Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Nov. 4, 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: 74 degrees (2020)
- Low temperature: 11 degrees (1991)
- Precipitation: 1.83 inches (1959)
- Snowfall: 0.3 inches (1962)
Judge Albert Bailey George, center, circa 1924. George was elected the city’s first Black judge on Nov. 4, 1924. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)
1924: Albert Bailey George was elected the city’s first Black judge. The 51-year-old Northwestern University law school graduate and practicing attorney “won a place on the Municipal bench by a vote approximately 65,000 over his nearest Democratic rival,” the Tribune reported.
The new Civic Opera House by Samuel Insull is under construction on July 23, 1928. The building opened in 1929, six days after the stock market crashed. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
1929: Lyric Opera House (then Civic Opera House) opened — just six days after the stock market crashed. It was home to the Chicago Civic Opera, Chicago Grand Opera Company, Chicago City Opera Company and the Chicago Opera Company until Lyric Opera of Chicago was founded in 1954 (as Lyric Theatre). Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida” opened the venue in a sold-out performance.
Colleen Moore Hargrave, second from left, tours the old Essanay Building at 1345 W. Argyle St. during the Chicago International Film Festival in 1965 with producer King Vidor, left, Alison Hunter Wrigley III and William “Bill” Wrigley III. Wilding Studios, which made industrial films, was operating in the space. (Al Phillips/Chicago Tribune)
1965: The Chicago International Film Festival debuted.
Silent film star Colleen Moore Hargrave enlisted a board of female directors to keep it going. She presented producer King Vidor with the festival’s D.W. Griffith Memorial Award.
President-elect Barack Obama with his family at the Election Night rally in Grant Park on Nov. 4, 2008, in Chicago. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
2008: Barack Obama, the first African American to claim the highest office in the land, won the presidency and made his victory speech in Grant Park. He was the first president elected from Chicago and the first to rise from a career in Illinois politics since Abraham Lincoln emerged from frontier obscurity to lead the nation through the Civil War and the abolition of slavery.
Harlen Weivoda stands alongside daughter, Kelsey, 11, and son, Ian, 15, on Oct. 31, 2009, in front of the 55-foot spruce they donated to be the city’s Christmas tree to be displayed in Daley Plaza. (William DeShazer/Chicago Tribune)
2009: Due to budget cuts, the city announced it would no longer display a giant Christmas tree in Daley Plaza that was comprised of hundreds of smaller trees. Instead, it switched to a single tree donated by a local family. The tradition continues today.
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