April 3, 2019

In February, the United States National Park Service announced its newest addition: Indiana Dunes National Park. Located along the shores of Lake Michigan in northern Indiana, the national park’s creation was the result of a conservation effort that began more than 100 years ago.

Indiana Dunes National Park includes numerous beaches along the shores of Lake Michigan. Credit: Pixabay

In the early 1900′s, the southern shores of Lake Michigan near Chicago were booming with new steel mills and electric power plants. The industrial development took its toll on the natural ecosystems of the lakeshore, however. In 1908, a group of conservationists created the Prairie Club of Chicago to help protect the area’s wildlife and natural landscapes. After the forming of the National Park Service in 1916, the Prairie Club and other groups pushed for the creation of a “Sand Dunes National Park” in nearby northern Indiana.

In 1917, plans for the national park were interrupted by the U.S. entry into World War I (1914-1918). The war effort put heavy precedence on industrial production, and conservation efforts were pushed aside. In 1926, the creation of Indiana Dunes State Park protected some areas, but conservationists continued to push for a larger national park. The Great Depression of the 1930′s and U.S. involvement in World War II (1939-1945) delayed the park’s expansion until 1966, when it became the larger Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The protected area was then expanded several times before earning national park status in 2019.

Indiana Dunes National Park protects some 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) of dunes, oak savannas, swamps, bogs, marshes, prairies, rivers, and forests. It also contains 15 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and beaches. More than 1,100 species of flowering plants and ferns live in the park, as do hundreds of species of amphibians, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and reptiles. The park is home to an important great blue heron rookery (breeding ground) and large populations of coyotes and white-tailed deer.

Indiana Dunes National Park also includes five historic homes that were relocated from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. At the time of the fair, the homes demonstrated innovative architectural design, experimental materials, and such new technologies as central air conditioning and dishwashers.

December 28, 2018

On Dec. 30, 1903, 115 years ago this Sunday, a fire at the Iroquois Theater in downtown Chicago killed 602 people. The disaster was the worst theater fire and worst single-building fire in United States history. It resulted in the institution of new fire safety laws and building codes to help prevent such a disaster from ever happening again.

This photo shows the interior of Chicago’s Iroquois Theater after it was destroyed by fire on Dec. 30, 1903. Credit: Public Domain

The Iroquois Theater had opened just a month before the fire, on Nov. 23, 1903. The beautiful new theater was claimed to be “fireproof,” but many basic fire precautions were overlooked as the owners rushed to open the building for the lucrative holiday season. The giant theater—with seating for some 1,600 people plus “standing room” for hundreds more—had no fire alarms or sprinklers and emergency smoke vents above the stage were nailed shut. Exit doors opened only inward, many structures and fixtures contained oil-based paint and other highly flammable materials, and the theater’s seating levels were separated by locking gates. The lack of care and attention given to fire safety at the Iroquois Theater proved to be disastrous.

Chicago’s Iroquois Theater was open for only five weeks before it was gutted by a disastrous fire on Dec. 30, 1903. Credit: Public Domain

The Iroquois Theater presented Mr. Bluebeard, a musical comedy, to a crowd of over 1,900 people on the afternoon of Dec 30, 1903. Another 400 performers and theater workers were crowded into the basement dressing rooms and backstage areas. During the show, a floodlight over the stage exploded, setting fire to a velvet curtain. The fire quickly spread to the oil-painted wood and canvas set pieces hanging in the catwalks and soon flaming debris was falling to the stage. An actor pleaded for people to remain calm, but the audience panicked and tried to flee the theater, which was quickly filling with flames and smoke.

Unfortunately, many of the theater’s exits were locked or hidden behind curtains. Other doors were unlocked, but they only opened inward, trapping people as they were pressed from behind by more and more people. The trapped people were quickly overcome by flames and smoke. After a stagehand ran to the nearest fire station, firefighters arrived to find theater doors blocked by bodies on the inside. At last, firefighters worked their way into the theater and extinguished the flames, but the damage had been done. Hundreds of dead bodies lay in the theater, and more people died from injuries in the coming days.

Investigations into the fire found numerous violations and irresponsible building practices. In the coming months and years, new fire safety laws required unlocked, outward-opening doors in theaters as well as occupancy limits, wider aisles, exit lights, automatic sprinklers, fire alarm systems, and flame resistant scenery, props, and curtains.

