Today in Chicago History: Taylor Swift takes over Soldier Field
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 2, according to the Tribune's archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1939: 'Well to do spinster' Rose Neary was found strangled with a radio cord and beaten to death with a hammer in her first floor apartment on Franklin Boulevard in Chicago, where she lived with her two dogs.
Friends became concerned when Neary failed to appear at a celebration for her synagogue, which she helped plan. Though acquaintances — including an occasional chauffeur whom she loaned money to — were questioned, the case remains unsolved.
Neary's belongings including fur coats, furniture and jewelry were auctioned later that month, with officials charged admission of 50 cents to prevent overcrowding of the apartment.
300 miles in Nebraska with Fred Hoiberg: The former Bulls coach opens up about his time in Chicago, recruiting in the Big Ten and going home2015: The Chicago Bulls hired Fred Hoiberg, who briefly played for the team, to be its 19th coach.
Hoiberg compiled a 115-155 record with one first-round playoff exit before he was fired in December 2018. He's now the basketball coach at Nebraska.
2019: Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize sports betting, allowing a Chicago casino, slot machines at both city airports, casinos in the south suburbs, Waukegan, Rockford, Danville and Williamson County, slot machines at horse racing tracks, and spots betting at casinos and tracks.
2023: For the first of three sold-out shows on her Eras Tour at Soldier Field, Taylor Swift contained multitudes, presiding over a 200-minute extravaganza that often had the crowd of more than 60,000 devoted fans singing along to every word.
The epic concert took the form of nine separate mini sets, each aurally and visually connected to a certain album, letting the pop phenom explore nearly every facet of a 17-year recording career that currently knows no limits. Swift paired each set change with themed wardrobes and a parade of choreographed routines featuring a squadron of dancers and, frequently, members of her backup band. She also integrated projections on a mammoth, curved, high-definition screen, as well as mobile platforms whose height and shapes fluctuated during songs.
'It was a stage whose magnitude dared make Soldier Field look mid-sized,' critic Bob Gendron wrote.
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