Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 24, 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: 93 degrees (1950)
- Low temperature: 34 degrees (1992)
- Precipitation: 1.62 inches (1927)
- Snowfall: Trace (1955)
1879: The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (later renamed Art Institute of Chicago) was incorporated.
1977: Reputed Chicago mob hit man Harry “The Hook” Aleman was acquitted in the Sept. 27, 1972, slaying of Teamster William Logan. Evidence later surfaced that Judge Frank Wilson had been bribed.
Aleman became the first defendant in U.S. history to be retried on murder charges after having been acquitted at trial. He was convicted in 1997 at the second trial and sentenced to 100 to 300 years in prison, where he died in 2010.
1985: The first 31 miles of the Deep Tunnel, or the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan, was completed. Still under construction, it’s the largest public works project in Chicago’s history and one of the biggest in the U.S. The tunnel system is expected to be 130 miles long and cost $3.6 billion when completed.
The Deep Tunnel is intended to “bottle a rainstorm” by channeling storm water that overflows from sewers into the system’s tunnels that connect with massive reservoirs.
1988: Michael Jordan became the first NBA player to be named league MVP and defensive player of the year in the same season after averaging 35 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 3.2 steals.
1993: Jordan sparked controversy by gambling with his father in Atlantic City, New Jersey, casinos the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Knicks. He was criticized the next night for shooting 12-for-32 in a 96-91 loss, but the Chicago Bulls still won the series.
“He’s a competitor,” James Jordan, Michael’s father, told the Tribune in late May 1993. “Losing $10,000 to him would be like me losing 10 cents. … If he was playing for matchsticks or straws, he’d have the same level of competition.
“He certainly doesn’t have a gambling problem. He wouldn’t be doing that if he couldn’t afford it. He isn’t that stupid. He has a competition problem. He was born with that. And if he didn’t have a competition problem, you guys wouldn’t be writing about him. The person he tries to outdo most of the time is himself.”
1995: The Illinois General Assembly approved the Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act, which gave Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley the ability to appoint school board members directly and replace the superintendent with an appointed chief executive officer.
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