Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Nov. 5, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 79 degrees (1978)
- Low temperature: 11 degrees (1951)
- Precipitation: 3.34 inches (1883)
- Snowfall: 4 inches (1896)
People walk by Weber Arch at Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue on the Northwestern University campus on March 31, 2025, in Evanston. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
1855: Northwestern University officially opened in Evanston. Two faculty members provided instruction to the school’s first 10 students.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Inventions and innovations by Black Chicagoans
1867: Solomon McWorter of downstate Barry received the first patent granted to a Black person in the state of Illinois. According to the Illinois State Library, U.S. Patent No. 70,451 was for “Improvement in Evaporators for Reducing Sorghum and other like Sirups.”
McWorter explained its ingenuity in his patent application: “This invention relates to the combination of a steam-boiler and evaporating-pan in such a manner that the heat from the steam-boiler is imparted to the evaporating-pan without any danger of scorching the sirup.”
1948: Chicago became the first city in the United States to transmit weather maps daily by radio.
Firefighters, some with acetylene torches, hurry to reach trapped victims after two trains collided during rush hour on Nov. 5, 1956, in Chicago. A northbound CTA elevated train crashed into a North Shore train at at the Wilson Avenue station, just west of Broadway. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
1956: Eight people died and more than 600 were injured when a northbound Howard Street eight-car elevated CTA train rammed a six-car North Shore Line train at the Wilson Avenue station during the evening rush hour.
“The impact telescoped the forward half of the elevated train’s first car, which was lifted two feet off the rails, so that its roof overhung the roof of the last car of the North Shore train,” the Tribune reported.
Cars drive a snake-like section of the new Northwest Expressway with downtown Chicago in the background on Oct. 20, 1960. The view is southward from a building at 1735 N. Ashland Ave. At right is a North Avenue outlet. The eight-lane highway was later renamed the Kennedy Expressway. (Jack Mulcahy/Chicago Tribune)
1960: The eight-lane Northwest Expressway opened. It was renamed the Kennedy Expressway in 1963.
“Chicago has been stifled by bottlenecks, the worst in the nation,” said Gov. William Stratton at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Those bottlenecks are now broken with the completion of the Congress and the Northwest expressways.”
1996: Democratic candidate Barack Obama was elected state senator for the 13th District.
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