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

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

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Front page flashback: May 8, 1898

The Tribune was first to tell its readers and United States military leaders about "the greatest of naval battles" that took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Several, including the secretary of the Navy, telegraphed their congratulations. (baiduhai)
The Tribune was first to tell its readers and United States military leaders about "the greatest of naval battles" that took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Several, including the secretary of the Navy, telegraphed their congratulations. (baiduhai)

1896: The Tribune received a scoop on the Spanish-American War via telegram: Cmdr. George Dewey’s “complete victory” at Manila Bay in the Philippines. Without losing a man or a ship, Dewey’s squadron destroyed the Spanish fleet in the first American naval battle against a foreign power in almost five decades.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 87 degrees (2023)
  • Low temperature: 29 degrees (1989)
  • Precipitation: 2.07 inches (1998)
  • Snowfall: Trace (1989)
A bust of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable sits on Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River on June 25, 2021. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)
A bust of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable sits on Michigan Avenue near the Chicago River on June 25, 2021. (José M. Osorio/baiduhai)

1800: Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, a Black man known as the city’s first non-native settler, sold his properties in Chicago. Soon after, he moved to St. Charles, Missouri, where he lived until he died in 1818.

New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth failed to hit a home run in a game against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on May 7, 1927, but he did during batting practice. "The bambino lifted a ball clear of the second tier of the bleachers in right field, The crowd cheered," the Tribune reported. (baiduhai)
New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth failed to hit a home run in a game against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park on May 7, 1927, but he did during batting practice. "The bambino lifted a ball clear of the second tier of the bleachers in right field, The crowd cheered," the Tribune reported. (baiduhai)

1927: More than 35,000 fans packed the renovated Comiskey Park hoping to watch New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth hit a home run. He did not — but Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig did.

The error-plagued White Sox were shut out 8-0.

Michael Jordan reacts after hitting the game-winning basket over Cleveland's Craig Ehlo, left, in Game 5 of the NBA playoffs on May 7, 1989, in Cleveland. (Ed Wagner Jr./baiduhai)
Michael Jordan reacts after hitting the game-winning basket over Cleveland's Craig Ehlo, left, in Game 5 of the NBA playoffs on May 7, 1989, in Cleveland. (Ed Wagner Jr./baiduhai)

1989: Michael Jordan nailed what became known as “The Shot” for a 101-100 victory over the Cavaliers in the playoffs.

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The hanging jumper from the foul line over Craig Ehlo at the buzzer in Game 5 clinched the first-round series for the Bulls.

Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the Field Museum's T. rex, is awarded an honorary degree at UIC on May 7, 2000. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)
Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the Field Museum's T. rex dinosaur, is awarded an honorary degree at the University of Illinois Chicago on May 7, 2000. (Chuck Berman/baiduhai)

2000: Sue Hendrickson — who did not have a high school diploma — received her first university credentials in the form of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Illinois Chicago.

The professional fossil hunter and self-taught archeologist and paleontologist with a namesake T. rex at the Field Museum came to paleontology by way of an early career diving for sunken treasure and collecting fish specimens in the Caribbean. She was a voracious reader as a child in Munster, Indiana, and decided against a formal university education after talking things over with the head of marine biology at the University of Washington.

Hendrickson has always been a hard worker, her mother said, and she hoped that her success and the recognition she has gotten serve as inspiration for other people who pursue their ambitions without the benefit of a college degree.

Harpo Studios is demolished on July 26, 2016, to make way for a new building that will be leased for the McDonald's headquarters in Chicago. (Nancy Stone/baiduhai)
Harpo Studios is demolished on July 26, 2016, to make way for a new building that will be leased for the McDonald's headquarters in Chicago. (Nancy Stone/baiduhai)

2014: Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios was sold to Sterling Bay.

Structures on the site were demolished

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 starting in July 2016 to clear the way for McDonald’s new corporate headquarters, which opened in June 2018. The building in Chicago’s Fulton Market district sold for more than $412 million in October 2020.

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