Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 21, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Sister Jean turns 106: Get to know Loyola basketball’s famous team chaplain
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 99 degrees (1955)
- Low temperature: 46 degrees (1950)
- Precipitation: 2 inches (1874)
- Snowfall: None
1858: The first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place at Washington Square in Ottawa, Illinois.
Papers outside Illinois first published only Douglas’ speeches. As Lincoln’s fame spread, his side began to appear in print also. Although Lincoln won the popular vote, he lost in the Illinois legislature at a time when state legislators, not voters, chose senators. But the debates established Lincoln as a national figure.
1926: Chicago White Sox pitcher Ted Lyons hurled a no-hitter during his 26th start of the 1926 season. The White Sox beat the Red Sox in Boston 6-0.
1951: The Chicago Bears took their first team flight ever — to Los Angeles aboard a United Airlines Mainliner.
2017: The first total solar eclipse to stream across the continental United States was visible along a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Solar eclipses and how Chicagoans viewed them
Chicago’s view of a merely partial eclipse was mostly obscured by cloud cover, but Makanda and Carbondale in southern Illinois had a great view.
All over the internet, WGN-TV chief meteorologist Tom Skilling became the incarnation of eclipse-incited rapture.
Southern Illinois once again plunged into darkness on April 8, 2024, and onlookers offered a standing ovation for the last total solar eclipse the contiguous U.S. would see for the next two decades.
‘I know why a lot of people chase them.’ Solar eclipse lives up to its hype in Illinois.
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