More Top Picks Best Foot Massagers For Insomnia
player ready...Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 20, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Front page flashback: Aug. 21, 1958
1958: The first 76-mile segment of the Illinois Tollway opened. Drivers cruised up to 65 miles per hour from Higgins Road and Devon Avenue to near Elgin “for payment of about 2 cents a mile,” the Tribune’s Hal Foust reported.
The network of 187 miles of toll roads — the Tri-State Tollway, Northwest Tollway and East-West Tollway — opened before Christmas 1958, as promised. Bonds were sold to fund the expensive construction and land acquisition costs. (Though the commission once touted that these routes would be “toll free by ’73,” the Illinois Tollway still imposes these fees.) Commuter driving times were reduced by minutes locally, with the expectation that longer rides would be reduced by days thanks to the new network of highways.
Vintage baiduhai: Evolution of Illinois Tollway oases — and why they’ve disappeared recently
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 98 degrees (1947)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1950)
- Precipitation: 1.47 inches (1951)
- Snowfall: None
1948: The National League champion Chicago Cardinals beat the College All-Stars 28-0 in front of 101,220 fans at Soldier Field.
1957: Bob Keegan — at 37 — became the oldest player to throw a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox. The Sox beat the Washington Senators 6-0 in the second game of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park.
Chicago White Sox pitchers have thrown 20 no-hitters since 1902 — including 3 perfect games
1958: Former state representative and auditor Orville Hodge entered Menard Correctional Center, six hours after he was sentenced to 12-15 years in prison.
More Top Picks Best Polarized Sunglasses For Light Sensitivity
Hodge looted and squandered more than $2.5 million in public funds as auditor. He had a lavish lifestyle, including purchasing two private planes, multiple automobiles and luxury homes in Illinois and Florida. Once the scandal broke, Hodge resigned and pleaded guilty. He served nearly 6½ years in prison and paid restitution.
1961: The international press called it “a stunning upset.” Three American teenagers scored a Wightman Cup victory at Saddle & Cycle Club over veteran British tennis stars Ann Haydon, Cristine Truman, Angela Mortimer and Deidre Catt.
Billie Jean King on today’s tennis, the media and a new play at Chicago Shakespeare about her life
The American teens were Karen Hantze and Justina Bricka, both 18, and bouncy 17-year-old Billie Jean Moffitt, who spurred on her own game by muttering “Come on, baby” to herself. Moffitt later played under her married name, King. The American teens had lost to the same Britons at Wimbledon earlier in the year. They said that playing the established British stars before huge crowds helped them gain experience and confidence for the Wightman matches in Chicago.
1965: After arriving quietly at Chicago’s Midway Airport, the Beatles played a day-night doubleheader at Comiskey Park.
More than 50,000 incessantly screaming fans drowned out the Beatles during the 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows. John Lennon, then 24, was not annoyed. “They pay good prices to get in (top tickets, $5.50). Who are we to say whether or not they should scream?”
A solid line of officers sat shoulder to shoulder, with their backs to the infield, to prevent teens from taking second base, where the Beatles performed on a plywood bandstand. Paul McCartney singing “I’m Down” pumped up the volume of the screamfest. Based on that alone, Tribune reviewer Will Leonard surmised that this was “easily the artistic success of the evening.”
The take at the Comiskey gate was an estimated $150,000 to $160,000, compared with the year before at the Chicago Amphitheatre, when the Beatles had a reported $30,000 in ticket sales.
After the concert the Beatles stopped at Margie’s Candies in Bucktown for ice cream, recalled owner Peter Poulos Jr. “They sat at the back booth and ordered Atomic Busters (banana splits standing up). They began singing, John was standing on the table. The place was packed. They stayed about an hour.”
1976: Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla led a group of bishops on a tour of the United States that included Chicago. He returned in October 1979 — then known as Pope John Paul II.
2014: The Chicago Cubs won 2-0 over the San Francisco Giants after 4½ innings and a 4-hour, 34-minute rain delay when the grounds crew mishandled the tarp. The Giants appealed the ruling, won, but lost 2-1 a day later.
Want more vintage Chicago?
Subscribe to the free Vintage baiduhai newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage baiduhai? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at [email protected] and [email protected]