August 28, 2018

Fifty years ago this week, from Aug. 26 to 29, 1968, political leaders gathered for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to nominate that party’s candidate for president of the United States. The convention is normally a festive, hopeful, and inspiring event, but few things were “normal” in the United States of 1968. The ongoing Vietnam War was a point of bitter contention among the American public. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy had produced shock, grief, and anger in the country. Racial tensions were high, and social and political divides had never been sharper. Political protests turned violent during the convention, and America watched on television as police battled the people in the streets of Chicago.

Protesters confront National Guard troops on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue during the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 26, 1968. Credit: Library of Congress

Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, second only in power in the Democratic party to President Lyndon B. Johnson, was prepared for unrest. The city’s police were out in force for the convention, the National Guard had been mobilized, and steel barrier walls topped with barbed wire were ready to slide into place. A heatwave and taxi driver strike added to the kindling of political discord, and as protesters took advantage of the convention’s media spotlight to plead their cases, the ingredients were ready for confrontation.

Richard J. Daley, the mayor of Chicago from 1955 to 1976, was one of the most powerful Democratic politicians in the United States. Credit: AP Photo

People from across the country came to Chicago to participate in protests during the convention. People stridently called for racial equality, radical political change, an end to the war in Vietnam, and other causes. Protests took place around the city, and roaring chants and catcalls greeted political delegates as they emerged from cars to enter the International Amphitheatre on Chicago’s south side (the indoor arena was torn down in 1999). Inside the convention, there was yelling too. Delegates strongly disagreed on who should replace President Johnson—who had chosen not to run for a second full term—on the Democratic presidential ticket. The death of Robert Kennedy had opened a void in Democratic leadership, and the contenders to fill that void vastly differed on the country’s issues.

Democratic presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey addresses the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 29, 1968. Credit: AP Photo

Many Chicago police officers, on edge and pushed to the limit of their tolerance, began beating protesters who would not respond to orders to withdraw, move aside, or quiet down. Protesters responded by hurling rocks and other projectiles at the police, and the commotion turned to riot. Police sprayed people with mace and fired tear gas into the crowds. Hundreds of people were arrested, often with great physical violence, and many protesters and police were injured. Many innocent bystanders were also hurt, including members of the media trying to cover the unrest.

Television news broadcast the mayhem around the country, and people connected the violence with the Democratic Party. The eventual Democratic presidential nominee, Johnson’s Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, did not please many Democratic voters. Humphrey lost to the Republican “law and order” candidate Richard M. Nixon in the election. Nixon lost favor with Americans, however. The president promised to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but he increased air raids and sent American troops into battle for five more years. In 1974, after his Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned while under criminal investigation, Nixon too resigned to prevent being impeached because of the Watergate scandal.

December 2, 2015

Reactions to a recently released video of the 2014 killing of African American teenager Laquan McDonald by a white police officer dominated headlines in late November and early December 2015. During demonstrations held in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile shopping district, protesters pressed for local leaders to be held accountable for their part in concealing the details of the killing, during which Officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17-year-old burglary suspect Laquan McDonald. Prosecutors charged the officer with first-degree murder more than a year after the shooting, just before the court-ordered release of the police dashboard camera video.

Police misconduct has become the focus of protests in Chicago, Illinois, and around the United States. Credit: © Anton Prado, Shutterstock

In late November—following a journalist’s freedom-of-information request and over the objections of prosecutors—an Illinois judge ordered the release of the video showing the October 2014 shooting. The video shows Officer Van Dyke emerging from his squad car and shooting McDonald 16 times. Many of the shots were fired as the teen lay on the ground. Police had been called to a trucking yard on the city’s Southwest Side to investigate reports of someone—allegedly McDonald—breaking into vehicles while holding a small pocketknife. McDonald died while being transported to a hospital.

At a press conference on December 1, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that he had asked for and received the resignation of Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, saying that McCarthy “has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue, and a distraction.” Emanuel also announced that he had created a police accountability task force to review police procedures and recommend ways to rebuild trust with the city’s minority communities, which are frequently beset by crime and tense relations with police.

