Today in Chicago History: Italian Gen. Italo Barbo leads 24 seaplanes in splash down at Navy Pier
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1850: Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini — the first American saint — was born in Italy. The youngest of 13 children of Italian farmers, she dreamed of serving as a missionary. Her poor health, however, meant she was rejected by several orders. That's why Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini — who was born 175 years ago this month — founded her own, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Pope Leo XIII encouraged Cabrini to expand her mission to the United States.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Mother Cabrini's Chicago milestones on her path to sainthood
When she arrived in America, Cabrini didn't speak English and was told by the archbishop of New York that her trip was a mistake. Yet Cabrini persisted and even became a naturalized citizen in 1909.
Before her death in Chicago at age 67, Cabrini founded 67 schools, orphanages, hospitals, convents and places of worship in North and South America. Her order has a presence today on six continents and Cabrini is revered by the faithful as patron saint of immigrants.
1875: Balloonist Washington Donaldson and his passenger, newspaper reporter Newton Grimwood, disappeared during an attempt to cross Lake Michigan in a balloon.
What became of them? 'Unless there shall arrive a speedy and convincing denial, it can be taken as the story of their doom,' the Tribune reported two days later.
1933: Twenty-four seaplanes, led by Italian Gen. Italo Balbo, landed on Lake Michigan near Chicago's Navy Pier for the Century of Progress exposition.
'Seagulls flew ahead of the planes as if to show them how to do it,' wrote a Tribune reporter who watched them pass over the site of Chicago's 1933 World's Fair and the Loop. 'One large gull circled and banked and soared near the planes as they came down lower and lower, facing North and heading for the shelter of the breakwater.'
2018: Sears closed its last store in Chicago.
The Six Corners store, on the edge of Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, shut its doors for the last time two months shy of its 80th anniversary.
Sears timeline: Rise, fall and restructuring of a Chicago icon over 130 yearsSubscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
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Initially running north–south along the East Coast, post roads later extended westward. Historians have said this aided settler expansion into Native lands and was intertwined with the displacement of tribes. As western migration accelerated, mail was sent by ship from New York to Central America and on to California. Delivery typically took two to three months. The Pony Express, operated by private carriers, was started to speed things up. A relay system of riders on horseback carried mail from California to Missouri, the furthest westward railroad stop. The 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) journey took 10 days. While legendary, it only lasted about 18 months, until Oct. 26, 1861. The service was scuttled by the Civil War and made obsolete with the advent of the telegraph, said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Later, the transcontinental railroad reduced mail delivery from months to days. New types of delivery Free mail delivery to homes began in earnest in 1863 in the nation's largest cities. It was initially created as a response to grief during the Civil War. At the time, the only communication from a father, brother, husband or son usually came through letter-writing. Women lined up daily at post offices, awaiting word. They sometimes got their own letters back, with a note saying their loved one had been killed. Enthusiasm for home delivery spread quickly, and people living in rural areas wanted it, too. Despite logistical challenges, rural free delivery began expanding rapidly around 1900. By the 1920s, mail carriers mostly had replaced horse-drawn wagons with automobiles. Around that time, mail started being sent by airplane as well. The nation's first regularly scheduled airmail service began on May 15, 1918. The initial routes were between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York, using Army pilots and planes. 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So, the post office came up with a friendly cartoon character named Mr. ZIP, who helped convince people their mail would arrive faster. By 1970, postal workers were angry over low wages and a strike was called by leaders of the National Association of Letter Carriers union in New York. Eventually about 200,000 workers joined the postal stoppage, which led to the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. It authorized collective bargaining rights for postal workers and transformed the taxpayer-supported Post Office Department into the United States Postal Service, a financially self-sustaining and independent agency within the executive branch. In more recent times, U.S. Postal Service workers have faced various threats, including anthrax, a serious infectious bacterial disease. Weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, four threatening letters contaminated with anthrax were sent through the mail. 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