Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 29, 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: 98 degrees (1953)
- Low temperature: 43 degrees (1982)
- Precipitation: 2.02 inches (1955)
- Snowfall: None
The patent for a “clasp locker” for shoes, which was granted to Chicago inventor Whitcomb Judson on Aug. 29, 1893, was considered an early model of the zipper. (U.S. Patent Office)
1893: Chicago-born inventor Whitcomb L. Judson received a patent — one of his many — for “Clasp locker or unlocker for shoes” then displayed it at the city’s World’s Columbian Exposition. It eventually became the zipper.
1935: The Chicago Bears defeated a team of all-stars — including future President Gerald Ford — in the second Chicago College All-Star Game. (The first one in 1934, ended in a scoreless tie.) A safety and a field goal secured the win.
The event became a tradition through 1976.
Elizabeth Wood, left, executive secretary of the Chicago Housing Authority, participates in a tree-planting ceremony at the dedication of the Frances Cabrini homes on Aug. 29, 1942, in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)
1942: Mayor Edward J. Kelly dedicated the Frances Cabrini Rowhouses, the city’s first wartime housing project, at Chestnut Street and Cambridge Avenue. The development was named after Mother Frances X. Cabrini, an Italian American nun, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the first American citizen to be named a saint.
World Wrestling Federation’s SummerSlam ’94 was the first event held in the United Center on Aug. 29, 1994. (Chicago Tribune)
1994: The new United Center hosted first event.
“Breaking the seal on this dolled-up barn was not the Rolling Stones, as originally rumored but rather the sophisticated artistry of the World Wrestling Federation’s SummerSlam ’94,” Howell J. Malham Jr. wrote for the Tribune. “And, with the Three Tenors already booked through the upcoming millennium, Bret “Hit Man” Hart, Lex Luger and the Undertaker seemed like the next logical lineup.”
In the steel cage match, Hart defeated Owen Hart and the Undertaker defeated himself.
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