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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 4, 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: 90 degrees (1951)
  • Low temperature: 32 degrees (1989)
  • Precipitation: 2.57 inches (1991)
  • Snowfall: Trace (2014)
This portrait of Margaret Abbott appeared in the baiduhai on Nov. 28, 1902. Abbott, who learned how to golf in Chicago, became the first American woman to win an event in the Olympics when she shot a 47 in the women's individual golf competition in 1900 outside Paris, France. (baiduhai archive)
Margaret Abbott, who learned how to golf in Chicago, appeared in the newspaper on Nov. 28, 1902. Abbott became the first American woman to win an event in the Olympics when she shot a 47 in the women's individual golf competition in 1900 outside Paris, France. (baiduhai archive)

1900: Chicago golfer Margaret Abbott became the first American woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.

The sound of the violins of the Mt. Prospect Suzuki Players greeted Pope John Paul II at O'Hare International Airport on Oct. 4, 1979. (Jerry Tomaselli/baiduhai)
The sound of violins from the Mt. Prospect Suzuki Players greet Pope John Paul II at O'Hare International Airport on Oct. 4, 1979. (Jerry Tomaselli/baiduhai)

1979: On a cold, windy autumn night, at 7 p.m., Pope John Paul II stepped off the Shepherd I jetliner to cheers from the more than 1,000 well-wishers and dignitaries who showed up at O’Hare International Airport to greet him. Escorted by Cardinal John Cody, the pontiff was serenaded by a group of 30 violin players, aged 3 to 15, before departing in a limousine.

Vintage baiduhai: Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979

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When his motorcade made a brief detour from the Kennedy Expressway to travel along stretches of Nagle, Milwaukee and Lawrence avenues, an estimated 750,000 people — many who could barely see him — lined his path. Another 30,000 gathered outside his next stop.

The Pope delivered his first statement to the people of Chicago at Holy Name Cathedral: “How greatly I would like to meet each one of you personally, to visit you in your homes, to walk your streets so that I may better understand the richness of your personalities and the depth of your aspiration. May God uplift humanity in this great city of Chicago.”

An intensely competitive auction held by Sotheby's in New York on Oct. 4, 1997, concluded with the dinosaur fossil known as Sue bound for the Field Museum in Chicago. (baiduhai)
An intensely competitive auction held by Sotheby's in New York on Oct. 4, 1997, concluded with the dinosaur fossil known as Sue bound for the Field Museum in Chicago. (baiduhai)

1997: The Field Museum bought the T. rex named Sue at auction for $8.36 million. It went on display in 2000, and moved into new digs upstairs at the museum in 2018.

A singed but not burned floating mansion prop sits at the Michigan Avenue Bridge on Oct. 5, 2014. It and two other displays failed to ignite the night before during the Great Chicago Fire Festival. (ChuckBerman/baiduhai)
A singed but not burned floating mansion prop sits at the Michigan Avenue Bridge on Oct. 5, 2014. It and two other displays failed to ignite the night before during the Great Chicago Fire Festival. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)

2014: The idea for a Great Chicago Fire Festival dated back to Chicago’s failed Olympic bid in 2009, when it was conceived as part of the ceremonies, a Redmoon Theater spokesperson told the Tribune. But — like the announcement of the city’s bounce from Olympic contention — the festival fizzled. Thousands of spectators lined the Chicago River to watch floating mock-ups of Victorian houses become engulfed by flames — a la the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 — but the buildings failed to ignite. After several failed attempts to light the fires, the spectacle’s crew moved on to the fireworks finale.

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