Today in Chicago History: St. Valentine's Day Massacre on Clark Street
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Feb. 14, 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: 62 degrees (1954)
Low temperature: Minus 11 degrees (1905)
Precipitation: 0.94 inches (1950)
Snowfall: 8.3 inches (1990)
Women get the vote
1920: The League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maud Wood Park.
1929: Seven men, suspected to be members of George 'Bugs' Moran's gang, were lined up against the wall of a garage on Clark Street, the gang's headquarters, and killed by rivals' machine guns in what became known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
It became the most infamous of all gangland slayings in America, and it savagely achieved its purpose — the elimination of the last challenge to Al Capone for the mantle of crime boss in Chicago.
1951: 'St. Valentine's Day Massacre II.' Sugar Ray Robinson won the middleweight championship from 'Raging Bull' Jake LaMotta on a 13th-round TKO at Chicago Stadium. LaMotta, who had never been knocked down, preserved that record.
LaMotta won only one of his six fights with Robinson and once observed, 'I fought Sugar Ray so many times it's a wonder I didn't get diabetes.'
1980: City firefighters went on strike for the first and only time as the department's first female recruit — Lauren Howard — began her career.
1990: Snow began falling in the early afternoon and quickly increased in intensity, with visibility dropping to near zero. It peaked during the evening commute as northeast winds reached more than 20 mph.
Normal one-hour commutes turned into ordeals lasting hours longer. O'Hare airport closed at 7:30 p.m. after a jet slid off a runway while attempting departure.
Mayor Richard M. Daley received criticism after the 10-inch snowfall was met with a slow response by the city's snow removal crews.
'I don't think this is going to cost me my job,' Daley said, adding, 'I'm not going to run and hide. I'm the mayor of Chicago, and I accept responsibility.'
Also in 1990: Michael Jordan wore No. 12 after his No. 23 jersey was believed to be stolen. He scored 49 points in an overtime loss to the Orlando Magic.
2008: A former student dressed in black walked onto the stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University and opened fire on a packed class; Steven Kazmierczak killed five students before committing suicide.
Want more vintage Chicago?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elevated fire danger in Oregon amid thunderstorm and wind threat
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Parts of Oregon will see elevated wildfire danger today as thunderstorms and gusty winds develop this afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning through 8 p.m. Tuesday for wind and low relative humidity in Washington's Kittitas Valley and Lower Columbia Basin of Washington. The Columbia River Gorge will see winds gusting up to 30 mph with relative humidity as low as 10 percent in the region. Due to the abundant dry fuels, any fires that start may spread rapidly. Scattered thunderstorms are also expected to develop throughout the hotter afternoon hours, both Tuesday and Wednesday, around central and southeastern Oregon. While some storms may bring heavy downpours, dry lightning will bring the risk of new wildfire starts. Temperatures remain hot through Wednesday with high temps in the 80s and 90s, further drying out burn fuels in the region. A cooler pattern arrives later in the week. However, little to no rainfall is likely across much of the state for at least the next week. Folks are urged to use extreme caution and avoid outdoor burning, especially during Red Flag Warnings and other fire alerts. Stay with the KOIN 6 Weather Team for your forecast and fire weather updates throughout fire season. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
See it: Massive 2-mile-wide tornado caught on video plowing through Texas field
MORTON, Texas – Catching a tornado live on camera is no easy feat, but FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Brandon Copic not only got a massive tornado at one angle, but three. Copic was tracking storms in northwestern Texas on Thursday when he encountered this monster "dust buster" blasting through a field in Morton. Video from three different points-of-view in Copic's vehicle shows the gigantic twister, encompassing a large area believed to be around 2 miles wide. In the video, Copic tracks the tornado down a dirt road next to a field. "This thing is an absolute dust buster," Copic said. As he gets closer to the tornado, things get bumpier and bumpier, but he keeps trucking along, very slowly. The tornado can be seen on his roof camera and dash camera. The camera angles show the sky still a clear blue on the edge of the twister. Towards the end of the video. Copic's car is enveloped in dust from the storm. Watch: Storm Chaser Provides Wild Drive Through Texas Amid Windshield-shattering Hail, Walls Of Dust As he continues onward, he and other storm chasers following the tornado stop abruptly due to downed powerlines. "Powerlines snapped right in front of us," Copic narrates, as he turns his tracking vehicle around and heads back the way he came. Watch: Supercell Thunderstorm Intercepted In Texas Impacts from this storm system were felt all the way from New Mexico to Texas, as a supercell produced several tornadoes in the area. The National Weather Service plans to complete a survey of the track of the tornado to determine its strength on the Enhanced Fujita article source: See it: Massive 2-mile-wide tornado caught on video plowing through Texas field
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
The most destructive tornado in New England history struck Worcester 70 years ago. Here's what happened.
