Today in Chicago History

Magician Harry Houdini poses with reformed medium Annie Benninghofen, left, while in Chicago in 1926. (baiduhai historical photo)

Vintage baiduhai: Harry Houdini and the ‘reformed’ trumpet medium

By Kori Rumore

October 29, 2026 at 2:22 p.m.

Harry Houdini's campaign against spiritualists convinced one former fake medium to reveal in Chicago the...

Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller (86) holds his leg as he is carted off the field after an injury during the second half of a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome on Oct. 29, 2017, in New Orleans. (Nuccio DiNuzzo/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: ‘Save my leg, please,’ Bears tight end Zach Miller tells surgeon after injury

By Kori Rumore

October 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 29, according...

Donald Trump crosses the Wabash Avenue Bridge on Oct. 28, 2004, to attend the start of the demolition of the Sun-Times building in Chicago. (Scott Strazzante/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Donald Trump watches as Sun-Times building razed to build Trump Tower

By Kori Rumore

October 28, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 28, according...

The United Center on Dec. 12, 1994, in Chicago. (Charles Cherney/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: United Center hosts its first sporting event — but it wasn’t the Blackhawks or Bulls

By Kori Rumore

August 29, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 29, according...

Sen. Barack Obama delivers his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president at Invesco Field in Denver on Aug. 28, 2008. (Zbigniew Bzdak/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama accepts Democratic nomination for president

By Kori Rumore

August 28, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 28, according...

Dolly Parton kisses Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley on Aug. 1, 1991, after she presented him with a music industry award for the city’s creation of a new country music festival. (Walter Kale/baiduhai)

Vintage baiduhai: Remembering Dolly Parton in her own words when she visited Chicago

By Kori Rumore

August 31, 2026 at 8:31 a.m.

Here's a look back at Dolly Parton's time in and around Chicago through the decades...

Cpl. Alan Sharp of the Indiana National Guard patrols the Whiting refinery area on Aug. 28, 1955, while a worker on a pole repairs wires and other equipment damaged by the explosion and fire at the Standard Oil Co. refinery. Sharp was patrolling near 129th Street and Indianapolis Boulevard. (Luigi Mendicino/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Explosion at Standard Oil refinery in Whiting kills two and destroys homes

By Kori Rumore

August 27, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 27, according...

A young anti-war demonstrator confronts National Guard troops who formed a barricade to keep protesters in Grant Park during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. (baiduhai historical photo)

Today in Chicago History: 1968 Democratic National Convention begins with ‘the whole world watching’

By Kori Rumore

August 26, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 26, according...

Arlington Park President Richard Duchossois, center, is congratulated on Aug. 25, 1985, for pulling off the Arlington Million despite a fire on July 31 that destroyed the track’s grandstand. (Charles Cherney/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: ‘Miracle Million’ wows Arlington Park just one month after devastating fire

By Kori Rumore

August 25, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 25, according...

Bronislaw Hajda leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on March 17, 1997, in Chicago. Hajda, a retired machinist from Schiller Park, was stripped of his citizenship by a federal judge for lying to immigration authorities in the 1950s about serving as a guard at a Nazi labor camp during World War II. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Retired machinist who lied about his Nazi past charged by Justice Department

By Kori Rumore

August 24, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 24, according...

In this July 17, 2012, photo, JoAnn Zywicki sits by a photo of her daughter Tammy Zywicki at her home in Ocala, Florida. Tammy was stabbed to death along an Illinois freeway while returning to college in Iowa, and her mother, 70, who now lives in central Florida, has managed to get through the onslaught of birthdays, holidays and special occasions that often torment families of the murdered. (John Raoux/AP)

Today in Chicago History: Grinnell College senior Tammy Zywicki disappears after her car broke down on I-80

By Kori Rumore

August 23, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 23, according...

Surrounded by members of the community, family and friends, Marlene Chaidez, center, attends a vigil on Sept. 7, 2021, for Miguel Cisneros Diaz, 19, who drowned on Aug. 22, 2021, in Lake Michigan near Tobey Prinz Beach Park in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Drowning death prompts Park District to install life rings along lakefront

By Kori Rumore

August 22, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 22, according...

Students on a field trip from Muchin College Prep react as the solar eclipse comes out from behind the clouds briefly in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago on Aug. 21, 2017. (Alexandra Wimley/baiduhai)

Today in Chicago History: Total solar eclipse stuns southern Illinois, but left city stuck in the clouds

By Kori Rumore

August 21, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 21, according...