Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Nov. 27, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Thanksgiving weather in Chicago: The most extreme conditions since 1872
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 67 degrees (1990)
- Low temperature: 2 degrees (1887)
- Precipitation: 2.93 inches (1990)
- Snowfall: 5.8 inches (1891)
Gustave Marx, Harvey Van Dine and Peter Neidermeyer — known together as the “Car Barn Bandits” — were caught by police on Nov. 26, 1903, near Tolleston, Indiana. (Chicago Tribune)
1903: The “Car Barn Bandits” were captured by police. Gustave Marx, Harvey Van Dine and Peter Neidermeyer were Chicago’s first celebrity criminals. From July 8 to Nov. 27, 1903, they conducted a spectacular crime spree during which they “killed eight men, including two detectives, wounded five others and committed eight robberies” totaling roughly $2,400. One of those took place at a North Avenue saloon (today it’s a playground), where the trio killed two patrons in the course of robbing the bar of $8.
Marx was caught first — “You can’t do anything to me,” he protested upon being locked up. “I only shot a cop! Anybody’s got a right to shoot a cop!” — and he ratted out his comrades, revealing the location of their hideout in the Indiana dunes. Returned to Chicago for a trial, the three were “treated more like conquering heroes or visiting celebrities than like desperate criminals,” with the detectives who captured them extolling their marksmanship before crowds of reporters and onlookers.
1921: George Halas scored the final touchdown in the first meeting of the Chicago Bears, who were then known as the Chicago Staleys, and the Green Bay Packers. The Staleys won 20-0 at Wrigley Field.
From Halas to Hester: The 32 Chicago Bears inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
1922: The Bears’ first player deal. The team bought future Hall of Fame tackle Ed Healey’s contract from the Rock Island Independents, nine days after the teams faced each other, for $100 (or about $2,000 in today’s dollars) — twice the going rate for a franchise that season.
The official dedication ceremony for Soldier Field was held on Nov. 27, 1926, in front of a crowd of 110,000 during the Army vs. Navy game. The game ended in a 21-21 tie. The field first opened as Municipal Grant Park Stadium on Oct. 9, 1924. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)
1926: Navy was awarded the national championship despite its game against Army ending in a 21-21 tie before 110,000 fans at Soldier Field, which was dedicated that day. Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne missed his own team’s game to attend.
Dr. Marjorie Stewart Joyner stands by an exhibit of her life on display at the A. Montgomery Ward Gallery at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Feb. 15, 1985. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune)
1928: Marjorie Stewart Joyner received a U.S. patent for a permanent waving machine.
The South Side beautician — who was among the first Black women in the U.S. to receive a patent — didn’t think there was anything spectacular about the permanent hair-waving machine she invented, when interviewed by the Tribune in 1989.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Inventions and innovations by Black Chicagoans
“It all came to me in the kitchen when I was making a pot roast one day, looking at these long, thin rods that held the pot roast together and heated it up from the inside,” Joyner said. “I figured you could use them like hair rollers, then heat them up to cook a permanent curl into the hair.”
More than 120,000 spectators watched Austin High beat Leo High 26-0 to win the city’s prep football title on Nov. 27, 1937, at Soldier Field in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)
1937: Approximately 120,000 people turned out to watch Austin beat Leo 26-0 in the city prep football title game at Soldier Field.
Dave Williams is mobbed by teammates after returning the overtime kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and the victory over the Detroit Lions at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 1980. (David Nystrom/Chicago Tribune)
1980: Dave Williams’ 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown — on the first play of overtime — gave the Bears a 23-17 Thanksgiving Day win over the Detroit Lions.
Three inches of snow recorded on Thanksgiving in Chicago in 1980
Runners in the Rosemont Turkey Day 10K were surprised by about 3 inches of snow on Nov. 26, 1980. (Carl Hugare/Chicago Tribune)
Also in 1980: A record snowfall of 3 inches fell at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, making it the snowiest Thanksgiving in the city’s history.
Pat Ewert, left, and her partner Vernita Gray on Sept. 9, 2010. (Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune)
2013: Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert, longtime gay rights activists and a well-known Chicago couple, were wed in Illinois’ first legal same-sex marriage. They were given their marriage license more than six months before the state law legalizing gay marriage took effect because Gray had terminal cancer. She died in March 2014.
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