Front page flashback:<\/strong> July 29, 1994<\/p>\n 1994:<\/strong> Chicago Transit Authority employee Cecil Calimee<\/a> was set afire shortly after opening his ticket booth around 4 a.m. on July 25, 1994, at the Blue Line station at Kedzie Avenue and 19th Street. The former semipro<\/a> football player and Farragut<\/a> basketball coach suffered burns on his face, his chest and left arm.<\/p>\n Weather records <\/strong>(from the National Weather Service, Chicago<\/a>)<\/p>\n 1889:<\/strong>\u00a0Nineteen sea lions<\/a> arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo from Santa Barbara, California. They were captured by Capt. Cyrus Alvah Eastman, who hand-fed the sea lions fish throughout their weeklong train journey to Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cThey get used to a man quickly, \u201d he told a Tribune reporter. \u201cI\u2019ve no doubt they will eat from the keeper\u2019s hand in a short time.\u201d<\/p>\n Months later, zoo neighbors\u00a0complained to commissioners about the noise<\/a>\u00a0created by these animals: \u201d \u2026 during the long watches of the night most of them, having no place to rest, swim back and forth in the pond and bark incessantly to express their disapproval of their cramped quarters,\u201d the Tribune reported on Oct. 22, 1889.<\/p>\n O\u2019Hare International Airport: From farm to global terminal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 1942:<\/strong> After the Douglas Aircraft Co. announced plans to construct an assembly plant<\/a> on 1,347 acres at Orchard Place, near the intersection of Mannheim and Higgins roads south of Des Plaines, work began to demolish homes, level land and create a spur line of the North Western Railroad at the site.<\/p>\n The site later became O\u2019Hare International Airport.<\/p>\n 1984:<\/strong> A man fired three shots<\/a> at a \u201cweeping\u201d statue of Virgin Mary at St. John of God Catholic Church in the New City neighborhood. One bullet hit the statue\u2019s carved robe. The two other bullets become embedded in a wall.<\/p>\n Nine times people in Chicago saw the Virgin Mary: \u2018A sort of tangible, visible encounter with the divine\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n None of the 40 people inside the church at the time were injured, but the man left the church and was never caught.<\/p>\n 2018:<\/strong> Chicago\u2019s City Council officially renamed Congress Parkway to Ida B. Wells Drive, making the prominent east-west artery the first downtown street named for a woman of color and honoring one of the city\u2019s great activists.<\/p>\n Illinois 250: Meet the state\u2019s most influential people, from architects to a pope and future presidents<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\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![\"CTA](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-CTA-WORKER-CECIL-CALIMEE-SET-ABLAZE-1994-01.jpg\")
CTA worker Cecil Calimee was set ablaze on July 25, 1994, while inside a ticket booth at the Blue Line station at Kedzie Avenue and 19th Street. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Sea](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-LINCOLN-PARK-ZOO-SEA-LIONS-1889-01.jpg\")
Sea lions arrived at Lincoln Park Zoo by train in July 1889. Nineteen of the 21 animals shipped to Chicago from Santa Barbara, California, survived. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-WEEPING-MARY-STATUE-HIT-BY-BULLETS-1984-01.jpg\")
A gunman entered St. John of God Catholic Church, 1234 W. 52nd St., Chicago, on July 25, 1984, and fired several shots including one that hit a “weeping” statue of the Virgin Mary. No one else was injured, but the man evaded capture. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/CTC-L-CT-ct-ida-b-wells-drive-congress-parkway-met-14_183346779.jpg\")
Michelle Duster, center, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, is embraced by Ald. Sophia King, 4th, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel stands nearby during a ceremony to unveil the renaming of Congress Parkway to Ida B. Wells Drive at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago on Feb. 11, 2019. (Jos\u00e9 M. Osorio\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n\n