Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Sept. 19, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
High temperature: 93 degrees (1955)
Low temperature: 40 degrees (X1991)
Precipitation: 1.72 inches (2001)
Snowfall: None
Duchess, Lincoln Park Zoo’s first elephant, was purchased from the Barnum & Bailey Circus, circa 1900. (Field Museum Library)
1900: In his examination of Lincoln Park Zoo, conducted at the request of Lincoln Park Board of Commissioners President F.H. Gansbergen, George B. Wells advised animals native to the continent would give Lincoln Park “a distinctive place among the zoological parks of the country.” He also suggested animal quarters be enlarged and commended animal keeper Cyrus DeVry for the care taken of the animals.
1971: The Chicago Bears defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-15 in the Bears’ first home game at Soldier Field before more than 55,000 fans.
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The Bears rallied — in the rain — for two touchdowns in the final four minutes of the game.
An inmate sleeps in a cell at Stateville Prison in Joliet, circa 1971. (Bob Fila/Chicago Today)
Also in 1971: Convicted killer John Holmes Jr., of Chicago, escaped Stateville penitentiary in Joliet with two other inmates. The three changed into civilian clothes and walked out the prison’s front gates with 250 other people who had been visiting an art fair at the facility, which was then canceled because of rain. Holmes had attempted to leave Cook County Jail four times.
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Two guards at the prison were fired and five others were suspended while the search for the three men continued. Holmes was the last of the three to be found. He was picked up by police Nov. 14, 1971, in Chicago.
“I’m yours; no use fighting with you guys,” Holmes told them when they kicked in the door of a rooming house at 202 W. 106th Place, where he was hiding out. “I’m gonna walk away again. Security down there (at Stateville) stinks.”
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1995: “The Unabomber’s” 35,000-word manifesto, which was written by Chicago-area native Ted Kaczynski, was published in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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