Illinois History Minutes

It’s October 21st, the day in 1892 when the buildings of the World’s Columbian Exposition were dedicated in Chicago’s Jackson Park. Construction work had fallen behind, and the fair would not open until the following May. But a report in the Sycamore True Republican described the opening ceremonies as a grand affair attended by thousands, including Vice-President Levi Morton, former President Rutherford B. Hayes, and many other dignitaries from the nation’s capital and other countries.

It’s October 20th, and Republican Congressman James Robert Mann was born near Bloomington on this day in 1856. Mann served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 25 years, including eight years as House Minority Leader from 1911 to 1919. He introduced the legislation that became the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of food and medicine.

It’s October 19th, and Ballantine Books first published Waukegan native Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, on this day in 1953, starting with a mass-market paperback edition. The dystopian novel about a society where a fireman’s job is to burn books, also came out in hardback --- including a limited printing bound in asbestos.

It’s October 18th, the date on which the University of Illinois dedicated its new Memorial Stadium with a homecoming game that displayed football great Red Grange’s most memorable performance.

It’s October 17th, and actress Marsha Hunt was born in Chicago on this day in 1917. Hunt’s career in movies, TV and on Broadway spanned nearly 80 years, disrupted by her being blacklisted in 1950. In 1947, Hunt was heard on a radio broadcast, sponsored by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group of Hollywood actors, directors and screenwriters who defended colleagues accused of having communist ties.

It’s October 14th, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers two to nothing on this day, to clinch the 1908 World Series, four games to one. The Cubs wouldn’t win another World Series until 2016.

It’s October 13th, the day that the political cartoonist Herblock, was born Herbert Lawrence Block in Chicago in 1909. Herblock published his first political cartoon in the Chicago Daily News at the age of 19. His cartoons needled politicians for more than 70 years, including Senator Joseph McCarthy, for whom Herblock coined the term “McCarthyism”.

It’s October 12th, and the Battle of Virden took place on this day in 1898 in central Illinois. Striking miners at the Virden coal mine attacked a train carrying Black replacement workers from Alabama. Eight striking miners and five security guards were killed in just one of the conflicts during the Illinois Coal Wars of the 1890s.

It’s October 11th, opening day for the first Illinois State Fair, held on the west side of Springfield in 1853. Admission to the fair was 25 cents, and up to 20-thousand people attended on the fair’s third and final day. The Illinois State Fair was held in several cities during the late 19th century, before moving to its permanent site in Springfield in 1894.

It’s October Tenth, the final day of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The blaze destroyed more than 17-thousand buildings, leaving more than a hundred- thousand Chicago residents homeless.