Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on May 2, 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: 91 degrees (1959)
- Low temperature: 27 degrees (1875)
- Precipitation: 1.32 inches (2018)
- Snowfall: 0.6 inches (1940)
1917: Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Jim “Hippo” Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs both pitched hitless balls for nine innings at Weeghman Park. The Tribune called the game, “a contest that will stand as one of the most remarkable in history.”
The Reds won on two hits and a run in the 10th. Toney maintained his no-hitter.
1920: In front of more than 8,000 spectators, the Indianapolis ABCs beat the visiting Chicago American Giants in the Negro National League’s inaugural game.
1921: The Field Museum opened to visitors in its current space off DuSable Lake Shore Drive after a move from the Palace of Fine Arts building in Jackson Park. Eight thousand people showed up on the first day despite “biting wind and drizzly rain” outside.
1927: The Stevens Hotel — then the largest hotel in the world — opened on Michigan Avenue. The $30 million, 28-story towers contained 3,000 rooms, an 18-hole rooftop miniature golf course complete with sand traps and its own hospital. It was, according to its own press clippings, “the greatest hotel of all times.”
One perk? Rooms for pets: “No longer will the society woman with a pair of wolfhounds or trained leopards be turned away because she insists on bringing her pets with her,” the Tribune reported on May 1, 1927. “They will be cared for in luxury by trained attendants.”
Famous guests have included Charles Lindbergh, Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Taylor, seven U.S. presidents and dozens of other personalities.
The hotel also has had starring roles in numerous films, including “The Fugitive” and its sequel, “U.S. Marshals,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “Home Alone II.”
Several name changes and renovations later, the Hilton Chicago has about half as many rooms.
1960: “Flying Officer” Leonard Baldy and pilot George Ferry were killed when the “WGN trafficopter” helicopter they were riding in crashed and burst into flames on the Chicago and North Western railway right of way near Hubbard Street and Milwaukee Avenue.
Four times a day, Baldy broadcast advice to drivers on the Tribune-owned station on how to avert traffic tie-ups. His $10,000 annual salary was paid to the Chicago Policemen’s Benevolent Association since he couldn’t receive money for his public service under Chicago police rules.
Also in 1960: Evangelist Billy Graham told a group of more than 1,000 clergymen at a breakfast in the Hilton Hotel that “it is the Lord’s time for a religious revival among Chicagoans.” He cited the city’s police and traffic court scandals as evidence.
May 2, 1983: Chicago Mayor Harold Washington abruptly adjourned his first City Council meeting. Before he left, Washington told the group that anything that happened afterward was illegal.
A white majority of 29 aldermen who opposed Washington — led by Ald. Ed Vrdolyak and supported by Ald. Edward Burke — then seized control of City Council and approved a new lineup of committee chairs and leaders. Burke was named chair of the powerful City Council Committee on Finance and retained the title until 1986. He picked it up again in 1989. Mostly left off the list were Washington’s supporters — who loudly screamed and chanted in the gallery.
The “Council Wars” — pitting a weak mayoral system against a strong council — continued until 1986, when a federal judge ordered that the city’s ward map be redrawn to better reflect the city’s racial demographics. That gave Washington’s supporters 25 of the 50 seats in the City Council, and with the mayor casting a tiebreaking vote, the stalemate was broken.
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