Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 27, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Front page flashback: Aug. 28, 1990
1990: Several of the world’s greatest guitarists — Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy
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, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Vaughn’s brother Jimmie — took the stage together at Alpine Valley Music Theatre near East Troy, Wisconsin, where they jammed on an extended version of “Sweet Home Chicago” as the encore.“It was my biggest thrill as a musician, the most incredible show I’ve ever played,” Guy later told the Tribune.
Then they boarded helicopters bound for Chicago’s Midway Airport. Three helicopters, which carried Clapton and other members of the concert entourage, made the trip safely.
The helicopter carrying Stevie Ray Vaughn slammed into a ski slope about one-half mile southeast of the theater. He and four others were killed. Heavy fog was cited as a contributing factor in the crash.
Vaughn’s peers were stunned. He was described by Guy as, “The best I ever saw. He was one of the white cats who was keeping the blues alive.”
Vaughan’s family and the helicopter owner-operator reached a settlement in 1995.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 99 degrees (2024)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1982)
- Precipitation: 1.59 inches (1923)
- Snowfall: Trace (1909)
1872: Aaron Montgomery Ward established the first major mail-order business on North Clark Street in Chicago.
Wards was the first, but ultimately not the biggest, mail-order business in Chicago. In 1887, Richard Warren Sears, who had sold watches in Minneapolis, moved to the city and with the help of Alvah Curtis Roebuck, a watchmaker, began a mail-order business selling watches.
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1911: Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh threw the first no-hitter at Comiskey Park.
1955: An explosion at the Standard Oil refinery in Whiting destroyed much of the plant and dozens of nearby homes. The explosion occurred as the largest “hydroformer” in the United States — a 26-story-high tank used to convert low-octane gasoline into high-octane gasoline, at what is now a BP refinery — was being put back into operation after it had been shut down for an examination.
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At least two people were killed in the blast and the subsequent fires burned for eight days, fueled by the refinery’s giant oil reserves.
1959: Opening ceremonies of the Pan-American Games
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— hosted for the first time in the United States — took place at Soldier Field. Chicago was a late replacement for Cleveland, which called off the party in 1957 for financial reasons. Because the 1959 Games were held in the North American summer for the first time (the previous two were in March), the U.S. sent an Olympic-caliber team. The U.S. won 19 of 20 golds in swimming and diving and 26 of 32 in track and field, with swimmer Chris Von Saltza taking five gold medals (three individual, two relays).1971: Lillian Hardin Armstrong, pianist and former wife of the late Louis Armstrong, collapsed and died while playing “St. Louis Blues” during a musical salute to her late husband in the Civic Center (now Daley) Plaza.
An accomplished pianist and songwriter in her own right, she taught her husband of seven years — trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong — how to read music. After separating from Louis in 1931, she led two all-women bands and wrote “Just For a Thrill,” which became a hit for Ray Charles.
Armstrong is interred at Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island. A park in the Grand Boulevard area, just blocks from the home she formerly shared with her husband at 421 E. 44th St., is named in her honor.
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