Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 24, 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: 83 degrees (2023)
Low temperature: 17 degrees (1981)
Precipitation: 1.85 inches (2021)
Snowfall: Trace (2013)
The old water tank, circa 1870, that on Jan. 1, 1873, formally opened as the first home of the Chicago Public Library, stood on a lot at the southeast corner of LaSalle and Adams streets. (Chicago Public Library)
1873: William Frederick Poole of Cincinnati was elected librarian by the Chicago Public Library board. His salary was $4,000 per year. He became the first librarian at the Newberry Library in 1887.
Al Capone, center, is in federal court in Chicago with his lawyers Michael Ahern, left and Albert Fink during his 1931 tax-evasion trial. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)
1931: Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone — one week after he was found guilty by a federal jury on five counts of income tax indictments — was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Al Capone’s final days, death in Florida and burial in Chicago — why we remember it 75 years later
Capone was transferred by train in May 1932 to a federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Syphilis-related complications earned Capone an early release from prison in 1939.
The Southwest Expressway — Chicago’s third major one in four years after the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90/I-94) and U.S. Route 66 — opened Oct. 24, 1964. The highway was later named Stevenson Expressway in honor of former Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson II. (Chicago Tribune)
1964: The Southwest Expressway — soon renamed in honor of former Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson II after his death — was completed.
Chicago Bears defensive captain Dick Butkus (51), right, gestures helplessly and calls to the sidelines for the Detroit Lions to aid fallen teammate Chuck Hughes, who collapsed with 66 seconds left in the game on Oct. 24, 1971. Standing by are Bears defenders Ron Smith (48), Garry Lyle (44) and Doug Buffone (55). Editors note, this historic print shows age damage. (Jim DePree/Chicago Today)
1971: Lions wide receiver Chuck Hughes, 28, collapsed during the fourth quarter of a game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit against the Chicago Bears and was pronounced dead 40 minutes later. Hughes remains the only NFL player ever to die on the playing field.
“Hughes lay unattended for several seconds before the Bears’ Dick Butkus pointed out to the Lions bench that Hughes had fallen and was unconscious,” Tribune reporter George Langford wrote.
Despite a concert at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago on Oct. 23, 1995, that was marred by a faulty sound system, the Smashing Pumpkins played a 13-song set of “Gibraltar-like hard rock” to celebrate the release of “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.” For an encore the band was accompanied by Cheap Trick. (Chicago Tribune)
1995: The Smashing Pumpkins released the double album “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” and performed a show at Chicago’s Riviera Theatre to celebrate. “It feels like the band’s loosest and yet most accomplished record, a major advance beyond the relatively one-dimensional flavor of the first two studio albums,” Tribune critic Greg Kot said.
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