Chicago became a city in 1837, populated with steel mills, factories and shipping businesses. It was full of European families; young men came from Germany and Ireland to work. Chicago was the center city of the United States. It has faced many problems through nearly 170 years of existence. Seven major blunders including political mistakes, architectural misjudgments and sports goofs have plagued Chicago’s history.
In Chicago’s history, there have been many political screw-ups. The incorrect headline of the Dewey/Truman race was a huge Tribune blunder. On November 3rd, 1948, the Tribune released its daily newspaper with the headline “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN”. The title was the work of the newspapers editor, who was faced with a deadline and decision. On the same night of the morning blunder, 150,000 copies of a new newspaper hit streets, reading “DEMOCRATS MAKE SWEEP OF STATE OFFICE”. Now a day those original copies go for nine hundred dollars a piece (Leroux, “7 Blunders”).
An additional blunder took place during another race for office, only it involved snow. In 1978, Mayor Michael Bilandic made a horrible choice. The weather was nasty; nine inches of snow were already on the ground and an additional twenty made it nearly thirty. Bilandic told all Chicagoans to move their cars to the open school lots and that all cars parked on the streets would be towed. The problem was that the roads were too thick to get through and no one could move anywhere. He left the fate of Chicago in the hands of its people, hoping that they would be able to find a solution. Meanwhile, candidate Jane Byrne was taking pictures of Bilandic doing nothing. She hoped to use those pictures to persuade the voters, leading her to a place in office. She succeeded and beat Bilandic in the election on February 27, 1979. That defeat ended the rule of what was known as the all powerful “Democratic Machine” (Leroux, “‘Bilandic-ed’”).
The Essay on Walter White The Causes Of The Chicago Race Riot
Walter White, The Causes of the Chicago Race Riot From Walter Whites article The Causes of the Chicago Race Riot, which was published in 1919, immediately following the ill-famed race riot in Chicago, it appears that its causes were much more complicated than usually accepted. What really catches the eye of anyone who reads this article is the fact that the author appears to be very sympathetic to ...
The blunder of closing State Street is that of a lesser known one. The State St. shut down caused sale prices and popularity to plummet. In 1976, Chicago had banned traffic on State St., the main street of Chicago, only allowing buses to pass through. The purpose of closing State was so that it would become an outdoor mall. It had plenty of stores and people from all over pouring in, but once it was closed, the initial plan had flopped. It cost the city $17 million dollars to shut it down, creating a loss of business for the stores on that strip, and placing them with the thought of going out of business due to the lack of popularity and income in sales. In 1996, State was reopened, costing $24.5 million dollars. The money went to widening the streets again, and replacing planters and light fixtures. Opening State once again allowed traffic to flow and created the hustle and bustle that was once lost (Leroux, “State Street”).
These political faux pas have made a not so positive name for Chicago’s news.
A lack of ideas led to several architectural mishaps. Thanks to architectural and constructional ideas, the Chicago fire is the most remembered and most scarring event of all architectural blunders. On October 8th, 1872, Chicago was destroyed in a matter of moments. The town that had started with only 150 people quickly turned into a city of 34,000 people in under forty years, claiming eighteen square miles of land. The fire was said to be started by a cow, accidentally, knocking over a kerosene lantern. That myth was dismissed after many years of investigation. Today, it is thought that the fire started due to the city’s need to grow faster than any other city in the world, placing it on the road to disaster. Every building was made of wood, and those that were made of stone were trimmed in wood, allowing everything to catch on fire. The fire had killed at least 250 people and demolished 18,000 buildings. Four years earlier, in 1868, the fire department told city officials that Chicago was “a firetrap” and that it had many fire hazards through out the city. With its amazing, yet devastating goof, Chicago managed to bounce back and rebuild the entire city from the ground up, literally (Leroux, “Flames”).
The Essay on The Great Chicago Fire
The exact particulars of the great Chicago Fire are unknown besides the fact that it started about 9 p.m. on Sunday, October 8, 1871. ... five-story Lind block building, new State Street retail concerns and the Union Stock Yards, the city within a city (the Union Stock Yards ... and records as well as the jail. The current City Hall and County Building were on the same side. In the North ...
Many years later the goof of ’92 was created. The flood created soggy situations for the entire Loop back in 1992. In 1899 the digging of a tunnel started. The tunnel was about forty feet underneath downtown and was placed in a sixty two mile grid, also running under the river. The main purpose of the tunnel was so that coal and ash could be hauled out. In 1957 the system was abandoned. During that time, it was used as a place to keep electrical and communications wiring. A scrap collecting crew was brought in to take out track and anything that was left behind. They also removed the flood doors. In early ’92, cable workers saw a leak, but though nothing of it. The leak was left untouched, allowing the tunnels to fill with water. Since the flood doors were removed, the tunnel walls broke and five hundred fifty gallons of water poured into the city per minute. When the walls broke, workers called all around to find a person in charge, but because of a system shift and other changes, no one could be contacted. Therefore, the flood left the Loop fishing for answers and solutions in all the wrong puddles (Leroux, “Flood”).
Another mess up starts at the ground and goes up. The absence of individuality in builders led over to a lack of difference in the Loop. All over the city, condominiums are up and coming. With a boom in real estate, there has been no thought in the creativity department of architects. They simply just build to satisfy the people. In all reality, condos are just buildings that line our city streets, creating what looks like alleys on our main road ways. Beautiful things are being torn down and replaced with ugly things, just occupying space. The sameness of all these buildings is overwhelming. They are seen every couple of blocks, in the same areas, repeatedly. These buildings have taken our beautiful scenery through out the city and made into a city of cloned buildings (Leroux, “‘Numbing Sameness’”).
The Term Paper on Factors That Contributed To The Origin And Development Of Cities
In many forms of settlements the status of the cities have been determined by factors and various other influences; these are known as urban form determinants. There are three different sources of determinants. Firstly, are the geographical ‘natural world’ determinants. These include the climate, topography and the availability of construction materials. The second are known as &# ...
Architectural dignity was and is missing and lacking in and from Chicago’s history.
One of the worst baseball trades happened in Chicago. Back in 1964, the Chicago Cub’s traded Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals for their pitcher Ernie Broglio. With high hopes for a great season with their new pitcher, the Cub’s talked and talked about how great they would be that year. Unfortunately, the Cub’s weren’t as great as they had hoped. They had a horrible season, winning only seven games with Broglio. Brock on the other hand, went to on to the World Series and having a season batting average of .315 and forty three stolen bases (Leroux, “Broglio Steals”).
This had to be the worst goof that any Chicago team has ever had.
Throughout Chicago’s history, there have been seven major blunders that stood out above all the rest. They may have plagued the city, but they have helped it reach its current point of greatness. Even though the city has only been around for 170 years, it has had enough events to last its lifetime.