Protesters included members of the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups, who viewed the shooting and the efforts to conceal the video as more evidence of institutional racism that colors police interaction with minorities. Since 2014, high-profile killings of blacks by police have unleashed protests near St. Louis, Missouri; and in Baltimore, Maryland; New York City, New York; and other areas. The Chicago, Illinois, protesters also called for the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney (prosecutor) Anita Alvarez, who charged the officer with murder only after the video of the shooting was scheduled to be released to the public. According to news reports, Van Dyke is the first Chicago police officer to be charged with murder in 35 years.

In Chicago, police misconduct cases—including accusations of brutality, false arrest, and illegal search and seizure—have not only damaged residents’ trust in the officers obligated to protect them, but have become an embarrassing and costly expenditure for the cash-strapped city. The City of Chicago paid more than $80 million in settlements and other expenses related to police misconduct in 2013, and more than $50 million in 2014. The city quietly negotiated a $5-million settlement with McDonald’s family in April 2015.

Additional World Book articles:

• Ferguson Protests of 2014
• Autopsy Results for Teen Shot Dead in Ferguson (a Behind the Headlines article)
• Protests Turn Deadly in Baltimore (a Behind the Headlines article)

July 24, 2015

In Chicago, on July 24, 1915, nearly 850 people died after the luxury tour boat Eastland overturned in the Chicago River. In this image, survivors and rescuers stand on the hull of the overturned steamship. Chicago Daily News/Chicago Historical Society/Library of Congress

Today marks the 100th anniversary of a maritime tragedy, the Eastland disaster. People have heard of the sinking of the Lusitania, which happened in May 1915 and left 1,201 dead. They are still more familiar with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, which killed an estimated 1,500 people. But the Eastland, which capsized while still tied to the dock, in shallow water some 20 feet (6 meters) from the bank of the Chicago River, killed nearly 850 people and is largely forgotten.

The Western Electric Company had chartered five Great Lakes ships, including the Eastland. The ships were to take Western Electric workers from downtown Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana, for the annual company picnic. The thousands of workers who made telephones for this company were poor, many of them were recent immigrants, and this event was the highlight of their year.

The Eastland had been launched in 1903 and was originally meant to carry 500 passengers in addition to goods. It had been refitted several times to hold more passengers, and on the morning of July 24, some 2,500 people boarded the Eastland and were waiting for it to set out. The ship had had problems before with listing (tilting to one side or another). The ship was top-heavy, and crew members kept it upright when in port by filling tanks in the ship’s hull with water for ballast. On July 24, the Eastland was carrying its maximum capacity of passengers.  A large number of people were crowded onto the open upper decks. It was chilly and raining on that day, however, so many women with small children headed below deck to get out of the weather.

The ship began to list. Crew members struggled to fill tanks and right the ship, but it suddenly capsized. Safety measures put into effect after the sinking of the Titanic may have actually caused the Eastland to be even more unstable. The weight of so many life boats on the upper decks only made the ship more top heavy.

With the sudden capsizing, some people on the upper decks were thrown into the water and saved. Others on the upper decks were able to stay upright and walk on the ship’s hull to safety. Many people in the rooms below deck were trapped, however, leading to a large number of children among the dead. Although nearby boats responded almost immediately in the crisis and passersby on the river tried to save victims as well, the total death count was huge.

Survivors of the Eastland disaster climb onto the tugboat Kenosha from the hull of the overturned Eastland. Chicago Daily News/Chicago Historical Society/Library of Congress

The poet Carl Sandburg worked as a journalist at the time of the Eastland disaster and covered the story. In his poem The Eastland (not published until 1993), he wrote:

Women and kids, wet hair and scared faces,
The coroner hauling truckloads of the dripping dead
To the Second Regiment armory where doctors waited
With useless pulmotors and the eight hundred motionless stiff
Lay ready for their relatives to pick them out on the floor
And take them home and call up the undertaker. . .

September 20, 2012

More than 350,000 children returned to school yesterday, after Chicago teachers voted to suspend their eight-day strike. The teachers had walked out on September 10, just days after a new school year began, following a breakdown in their months-long contract negotiations with the Chicago school board. The walkout was the first teachers’ strike in the nation’s third-largest school district in 25 years.

