Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 27, 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: 101 degrees (1971)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1992)
- Precipitation: 1.68 inches (1983)
- Snowfall: Trace (2013)
1858: “How, in God’s name, do you let such paragraphs into the Tribune?” Abraham Lincoln furiously scribbled in Springfield on June 27, 1858, firing off a gruff note to Charles H. Ray, the editor-in-chief of the Chicago Press & Tribune, then in business for only 11 years.
Lincoln scholar and Dickinson College professor Matthew Pinsker described the letter to the Tribune as “the angriest, nastiest written statement Lincoln ever produced (at least as far as we know).”
1970: More a march than a parade, the city’s Gay Liberation Movement staged its first rally and procession as part of Gay Pride Week. A short Tribune story the next day said 150 people listened to speakers in Bughouse Square (now Washington Square Park) before walking to the Civic Center (now Daley Plaza) where they formed a chain around the Picasso statue and shouted, “Gay power to gay people.”
1975: Lee Trevino and two other golfers were hospitalized after being struck by lightning while playing in the Western Open at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook.
Trevino was knocked out and hospitalized for two days.
“My heart stopped, and the doctor told me if it wasn’t in such good shape, I’d have been gone,” he said in 1991.
1986: Hard Rock Cafe opened in Chicago. Mayor Harold Washington and Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon were among its first guests. TV host Oprah Winfrey attended the opening with Stedman Graham, who the Tribune described as “very tall and very handsome.”
The restaurant closed in March.
2011: At his second trial, Rod Blagojevich was found guilty on widespread allegations, including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, trying to shake down a children’s hospital leader in exchange for sending money approved for pediatric services, and seeking a $100,000 contribution from a horse track owner in exchange for signing favorable legislation.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Pardon me — Chicagoans who received clemency from a US president
After being released from a federal prison in Colorado, Blagojevich returned to Chicago and proclaimed himself a “Trumpocrat.”
President Donald Trump, convicted of felonies himself, commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence to about eight years served on Feb. 18, 2020.
2016: Chicago Cubs outfielder Kris Bryant became the first player in major league history — and the youngest player in Cubs history — to hit three home runs and two doubles in a game. Bryant also set a franchise record with 16 total bases, surpassing the previous mark of 14.
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