12-04-2025
Today in Chicago History: Harold Washington elected city's first Black mayor
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on April 12, 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: 86 degrees (1977)
Low temperature: 21 degrees (1957)
Precipitation: 1.16 inches (1952)
Snowfall: 1.7 inches (1973)
1861: Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., starting the Civil War. In the following months, the Chicago Zouaves, Irish Brigade and Lincoln Rifles were among local companies who marched off to fight.
1924: WLS — call letters that represented Sears, the 'World's Largest Store' — signed on the air for the first time with a train whistle.
1931: Bert Patenaude led his Fall River FC team (which was briefly known as the New York Yankees) against the Chicago Bricklayers in a U.S. Open Cup final played at Mills Stadium in front of 9,500 fans.
That match ended in a draw, so Patenaude played in Chicago again a week later. His team beat the Brickies to win what was then known as the Challenge Cup. Patenaude scored the opening goal in that match.
1983: Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first Black mayor.
Washington, a U.S. representative who also served in the Illinois House and Senate, built his victory over Republican candidate Bernard Epton on a massive show of support by black voters and a narrow slice of the white electorate.
'Today Chicago has seen the bright day break for this city and perhaps the entire country,' the mayor-elect declared before a raucous crowd at Donnelly Hall in the early hours of April 13. 'Out of the crucible of this city's most trying election … Blacks, whites, Hispanics, Jews, gentiles, Protestants and Catholics of all stripes have joined hands to form a new Democratic coalition.'
During his first term, Washington faced a hostile bloc of white aldermen. He was reelected in April 1987.
Washington died in his office at City Hall on Nov. 25, 1987 — the day before Thanksgiving. He was at his desk, talking with an aide, when he slumped over with a heart attack. He was 65. His death stunned the city, and an estimated 200,000 people, some of whom waited for hours, paid respects when Washington's body lay in state at City Hall.
Want more vintage Chicago?
