Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Sept. 13, 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 (1939)

  • Low temperature: 39 degrees (1890)

  • Precipitation: 6.64 inches (2008)

1963: Firefighters and nuns worked quickly to evacuate 109 patients during an extra-alarm fire at the hospital, which destroyed the roof and the fourth floor of the building. A human chain of doctors, nurses and aides safely removed 29 newborn infants and their mothers from Mercy’s obstetrics ward.

Flashback: Mercy Hospital’s major milestones

Surgeries — including brain, abdominal and gallbladder operations and a tonsillectomy — were quickly completed as “alarm bells rang thruout the hospital,” the Tribune reported.

1974: Chicago Today — a descendant of the Chicago Courant founded in 1853 — ceased publication. In its absence, the Tribune vowed to become a 24-hour newspaper with “fresh news in each edition in the morning, afternoon, and evening.”

More than 90 of the 175 Chicago Today staffers were offered jobs at the Tribune. William Decker, a Chicago Today photographer, didn’t need it — he won a $300,000 lottery the day before the publication ended.

1995: Stable hand Kenneth Hansen was found guilty of the 1955 slayings of Robert Peterson, 14, and brothers John and Anton Schuessler Jr., ages 13 and 11 on Chicago’s Northwest Side. The three boys went to the Loop to watch a movie and were picked up by Hansen while hitchhiking home.

Police charged Hansen in 1994 with driving the boys to a stable where he sexually abused them, then strangled them and later dumped their bodies in a forest preserve ditch. Hansen’s arrest was one development in an ATF investigation into the 1977 disappearance of Helen Brach, the multimillionaire candy heiress. Richard Bailey, an acquaintance of Hansen’s, was charged with soliciting Brach’s murder.

Hansen, serving a 200-year sentence for the slayings, died in prison of natural causes in 2007.

1998: Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa hit home runs No. 61 and 62 at Wrigley Field, matching St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire in passing Roger Maris’ single-season record of 61. Sosa hit 66 home runs during the 1998 season.

McGwire smashed 70 home runs to capture the record. Just three years later, however, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73. No player since has threatened Bonds’ total. All three players have been accused of using steroids to enhance their performance.

2020: Cubs’ starter Alec Mills threw a no-hitter, walked three and struck out five, in a 12-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the 16th no-hitter in franchise history.

Want more vintage Chicago?

Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.

Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com