30-07-2025
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- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Union Stock Yards close after 106 years on city's South Side
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on July 30, according to the Tribune's archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
1850: Fire broke out at Rice's Theater — the city's first permanent theater near Dearborn and Randolph streets — during the second act of a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's 'La Sonnambula,' which was the first opera performed in Chicago. Theater owner John B. Rice apparently told patrons, 'Sit down. Sit down. Do you think I would permit a fire to occur in my theater?' They paused until someone else confirmed the theater was on fire. The building was totally destroyed.
O'Hare International Airport: From farm to global terminal1943: The first C-54 Skymaster (then the U.S. Army's largest transport plane) built in the Douglas Aircraft factory at Orchard Place (then the world's largest cargo plane factory) took its maiden flight.
1957: Chicago-born Frank A. Crossley received U.S. patent No. 2,801,167 for titanium alloy.
Though he never worked directly for NASA, Crossley's ingenuity — creating metals that were stronger than steel but much lighter — would be vital in the crafts used for space exploration, according to 'We Could Not Fail: The First African Americans in the Space Program.'
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Inventions and innovations by Black ChicagoansBut before his patents were in the planning stage, the Chicago-born DuSable High School graduate completed a rare trifecta of accomplishments: He was the first African American officer in the U.S. Navy; the first person to earn a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and the first person of African ancestry in the world to earn a doctorate in the field, according to Illinois Tech.
1961: Illinois native Jerry Barber, a 5-foot-5, 135-pound, 45-year-old father of five, sank putts of 20, 40 and 60 feet on the last three greens to tie Don January and force a playoff in the PGA Championship at Olympia Fields. Barber went on to beat January in the playoff and became the oldest PGA champ at the time.
1971: The Union Stock Yards closed on the city's South Side. Called 'Union' for the seven separate stockyards that contributed to build it, the stockyards opened on Christmas Day 1865 on more than 300 acres of swamp land purchased from two-time Chicago Mayor 'Long' John Wentworth. More than 18.6 million head of cattle, hogs and sheep were marketed at its peak in 1924.
A massive fire, which took out nearly 90% of the stockyards, erupted at the site in 1934. Fifty firefighters were injured in the blaze and hundreds of cattle were killed.
'Hog butcher for the world'But the stockyards had moments of glory, too. Research laboratories funded by the packers turned animal byproducts into everything from medicine to cosmetics. From 1900, there was a yearly International Live Stock Exposition as well as a 4-H Club show. In 1952, the Republicans and Democrats held their presidential nominating conventions at the International Amphitheatre, an exposition center located in the stockyards complex.
All that remains of the stockyards is its gate, which includes a sculpted version of a prize-winning steer.
1974: At noon, Illinois Lottery tickets were sold for the very first time in the state at 7,500 outlets. Anyone 18 years and older could buy them from a licensed vendor (though chances of being struck by lightning were much better than winning the money). The first one was sold by John Hucko, a news vendor in the State of Illinois Building, to Gov. Dan Walker's daughter, Roberta.
After almost 7.5 million tickets had been sold, the first drawing took place on Aug. 8, 1974.
1977: Chicago Bears running back and 'Kansas Comet' Gale Sayers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
'Reaching this point is not as great as striving to get there,' Sayers said. 'It's not enough to settle for yesterday's triumphs.'
1995: Saying he had lost 'the desire to compete at this level,' Chicago White Sox designated hitter John Kruk got a hit in his final at-bat then abruptly retired.
The longtime Philadelphia Phillies player underwent surgery to remove a testicle on March 8, 1994, and was back in the lineup in the seventh game of the season. When the Phillies didn't want Kruk back in 1995, he decided to retire, but changed his mind and signed with the White Sox on May 12, 1995. After being sidelined briefly by a heel injury, Kruk returned to the lineup.
Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez — three core members of the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Series team and featured in this iconic photograph from Game 7 — were sent to other teams before Major League Baseball's trade deadline in July 2021. (Chicago Tribune)2021: Just one day after sending first baseman Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees, the Chicago Cubs traded Kris Bryant (San Francisco Giants), shortstop Javier Baez (to the New York Mets in exchange for prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong) and closer Craig Kimbrel (Chicago White Sox).
'I'm happy for them. But outside of the manager side, I feel like I'm losing some friends for a minute and I think that's difficult for me personally,' Cubs manager David Ross said.
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