Today in Chicago History: ‘The circus begins.’ Michael Jordan signs a baseball contract with the White Sox.

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Feb. 7, 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: 59 degrees (1925)
  • Low temperature: Minus 10 degrees (1875)
  • Precipitation: 1.34 inches (1881)
  • Snowfall: 8.6 inches (1933)

1865: Gov. Richard J. Oglesby signed a bill repealing Illinois’ 1853 “Black Law” that prohibited Black people from coming into the state.

Su-Lin, a baby giant panda, is held by Ruth Harkness, of New York, who will sell the panda to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago for $20,000. Su-Lin died in 1938. (Chicago Tribune archive)

1937: Su-Lin, the first panda brought to the U.S. to live in captivity, arrived at Brookfield Zoo.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: How Brookfield Zoo became home to Su-Lin, the first live panda imported from China

The animal died of pneumonia the following year. It is now part of the Field Museum’s taxidermy collection.

Feb. 7, 1968 Chicago Tribune....Mickelberry Food Products Co. fire
Coverage of the 1968 Mickelberry plant fire was dominated by Tribune photographer Don Casper’s pictures. Casper, who lived nearby, was the first journalist on the scene. In a story the day after, he said the devastation rivaled what he had seen after the Oak Lawn tornado the previous year. “It was a battle scene. … There were bodies everywhere — dead and injured — you couldn’t tell the difference.” (Chicago Tribune)

1968: Nine people, including four firefighters, were killed when a series of late-afternoon explosions ripped through the general offices of Mickelberry Food Products Co. on the South Side. The fire started when a gasoline tanker truck making a delivery in the alley behind the plant started leaking. The gas flowed through a doorway and into the basement, where the building’s boiler was located.

1969: Led Zeppelin’s Chicago debut at Kinetic Playground came less than two months after its first American gig and three weeks after its first U.S. show as a sole headliner that, of all places, happened in Iowa City, Iowa, when the band stepped up after Count Basie canceled his date at the students’ union.

As ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’ nears theaters, a look back at the pivotal shows the band played in Chicago — or almost did

The two February performances at Kinetic Playground marked the first of eight the band played in 1969 alone at the venue that stood at 4812 N. Clark St. Sandwiched in the middle of a lineup that featured headliner Vanilla Fudge and opener Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin drew positive reviews from the Tribune in its “The Sound” column, branded “music and radio: for young listeners.”

FILE -- Chicago Bulls' Michael Jordan takes part in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest in Seattle in this Feb. 7, 1987 photo. Dominance, determination and unmatched skill earned Jordan the selection as the top basketball player of the century by a six-member panel of experts assembled for The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Kirthmon Dozier) ORG XMIT: NY177
Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan takes part in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest in Seattle on Feb. 7, 1987. (Kirthmon Dozier/AP)

1987: Michael Jordan soared to his first of back-to-back slam dunk-contest victories at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Seattle.

"As cameras clicked and flashed and videocams videoed, Michael Jordan signed a baseball contract," the Tribune reported about the retired basketball player's move to the Chicago White Sox on Feb. 7, 1994. (Chicago Tribune)
“As cameras clicked and flashed and videocams videoed, Michael Jordan signed a baseball contract,” the Tribune reported about the retired basketball player’s move to the Chicago White Sox on Feb. 7, 1994. (Chicago Tribune)

1994: Jordan signed a minor-league deal with the Chicago White Sox four months after he retired from professional basketball.

Column: Michael Jordan’s baseball fantasy — and his failure with the Chicago White Sox — is a big part of his legend

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