Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 26, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Vintage editorial: A celebration of women’s suffrage: ‘It has been a long fight and a hard one’
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 97 degrees (1973)
- Low temperature: 47 degrees (1887)
- Precipitation: 2.46 inches (1987)
- Snowfall: Trace (1929)
1818: The Illinois Constitutional Convention adopted a constitution and selected Kaskaskia as the first state capital.
1868: Two pairs of swans arrived in Chicago, establishing the Lincoln Park Zoo, which has remained free to patrons ever since.
1926: The Tribune reported a new name — Black Hawks (Yes, two words) — was chosen for the former Portland Rosebuds hockey team, which had been relocated to Chicago to play at the Chicago Coliseum.
Team owner and coffee tycoon Maj. Frederic McLaughlin commanded a World War I machine gun battalion in a unit known as the “Blackhawk Division,’’ named for Black Hawk, a significant figure in Sauk nation history.
McLaughlin’s wife designed the Indian head logo for the team. Despite tweaks along the way, the crest looks basically the same. The name remained two words until 1986, when someone apparently looked at the original franchise documents that had it as one word.
1927: Three months after it opened, Buckingham Fountain was dedicated in Grant Park.
As part of the celebration, John Philip Sousa conducted a band in playing “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
The majestic landmark was designed by architect Edward Bennet, who was also the creative mind behind Wacker Drive and the Michigan Avenue (now DuSable) Bridge. French artist Marcel Loyau designed its four seahorses, which represent the four states that border Lake Michigan.
Kate Buckingham donated the fountain to the city in honor of her late brother, Clarence. She established a $300,000 trust fund, administered by the Art Institute of Chicago, to ensure that taxpayers would not have to pay for the fountain’s upkeep. This came in handy in 1994, when the fountain underwent a $2.8 million restoration.
The fountain’s basin is constructed with pink marble from Georgia and was inspired by the Latona Basin in Louis XIV’s gardens of Versailles in France — which is why Marie Antoinette might feel at home there. Inside the fountain, 134 jets powered by three pumps spit out more than 14,000 gallons of water per minute.
For many years, the computer that ran the fountain’s pumps was located in Atlanta. But during the 1994 renovation, it was moved to a pump house next to the fountain.
1932: Thomas Dorsey’s wife died during childbirth, prompting him to later write “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” The song ushered in the birth of gospel music in Chicago.
1968: Chicago’s ill-fated Democratic National Convention began.
Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey was nominated at the stormy convention that was marked by riots on the streets as well as raucous political demonstrations on the floor of the Chicago Amphitheatre.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: How Chicago became the go-to city for political conventions
“This moment is one of personal pride and gratification. Yet we cannot help but reflect the sadness we feel at the violence … in the streets of this great city and for the personal injuries which have occurred,” Humphrey said. “Surely we have now learned the lesson that … violence cannot be condoned, whatever the source. I know that every delegate to this convention shares tonight my sorrow and my distress at these incidents and may we for just one moment of sober reflection … silently … each in his own way, pray for our country.”
Nixon was elected Nov. 5, 1968, defeating not only Humphrey but also American Independent Party candidate and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
2013: A critically endangered black rhino was born at Lincoln Park Zoo. The 200-pound calf, named King, became the first of its kind born there since 1989.
2021: Kanye West appeared at Soldier Field for a listening party of his 10th studio album, “Donda.”
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