Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 30, 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: 96 degrees (2013)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1946)
- Precipitation: 4.31 inches (2001)
- Snowfall: Trace (1949)
1847: Cyrus McCormick moved to Chicago.
Having invented the reaper that would revolutionize agriculture, McCormick wanted to manufacture it near prospective customers, the farmers who were fanning out across the Midwest.
1933: George Halas returned to coaching the Chicago Bears, replacing Ralph Jones. Jones ran the Bears for three seasons — posting a 24-10-7 record — and won a title in 1932. He was the father of the T-formation, an innovator credited with being the first coach to position the quarterback under center.
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Halas had stepped away from the team in late 1929, but a stock market collapse saw him resume coaching duties in an effort to save on salary. Halas left the Bears again to return to the U.S. Navy during World War II.
1981: Arlington Park hosted the world’s first million dollar race, The Arlington Million. The result of the race was immortalized in bronze at the top of the paddock, where the “Against All Odds” statue of jockey Bill Shoemaker riding John Henry to a thrilling come-from-behind victory over 40-1 long shot The Bart.
2015: Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta threw his first no-hitter (Arrieta’s second followed in 2016) and the team’s first in seven years.
The Cubs beat the Dodgers 2-0 at Dodger Stadium and wore onesies on their flight back to Chicago.
2017: Hedge fund billionaire and former Chicago resident Ken Griffin gave $16.5 million to the Field Museum, which paid for the new cast of a titanosaur — nicknamed Máximo — in the central hall and the hall’s makeover. (Sue the T. rex was bumped upstairs.) The gift also established the Griffin Dinosaur Experience at the museum. In 2016, Griffin also gave the Field $5.5 million toward a new traveling dinosaur exhibit and educational efforts.
11 big recent cultural gifts, by Ken Griffin and others in Chicago
“Evolving Planet” opened in 2006, also thanks to a donation by Griffin. The $17 million permanent exhibit used video, interactive displays, paintings and lots and lots of fossils to chronicle the evolution of life on Earth over 4 billion years.
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