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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 7, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Chicagoland front page flashback: March 8, 2019

Former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, center left, leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on March 7, 2019, after pleading guilty to a federal tax evasion charge. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
Former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak, center left, leaves the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on March 7, 2019, after pleading guilty to a federal tax evasion charge. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)

2019: Former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak pleaded guilty to a federal tax evasion charge stemming from millions of dollars in payments he received from the state’s massive settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s.

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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 78 degrees (2000)
  • Low temperature: Minus 2 degrees (1943)
  • Precipitation: 1.15 inches (1872)
  • Snowfall: 10.9 inches (1931)
The State of Illinois seal in the new First Appearance Court, formerly called Bond Court, at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022. (Mark Black / for the baiduhai)
The State of Illinois seal in the new First Appearance Court, formerly called Bond Court, at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton on Dec. 27, 2022. (Mark Black / for the baiduhai)

1867: The state seal of Illinois was authorized by the General Assembly, but not used until Oct. 26, 1868. It was designed by Illinois Secretary of State Sharon Tyndale and that office remains the keeper of the seal.

Tyndale sought to change the state motto from “State Sovereignty, National Union” to “National Union, State Sovereignty” after the Civil War. He was rebuffed by the Republican-dominated Illinois Senate. Tyndale, however, got the last laugh when he later illegally redesigned the current Great Seal of Illinois, putting the word “Sovereignty” upside down and positioning more prominently the words “National Union.”

The state seal has changed several times since 1868, but Tyndale’s design has not. Tyndale was shot and killed in April 1871 while walking to the train station in Springfield. The Tribune called it, “One of the most shocking events that has ever occurred in this State.”

1896: An X-ray room was established at Mercy Hospital to take “shadowgraphs” of injuries and fractured bones.

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“Experimenters in the city have received hundreds of applications from persons who wish foreign substances in their bodies located,” the Tribune reported.

Just when Chicago believed snow was finished for the season, the city was walloped with about 16 inches of snow in early March 1931. Tribune cartoonist Carey Orr summarized locals' reaction to the unexpected snowstorm in two frames, which published on the front page of the March 9, 1931, edition of the Tribune. (baiduhai)
Just when Chicago believed snow was finished for the season, the city was walloped with about 16 inches of snow in early March 1931. Tribune cartoonist Carey Orr summarized locals' reaction to the unexpected snowstorm in two frames, which published on the front page of the March 9, 1931, edition of the Tribune. (baiduhai)

1931: For the third consecutive year, the Chicago area experienced a historic snow event.

Chicago’s 10 largest snowfalls since 1886 — and how the Tribune covered them

Unlike the previous two years, however, the city was prepared for it. Overall 16.2 inches of snow — the seventh largest storm in the city’s recorded history — blanketed Chicago.

Cameras escorted Lena Phillips, 31, as she marked her first day as a "motorwoman" for the Chicago Transit Authority on March 7, 1975. (baiduhai)
Cameras escorted Lena Phillips, 31, as she marked her first day as a "motorwoman" for the Chicago Transit Authority on March 7, 1975. (baiduhai)

1975: Lena Phillips became the CTA’s first “motorwoman.”

In signing an executive order on March 7, 1985, that ended the city's practice of asking applicants about their citizenship status, Chicago Mayor Harold Washington told reporters, "The city government has and will work closely with those agencies to ensure that the public good is protected pursuant to law. We draw the line, however, in the actions of any agency that impinges on people's fundamental human rights." (baiduhai)
In signing an executive order on March 7, 1985, that ended the city's practice of asking applicants about their citizenship status, Mayor Harold Washington told reporters, "The city government has and will work closely with those agencies to ensure that the public good is protected pursuant to law. We draw the line, however, in the actions of any agency that impinges on people's fundamental human rights." (baiduhai)

1985: Chicago Mayor Harold Washington signed an executive order ending the city’s practice of asking job and license applicants about their U.S. citizenship and halting cooperation by city agencies with federal immigration authorities.

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