Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Sept. 25, 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: 92 degrees (2017)
- Low temperature: 30 degrees (1942)
- Precipitation: 1.85 inches (1961)
- Snowfall: Trace (1942)
1957: Field Museum curator emeritus Karl Patterson Schmidt was bit on his left thumb by a boomslang, a poisonous African tree snake, while examining the creature at the museum at the request of Lincoln Park Zoo director Marlon Perkins. Since the snake was young and the bite was small, Schmidt decided against using an anti-venom serum.
Schmidt fell ill at his Homewood home and recorded his observations in a diary before he died the next day.
Also in 1957: Bluesman George “Buddy” Guy left rural Louisiana for Chicago. He’s made 19 records under his own name and many others with friends and collaborators. He’s won eight Grammys, and he never took a single guitar lesson.
1962: Charles “Sonny” Liston knocked out champion Floyd Patterson in 2 minutes and 6 seconds of the first round and won the heavyweight title at Comiskey Park. As he left Chicago, Patterson tried to disguise himself by wearing fake whiskers.
1977: The Chicago Marathon — then known as the Mayor Daley Marathon — debuted. Theology student Dan Cloeter, 25, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, won it with a time of 2 hours, 17 minutes, 52 seconds.
1980: An estimated 1,000 people lined up to buy the Tribune because of something special within its pages — a mail-order form for tickets to four nights of Led Zeppelin shows at the Chicago Stadium. The band was supposed to appear several times in Chicago in 1977, but canceled following the death of singer Robert Plant’s oldest son, Karac. Needless to say, fans were excited for the band’s return.
Little did the fans who camped out in front of Tribune Tower know, however, Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham was found dead in England the same day, reportedly after drinking the equivalent of 40 shots of vodka. The 1980 concert tour was immediately canceled, and the band parted ways just a few months later. Tickets, however, had already been printed for the four Chicago shows. They gathered dust inside Chicago Stadium until 1986. That’s when Michael Dehn bought 79,652 undistributed tickets to the canceled shows for $9,000, and set a Guinness World Record. Dehn now sells them online in various commemorative sets.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: How McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center came to be on the lakefront
1991: Gov. Jim Edgar signed legislation worth nearly $1 billion to expand McCormick Place.
2021: An estimated 10,000 people attended Arlington Park’s final day of the season, placing their last bets ever at the racetrack.
The Chicago Bears finalized a deal to buy the site in February 2023. The team is expected to publicly present their latest plans for a new stadium in Arlington Heights this fall, officials said earlier this month, with the hope of breaking ground by spring.
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