sainthood of the Rev. Augustus

Tolton to the Ordinary Meeting of Cardinals and Archbishops for a final vote before it'sp resented to

Pope Francis, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

In mid-February Jussie Smollett is accussed of orchestrating racial, hate-crime attacks on himself.

In Febraury-March R&B superstar R. Kelly is in jail, makes bail, and is in court several times for

hearings in sex abuse cases.

Stuart L. Scott, 80, dies Febraury 25. He had been a key player in the growth of the commercial real

estate management industry in Chicago, building LaSalle Partners into a real estate investment giant

and managing the firm through its merger with Jones Land Wooten in 1999.

A paved yellow brick sidewalk and Wizard of OZ mosaic mural open in Humboldt Park.

Born and raised in Chicago, Marshall Brodien (1934-2019) dies, age 84 after spending 26 years

dazzling daily television audiences with magic tricks as the clown-wizard charcter Wizzo the Wizard

on WGN-Ch.9's legendary "Bozo's Circus" and its successor program, "The Bozo Show." Brodien

was drawn to magic at the age of 8, when he was entranced by a magician's performance at this

school. Brodien never graduated from high school, and at age 14, he took a job selling and

demonstrating magic tricks and novelties at the Magic Center in downtown Chicago. He later held

a similar position at the National Magic Co.

Floyd Saunders, bartender at the Wrigleyville Tap, dies age 92, on March 10.

After two crashes, killing 346 people, FAA catches up with other nations to order halt to Boeing 737

Max 8 and Max 9 flights. Boeing says it continues to have "full confidence' in the aircraft's safelty.

Boeing faces litigation reulsting from the two crashes.

Lori Lightfoot is inaugurated Mayor of Chicago on May 20. She is the first African-American female

and first gay mayor of Chicago.

On July 1 Illinois imposes a new gas tax of 38 cents per gallon up from 19. It's the first rate hike since

1990.

Seven people vandalize the Bean sculpture in Milleninum Park, as well as the cancer survivor wall in

Maggie Daley Park.

Allix Rogers spots a black witch moth outside his South Shore apartment building. The moth has a 7

inch wingspan. It is the first sighting of this moth in almost 15 years.

Three people were stabbed outside Navy Pier after 4th of July fireworks and 17 others injured in a

stampede following false report of gunfire.

After 114-years as a print publication, the Chicago Defender switched to a digital-only platform on

July 11.

Founder of Facets Multimedia, Milos Stehlik, a key figure in the development, sophistication, and

global reach of Chicago's film culture, died July 6, age 70.

For more than 30 years (1972-2006), Elliott Golub was concertmaster for Music of the Baroque. He

dies July 14, age 85.

Lois Wille (1931-2019) dies July 23, age 87. She worked for three decades as a reporter and editor for

the Chicago Daily News, Sun-Times, and Chicago Tribune. She won two Pulitzers.

After being indicted on sweeping corruption charges on June 4 Alderman Edward Burke is no longer a

partner in his law firm Klafter & Burke.

St. Adelbert Church holds its last mass on July 16 and closes.

A bankruptcy judge on July 24 agrees to a consortium of foundations led by the J. Paul Getty Trust

that it can buy the Ebony photo archives for $30 milion.

Willis Tower loses its claim to the highest roof in the western hemisphere, 1453 feet, to Manhattan's

Central Park Tower, 1550 feet final height.

Art collector and patron of the arts, Marie Alsdorf, dies August 1.

In October Ken Griffin donates $125 million to the Museum of Science and Industry which will rename

itself the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

Richard Pfeiffer born in 1949, dies October 6. He coordinated Chicago’s Gay Pride Parade from 1974

on and became a major spokesperson for LGBTQ awareness and rights.

With a time of 2:14.04 Brigid Kosgei of Kenya breaks the world women's marathon record in Chicago.

Second place in the women's race went to Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia with 2:20.51. Gelete Burka of

Ethiopia finished third with 2:20.55, and fourth went to Emma Bates of Boise, Idaho finished with

2:25.27 Lawrence Cherono of Kenya crosses the finish line of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon

in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 45 seconds to win Men's title. Second place went to Dejene Debela of

Ethiopia with 2:05.46 and the third place win at 2:05.48 went to Asefa Mengstu of Ethiopia. The fourth

place, with 2:05.53, went to Bedan Karoki of Kenya. Daniel Romanchuck wins the men's wheelchair

race in 1:30.26 and Manuela Schar wins the women's wheelchair race with 1:41.08.

Longtime publisher and editor-in-chief of the Chicago Jewish News, Joseph Aaron (1955-2019) dies

November 16, aged 64. Aaron also wrote a weekly column.

