Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 5, 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: 75 degrees (1983)
- Low temperature: 0 degrees (1978)
- Precipitation: 0.99 inches (1946)
- Snowfall: 9.2 inches (2013)
1962: The Robert Taylor Homes — then one of the largest public housing projects in the United States — opened and its first family moved in. The development had 28 high-rises with more than 4,230 units.
But the complex soon caved under devastating poverty and violence. In the end, the Robert Taylor high-rises failed a congressional “viability test,” which found it was cheaper to house residents elsewhere than to maintain the crumbling high-rise slums.
Demolition of the buildings began in May 1997.
1982: John Belushi was found dead at the Chateau Marmont, a Los Angeles hotel.
A coroner’s report later concluded Belushi died of “acute cocaine and heroin intoxication.”
Cathy Evelyn Smith was sentenced to three years in prison in 1986 for injecting Belushi with a fatal dose of cocaine and heroin. She was released in 1988.
1997: Chicago White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Want more vintage Chicago?
Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com
/jtf4t8nc.JPG)
