Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1871:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0Great Chicago Fire<\/a>\u00a0began in the hay-filled cow barn behind the frame house that Mrs. Catherine\u00a0O\u2019Leary shared with her husband, Patrick, and their five kids on De Koven Street on the Near West Side.<\/p>\n The fire ran and it grew, swept by a strong wind from the southwest, eating its ravenous way north and toward downtown and beyond. People ran to the lake for shelter as the city became a vast ocean of flame. After that horrible night and the equally terrifying and destructive day and night that followed, the fire finally burned itself out. The city\u00a0awoke two days later<\/a>\u00a0to find\u00a0almost 18,000 buildings destroyed<\/a>, much of the city leveled, 90,000 people homeless and 300-some people dead.<\/p>\n 1922:<\/strong> Chicago swimmer Sybil Bauer became the first woman to beat a world record\u00a0held by a man<\/a>. She completed a 440-yard backstroke race in 6 minutes, 24 seconds \u2014 almost four seconds faster than the old record held by Harold Krueger of Honolulu.<\/p>\n Vintage Chicago Tribune: Summer Olympians from the area who won gold<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Bauer, a Chicago native and Northwestern sophomore, won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Her time was a world-record 1:23.20 seconds.<\/p>\n She was engaged to\u00a0Edward Sullivan<\/a>, then sports editor of the New York Evening Graphic and future television show host, but was stricken with cancer and\u00a0died in 1927<\/a>. Bauer was just 23.<\/p>\n 1969: <\/strong>Hundreds of demonstrators summoned to Chicago by leaders of the radical Students for a Democratic Society<\/a> to protest the ongoing Chicago 8 trial<\/a> of the leaders of the Democratic National Convention riots of 1968 erupted into a four-day orgy of violence<\/a>. More than 2,500 National Guard members<\/a> took to the streets in what became known as the Days of Rage.<\/p>\n 1983:<\/strong> The Baltimore Orioles beat the \u201cWinning Ugly\u201d Chicago White Sox<\/a> 3-0 in Game 4 at Comiskey Park to take the best-of-five American League Championship Series. The Sox won the American League West by 20 games with a 99-63 record but couldn\u2019t muster much offense against the Orioles.<\/p>\n Tito Landrum broke the hearts of Sox fans with a 10th-inning homer after Sox starter Britt Burns had tossed nine scoreless innings. The loss is also remembered for a crucial baserunning mistake<\/a> by Jerry Dybzinski.<\/p>\n 1997:<\/strong> Chicago\u2019s new MLS expansion team name was announced \u2014 the Fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n An entirely different name, the Rhythm, was all but set in stone earlier in the year when the MLS announced its expansion into Chicago for 1998. It had been conceived by sportswear monolith Nike, which held the first option to be the team apparel supplier, and approved by the league office. The Rhythm logo and colors, a coiled cobra in red, yellow and black, had already appeared on merchandise in soccer catalogues. But there was one small glitch. The Colorado-based ownership balked at the name.<\/p>\n The Fire won the 1998 MLS Cup<\/a> during its inaugural season.<\/p>\n 2023:<\/strong> Twenty-three-year-old Kelvin Kiptum set a world record<\/a> in the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35. Kiptum ran to the grandstand, where he hugged Khalid Khannouchi, who became the last man to set the world record in Chicago in 1999.<\/p>\n Kiptum was killed in a car crash<\/a> in his native Kenya in February 2024.<\/p>\n Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n Subscribe to the free\u00a0Vintage Chicago Tribune<\/a>\u00a0newsletter, join our\u00a0Chicagoland history Facebook group,<\/a> stay current with Today in Chicago History<\/a> and follow us on Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for more from Chicago\u2019s past.<\/p>\n Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mmather@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\n
![\"Holy](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CTC-L-CTHIST-great-chicago-fire-003_229050801.jpg\")
Holy Name Cathedral, left, and St. James Episcopal Church, right, lay in ruins after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. Between them, in the background, stands the old water tower. (Chicago Tribune archive)<\/p>\n![\"Sybil](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-sybiljpg-CT0135867810-e1734738139692.jpg\")
Sybil Bauer, the swimming champ who won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the 1924 Summer Olympics, circa 1920s. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ctc-89511459.jpg\")
Chicago police and the SDS Weathermen clash near the intersection of LaSalle and Madison streets in Chicago in October 1969. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)<\/p>\n![\"During](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CTC-L-AP-CHICAGO-WHITE-SOX-JERRY-DYBZINSKI-1983-01-e1759864357162.jpg\")
During a rundown, Chicago White Sox player Jerry Dybzinski (20) stops short of second base as Baltimore Orioles second baseman Rich Dauer (25) fires for home plate to throw out Vance Law in the seventh inning of the American League playoffs on Oct. 8, 1983, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Eddie Murray backs up the play. (Rob Kozloff\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CTC-L-AP-CHICAGO-FIRE-1998-01.jpg\")
Chicago Fire players and head coach Bob Bradley, second from left, warm up before practice at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on Oct. 23, 1998. (Nick Ut\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"Kelvin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CTC-L-CT-marathon-19_182087625.jpg\")
Kelvin Kiptum celebrates his Chicago Marathon world record victory, 2:00:35, in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park on Oct. 8, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n