Christine DuBaoulay (1923-2019) dies, aged 96. DuBaoulay had been with the Joffrey Ballet from the

time of its founding in the mid-1950s to the end of her life.

Tom Boyle (1931-2019). owner of Yesterday, a lopsided nostalgia shop in Wrigleyville, dies, age 88.

Boyle opened Yesterday in 1976. The building, first a barber shop, then a TV repair store, has stood

on Addison since the 1880s.

Franz Schulze (1927-2019), a prolific Chicago art critic and educator who chronicled the lives and

work of two of the 20th century's most consequential architects, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and

Philip Johnson dies, aged 92. Schulze also mounted the Momentum Exhibitions at the Art Institute

of Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s and wrote the first book on the Chicago Imagists. He

was also a professor of art at Lake Forest College.

2019 is the second warmest year in Chicago since records began to be kept in 1880.

2019 Chicago received 49.54 inches of precipitation, ranking it as the third wettest year on record since

Illinois meteorologists began collecting precipitation records in 1871, four of the top 5 wettest years in

Chicago have been since 1990.at Lake Forest College

2020

On January 18, Carol Stream, born 1943, dies. Her father, Jay, names the Chicago suburb of

Carol Stream for her in 1958. Carol Stream, the village, is incorporated in 1959.

January 24, Chicago experiences its first Coronavirus-19 related death.

In January, Lake Michigan water levels average 4 inches above the previous high level set in 1987.

Clark Weber dies March 7, age 89. Born Nov. 24, 1930 in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee,

he joined WLS-AM 890 in 1961. He jumped to Top 40 WCFL-AM 1000 in 1969 and then to WMAQ-

AM 670 in 1971, then from 1972-1985 at WIND-AM 560, then WJJD-AM 1160 and WAIT-AM 820.

Weber introduced the Beatles at Comisky Park on August 20, 1965.

Sister Sheila Lyne, a member of the Religious Sisters of Mercy for 67 years, dies, March 10, age 83.

She led Chicago’s Mercy Hospital as president and CEO for decades and also served as

commissioner of Public Health for Chicago from 1991 to 2000. Programs on her watch included the

Office of Violence Prevention, which set up a Violence Prevention Strategic Plan; the Office of

Lesbian and Gay Health, then one of only two in the nation; a citywide asthma prevalence survey;

and the Robert Taylor Initiative, a project serving the health needs of low-income people in a single

location.

On March 26, the city closes parks, beaches, and the lakefront because of Coronavirus-19.

On April 8, Mayor Lightfoot placed a curfew on all liquor sales after 9 PM in the city.

With 16.8 inches of rain, Chicago records its 2nd wettest Spring on record.

A tornado is recorded in Rogers Park on May 10.

A heat record of 77 degrees is set on November 8.

The first five days of November set a sunshine record for Chicago.

The night of August 26-27, a Derecho devestates areas of Chicago.

Credited with the development of Aqua and Vista Towersm real estate developer and architect

Jim Loewenberg (1934-2020) dies in October.

2021

January 24, the first case of Coronavirus is confirmed. Many more cases follow quickly effecting

Chicago.

Richard H. Driehaus, dies March 9 (born July 27, 1942) an avid investor and philanthropist,

championed historic preservation and classical architecture. His firm, Driehaus Capital

Management oversaw some $13 billion in assets. He founded the Driehaus Museum that

champions the Gilded Age, He also established a $200,000 annual prize in his name for

classical, traditional and sustainable architecture as a counterbalance to the $100,000

Pritzker Prize. He took nosebleed gambles on risky rising stocks and, in 200, was named by

Barron's as one of the 25 most influential mutual fund figures of the 20th century.

June 3, Frederick A. Krehbiel, former CEO of Molex, a Lisle-based electronic component company,

dies. Molex opened its first factory outside the US in 1970 and then in Ireland in 1971. The company

goes public in 1972.

June 6, Alice Clark Brown (1952-2021) dies, aged, 68. She told her family in 1972 she was going to

leave college and join the Circus. She became the first Black woman in the Blue unit of the Ringling

Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

June 23, Michael J. Murrin, dies aged 83. For 50 years he focused on his scholarship and teaching at

the University of Chicago on genres of epic, romance and fantasy in Western Literature. He was a

specialist on dragons.

July 28, Ron Popeil (1935-2021),founder of Ronco, inventor and founder of infomercial TV, dies

aged 86.

August 23, documentary photographer of life on Maxwell Street and founder of the photogrpahy

Department at Columbia College, James Newberry dies, age, 84.

December 12 is the last day of Yoshi's, an acclaimed restaurant started by Chef Yoshi Katsumura

in 1982 in Lakeview that pioneered the fusion of French and Asian cuisine.