Today in Chicago History: It’s a girl! First child born to Bears owner George Halas.

Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Jan. 5, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Front page (of the Business section) flashback: Jan. 6, 2021

Macy's announced on Jan. 5, 2021, it was closing the department store chain's flagship store inside Water Tower Place. (Chicago Tribune) — Macy’s announced on Jan. 5, 2021, it was closing the department store chain’s flagship store inside Water Tower Place. (Chicago Tribune)

Macy’s announced plan to close its store in Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 56 degrees (1890)
Low temperature: Minus 18 degrees (1884)
Precipitation: 0.80 inches (1929)
Snowfall: 8.7 inches (2014)

Virginia Halas McCaskey with Terry Bradshaw after the Chicago Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 39-14 to win the NFC Championship game on Jan. 21, 2007 at Soldier Field in Chicago. (John Smierciak/Chicago Tribune) — Virginia Halas McCaskey with Terry Bradshaw after the Chicago Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 39-14 to win the NFC Championship game on Jan. 21, 2007, at Soldier Field in Chicago. (John Smierciak/Chicago Tribune)

1923: A baby girl was born to Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas. Virginia Halas McCaskey was the principal owner of the team until her death in February 2025 at 102.

Who is Virginia McCaskey? 8 things to know about the owner of the Chicago Bears.

“I had assumed — and so had Min (Minnie, his wife) — that the new arrival would be George Stanley Halas Jr.,” the founder and owner of the Bears said in the 1979 book “Halas by Halas: The Autobiography of George Halas.” “I already had visions of drawing my son into the thick of the Bears. We didn’t even have a name for a girl. After some searching we decided on Mary Barbara, for her two grandmothers. But my brother Frank already had appropriated those names for his daughter.”

1937: Mayor Edward Kelly appointed five men to function as the newly created Chicago Housing Authority.

An abandoned brick yard at 2600 N. Narragansett Ave., was turned into the first ski area within Chicago, which opened in early 1968. Little snow, however, forced its closure and leveling for the next establishment on the site Brickyard Mall. (Chicago Tribune) — An abandoned brickyard at 2600 N. Narragansett Ave. was turned into the first ski area within Chicago, which opened in early 1968. Little snow, however, forced its closure and it was leveled for the next establishment on the site, Brickyard Mall. (Chicago Tribune)

1968: Thunder Mountain, the first ski resort within Chicago’s city limits, opened.

Dan Fitzpatrick, of Bensenville, shops for Craftsman tools at the Sears store in the Oak Brook Center Mall on Black Friday, Nov. 23, 2018. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune) — Dan Fitzpatrick, of Bensenville, shops for Craftsman tools at the Sears store in the Oakbrook Center mall on Black Friday, Nov. 23, 2018. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

2017: Sears sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker.

Sears timeline: Rise, fall and restructuring of a Chicago icon over 130 years

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