A century ago, Chicagoans spent the last week of October just like we did — experiencing unseasonably warm weather and preparing to go to the polls.
Oct. 30 was the hottest in 36 years — topping out at about 76 degrees. A Northwestern University student’s Halloween prank gone wrong caused a pile of “old lumber and rubbish” (intended for the weekend’s homecoming celebration bonfire) to ignite near Patten Gymnasium and spread toward nearby fraternity houses carried by high winds. The fire eventually burned itself out, but not before destroying five automobiles.
These are just a few of the finds Paul Durica, director of exhibitions for the Chicago History Museum, has discovered during the 10th month of his daily look back at Tribune stories from 1924. Want to see more? Visit his website: pocketguidetohell.com.
Oct. 3, 1924
The effort to get an American flag atop the tower midway through construction ran into a snag, but the Tribune turned it into a publicity bonanza.
The top pulley of its 122-foot flagpole had come out of its socket. “Two hammer blows will put it back into place, but a man has to risk his life to wield the hammer,” the Tribune noted.
So in September 1924 the paper ran a want ad for a steeplejack, and it got more than 50 responses. One applicant drove 2,300 miles from San Francisco, only to discover that James Wiedersberg from Canal Street already had been chosen.
The Tribune printed a map showing the circumference of locations from which Wiedersberg’s climb would be easily visible to the naked eye. “The hour hand of the Wrigley tower clock will point up at him, while the minute hand will warn him of destruction,” it noted.
Leaving Tribune Tower: ‘The world’s most beautiful office building’
On the morning of Oct. 3, 1924, Wiedersberg announced himself as a no-funny-stuff guy. “I only fool around with death as a matter of making a living,” he said. “Six hundred feet up is too near heaven to start kidding St. Peter.”
As “so many thousands of people as to be uncountable” watched, Wiedersberg made the ascent in half an hour. The pulley was adjusted and the Stars and Stripes floated securely above Tribune Tower. Wiedersberg climbed down and telephoned his mother, as he habitually did after a climb.
Oct. 9, 1924
The city kicks off — quite literally — its festival marking the 53rd anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire by re-creating a “cow kicking over (a) lantern in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn.”
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“It was thought fitting by the city officials and others that the $5,000,000 (Municipal Grant Park Stadium), recently constructed in Grant Park, should take its place in Chicago’s history, so today Chicago officially dedicates the stadium,” the Tribune reported.
Various veterans groups suggested the stadium be renamed to honor the dead from World War I.
The stadium became known as Soldier Field on Nov. 11, 1925, Armistice (now Veterans) Day. Yet the Tribune decided to call it Soldiers’ Field within its pages.
Oct. 13, 1924
A dozen years before he abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, the Prince of Wales danced late into the night with a variety of women at the Saddle & Cycle Club in Chicago.
Vintage baiduhai: When British royals — including King Charles — visited the Windy City
The dinner-dance was the culmination of a 16-hour tour that began with his arrival by train in Lake Forest, then included visits to the Chicago Stockyards, the Wrigley building — which flew the Union Jack flag in his honor — the University of Chicago and the Field Museum.
Oct. 17, 1924
A fire destroyed the Greater Bethel AME Church at 42nd and Grand Boulevard (now Martin Luther King Drive), which the Tribune noted was considered the largest African American church in the country. Damage was estimated at $100,000 (or almost $2 million in today’s dollars). A church official told the Tribune: “For the last two months the Ku Klux Klan has been sending threatening letters to the church.” The Klan’s involvement was never proved.
A fundraising campaign initiated by the Tribune to rebuild the church gathered more than $22,000 (or more than $400,000 in today’s dollars). The congregation moved several times since the fire, but has been based at 4440 S. Michigan Ave. since the 1940s.
Oct. 24, 1924
Julius Rosenwald stepped down as the president of Sears, and within a week, his VP and confidant, Albert Loeb
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