Chicago ties 138-year-old weather record
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago on Friday tied a weather record set 138 years ago.
The high hit 56 degrees at O'Hare International Airport on Friday. The last time the official high was 56 degrees in Chicago on Feb. 9 was in 1886.
At Midway International Airport, the high hit 58 on Friday. This tied a record of 57 set back not so long ago in 1999.
This is also the warmest start to February on record in Chicago – with the average temperature running 15 degrees above normal.
Thursday's near-record warmth gave way to the threat of severe storms.
How long has it been? Some perspective
How long is 138 years?
For perspective, 1886 was the year of the Haymarket Affair – a violent conflict stemming from a labor protest in favor of an eight-hour day. A bomb was thrown at police officers in Haymarket Square, at Des Plaines and Randolph streets – leaving eight hours dead and 60 injured. Police opened fire afterward, and chaos erupted.
Eight anarchists were charged and convicted in the bombing, and four were later executed – while a fifth died by suicide the day before the executions. Three others were pardoned by Gov. John Peter Altgeld.
The Haymarket riot is still considered the most devastating incident in Chicago Police history. But it is also commemorated in many circles, and the men who were executed were deemed martyrs. The Chicago protests also inspired the establishment of May Day, or International Workers' Day.
The Haymarket Affair happened May 4, 1886 – about three months more recently than the last time it was 56 degrees on Feb. 9.
Also, the Great Chicago Fire – which destroyed downtown Chicago, the Near North Side, and part of the Near West Side – was 14 years and four months in the past the last time it was 56 degrees on Feb. 9 – very much in recent memory. For comparison, the announcement that Chicago had been knocked out of contention for the 2016 Summer Olympics in the first round of voting was 14 years and four months ago now.
Further, the city was a lot smaller in land area in 1886. The northern boundary was Fullerton Avenue – except for one small section between Western Avenue and the Chicago River's North Branch that extended farther north. The southern boundary was Pershing Road, the western boundary Western Avenue.
Most of the North Side above Fullerton Avenue – except for the Rogers Park area – was part of the City of Lake View. Most of the Northwest Side was part of the Town of Jefferson. Most of the South Side west of State Street and as far west as Cicero Avenue was the Town of Lake. The South Side east of State Street and all the way down to the present-day southern city limits at 138th Street was the Village of Hyde Park.
There was only one Major League Baseball team in Chicago at the time – the Chicago White Stockings, which had been founded in 1870 and had joined the National League in 1876.
The team went through a couple of name changes beginning in 1890 before settling on the name Cubs in 1907. Meanwhile, another team called the St. Paul Saints moved the Chicago as part of the new American League in 1900 and assumed the White Stockings name – which was later shortened to the White Sox. But that was all still way off in the future the last time it was 56 degrees on Feb. 9.
Also off in the future at the time were the World's Columbian Exposition with its famous White City in Jackson Park – which would not happen for another seven years.
In other words, it's been a while.
