Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Dec. 22, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
High temperature: 57 degrees (1957)
Low temperature: Minus 21 degrees (1872)
Precipitation: 0.90 inches (2006)
Snowfall: 3.6 inches (1953)
Twenty-three firefighters died during a two-day blaze at the Union Stockyards in Chicago, which began Dec. 22, 1910. (Chicago Tribune)
1910: A two-day fire at the Union Stockyards in Chicago killed 23 firefighters, including Chief James “Big Jim” Horan. The blaze started in the basement of a Morris & Co. meat storehouse and ended with the worst loss of life by a big-city fire department until the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Mother Cabrini’s Chicago milestones on her path to sainthood
1917: Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, 67, died of heart disease in the rocking chair of her small room inside Columbus Hospital, which she founded. In 1946, she was canonized by Pope Pius XII as the first American saint.
Visitors to the National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Lincoln Park can see Cabrini’s preserved room and relics.
Robbie Gould (9) celebrates with holder Brad Maynard (4) after Gould’s game-winning kick in overtime against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field in Chicago, Dec. 22, 2008. (Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune)
2008: The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers 20-17 in overtime at Soldier Field where the temperature was 2 degrees at kickoff, making it the coldest Bears game ever at Soldier Field.
Chicago Fire Department personnel watch as rescuers dig for injured firefighters in the rear of a commercial building at the scene of a three-alarm fire at 1744 E. 75th St., on Dec. 22, 2010. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
2010: Chicago firefighters Corey Ankum and Edward Stringer of Engine Co. 63, were killed and 19 others were hurt when a roof collapsed at an abandoned laundry in the South Shore neighborhood during a fire.
The building’s owner later pleaded guilty to contempt of court and was sentenced to six months in Cook County Jail for failing to make court-ordered repairs to the abandoned structure before it collapsed in the fire.
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