The violent tornado was on the ground for 84 minutes and grew to over a mile wide, claiming 94 lives. Thousands of buildings were destroyed. Back then, F4 tornadoes were estimated to have maximum wind speeds between 207 and 260 mph. (Since 2007, when the Enhanced Fujita scale came out, both wind speed and destruction are considered when rating a tornado. There's a good chance that the Worcester tornado would have been rated an EF-5 based on the updated system.) There has only been one tornado since that has claimed more lives: the Joplin, Missouri twister of 2011, which killed more than 100 people. Weather setup Advertisement The Worcester tornado was one of four to strike the region that afternoon, spawning from a strong area of low pressure with a powerful cold front interacting with excessive humidity. According to reports from that day, dew points were well into the 70s, priming the atmosphere for explosive storms. When you forecast the possibility of tornadoes, you need four main ingredients — wind shear, lift, instability, and moisture. Wind shear is the change in wind speed and direction with height in the atmosphere. Lift refers to a mechanism to drive moist, warm air upwards in the atmosphere. Instability and moisture are more obvious, but the more humid it is, the more unstable the atmosphere becomes. All four ingredients were present across New England that day. Advertisement It was also the first-ever tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service (known as the U.S. Weather Bureau back then) in New England, but the warning came only after the twister had touched down — debris was already falling out of the sky at the Blue Hill observatory deck — meaning it was too late for many people to seek shelter. A very strong area of low pressure highlighted the surface weather map of New England on June 9, 1953. NWS Path of destruction The monster tornado began its path of destruction over the Quabbin Reservoir near Petersham around 4:30 p.m., tracking to the southeast and crashing into the towns of Barre and Rutland. By the time the clock struck 5 p.m., the tornado had strengthened significantly in Holden, leveling whole neighborhoods. The path of the 1953 Worcester tornado. TornadoTalk The tornado reached maximum strength and severity when hitting Worcester, with Assumption College in its crosshairs. The northern side of the campus, made of heavy brick walls, was leveled. Assumption College just after 5 p.m. on June 9, 1953. Assumption University What's interesting here is that the Worcester hills, specifically Burncoat, may have amplified wind speeds at this point in the tornado's life, increasing the damage and possibly reaching F5 intensity. Hills can impact a tornado's strength, and increasing elevation could have led to stronger winds. The massive tornado continued into Shrewsbury and Westborough, destroying many homes and businesses until finally fading near the Southborough/Framingham line. Three other tornadoes formed that same day, one in Southeastern Mass., an F3, and two in Southeastern New Hampshire — an F3 and F1. Aftermath To put into context just how powerful this tornado was, debris was found as far away as Eastham on Cape Cod, a signal of just how strong the vortex and updraft were from this storm. Books were found — confirmed to be from Worcester — in Provincetown. Advertisement It took years for the region to recover. More than 4,000 buildings were destroyed by the nearly hour-and-a-half tornado, causing the equivalent of $550 million in damage if the event occurred in 2025. June 10, 1953: The worst tornado in New England's history ripped a 25-mile path of death and destruction through six Central Massachusetts communities on June 9, 1953. The tornado which touched down at 4:25 near the town of Petersham continued for 84 minutes ultimately killing 94 people and leaving over 15,000 homeless. This picture from Burncoat Street in Worcester shows the pile of debris left in its wake. The Boston Globe/Boston Globe Assumption College was relocated to Salisbury Street, while Quinsigamond Community College was built in the years after on the land where Assumption once stood. The Worcester tornado bookmarked a multiday severe weather event across the country, spawning epic tornadoes that have now been cemented in the weather history books. The event in early June 1953 spearheaded rapid changes to how the country handled forecasting, including the development of a storm spotter network that dramatically improved the timing of tornado warnings to help people find cover sooner. Ken Mahan can be reached at