A teacher in a computer lab explains an assignment to students. (© Scott R. Indermaur, Liaison Agency)

The issues upon which the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the school board could not agree included compensation, job security, and teacher evaluations. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for a longer school day and school year and other changes as part of an effort to meet national education requirements set by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. President Obama, in whose administration Emanuel had served as White House chief of staff, had waived some of the academic targets set by former President George W. Bush’s 2011 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In return for this flexibility, states were required to implement their own strategies to turn struggling schools around and to create guidelines for teacher evaluations based in part on student performance. CTU President Karen Lewis sought, among other concerns, to protect teachers in underperforming schools from being laid off.

The teachers initially called for a 30-percent raise over four years. They also proposed that laid-off teachers should be the first hired when new positions become available at other schools. And they fought a board proposal under which test scores would count for as much as 45 percent of teacher evaluations.

The contract that union representatives eventually endorsed after days of heated negotiations includes a raise of more than 16 percent over four years. Test scores are to count for no more than 30 percent of teacher evaluations. The school day and year have been extended. For elementary school students, the school day will increase from 5 hours and 45 minutes to 7 hours; for most high school students, it will increase from 7 to 7 1/2 hours. Both elementary and high school students will attend school for 180 days, up from 170–the shortest school year in the nation. The additional hours of instruction are to be filled with such classes as art, music, and physical education. They will be taught by teachers who have been laid off since 2010. In addition, highly rated teachers who are laid off from closing schools in the future are to be granted interviews at the schools to which their students are being transferred, if a vacancy exists.

Emanuel called the deal an “honest compromise” that was “in the best interest of our students” and “in the best interest of our teachers, who always strive to achieve the best results they can for their students. . . .” Though disappointed with the wage results, CTU President Lewis said, “I think this has been an opportunity for people across the nation to have their voices heard, and I think we’re moving in the right direction.” The deal awaited a vote by union members, which was to take place in several weeks.

Additional World Book articles:

• The Child Left Behind (special report)
• Education
• Education 2011 (Back in Time article)
• Education 2010 (Back in Time article)
• Education 2003 (Back in Time article)

May 18, 2012

Leaders of the 28 member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other officials from around the world are gathering in Chicago for three days of talks. NATO is a military alliance that seeks to protect the freedom and security of its member countries through political and military efforts.

The primary topic of discussion at the Chicago summit will likely be the alliance’s long-term role in Afghanistan. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, NATO announced that it considered the attacks against the United States as attacks against all NATO members. A number of NATO member nations subsequently provided assistance in a U.S.-led military campaign against terrorist targets in Afghanistan. In 2006, NATO assumed command from the United States of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. U.S. President Barack Obama has stated that he intends to withdraw most NATO-led American forces from Afghanistan by 2014.

The flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 

At the end of the Chicago summit, an official communique–or statement endorsed by each of the member states–will define what alliance members agreed to during the meetings. International affairs experts suggest that the communique will outline in broad term the role the United States and Western power will play in Afghanistan over the next two years and beyond. Afghan forces are expected to assume the lead in all combat missions in 2013, with U.S. and NATO forces serving as backup only. It remains unclear how the United States and its European allies will fund the Afghan initiative over the next decade. Experts predict that the current European Union economic crisis will limit Europe’s ability–and willingness–to annually contribute billions of euros to sustain both the Afghan military and NATO backup forces.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Al-Qa`ida
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a special report)

May 2, 2012

President Barack Obama, addressing the American public from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on May 1, pledged to “finish the job” and end the Afghan War. He noted, however, that the United States would not “cut and run” from Afghanistan and would meet long-term Afghan financial and security needs. He stated that at the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago the alliance would “set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year. . . . I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security. But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly.”

Earlier in the day, President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement broadly outlining the U.S. role in Afghanistan after the combat mission ends, currently scheduled for 2014. The United States went to war in Afghanistan nearly 11 years ago, following the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The aim was to root out al-Qa`ida militants based in Afghanistan and track down the terrorist organization’s leaders who had planned the attacks.

President Barack Obama of the United States (The White House)

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan (AP/Wide World)

There are currently more than 130,000 troops from 50 countries serving in Afghanistan under NATO command: 90,000 from the United States; 9,500 from the United Kingdom; 4,800 from Germany; and 3,600 from France. At least 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died in the war, the majority of them Americans.

Additional World Book articles:

• Osama bin Laden
• Taliban
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2002 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Afghanistan 2011 (a Back in Time article)