Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 28, 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: 80 degrees (1999)
- Low temperature: 19 degrees (1925)
- Precipitation: 1.53 inches (1874)
- Snowfall: 0.2 inches (1920)
1893: “The World’s Fair Mayor” Carter H. Harrison, was shot and killed at point blank range at his home by Patrick Eugue Prendergast, who was disappointed that he was not named corporation counsel. Prendergast was later hanged for the crime.
Harrison, whose son Carter H. Harrison Jr. served five terms as Chicago mayor, and Anton Cermak are the only Chicago mayors who have been assassinated.
1944: Weeks before he was elected to a fourth term (the 22nd Amendment that instituted a two-term limit was not ratified until 1951), President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wartime visit to Soldier Field drew more than 100,000 spectators.
“We are fighting this war and we are holding this election both for the same essential reason: because we have faith in democracy, Roosevelt told the crowd. “And there is no force and there is no combination of forces powerful enough to shake that faith.”
2004: Donald Trump, whose namesake building would be constructed on the site, watched as demolition began on the Chicago Sun-Times building along the Chicago River.
Completed in 2009, Trump International Hotel & Tower is the second-tallest building in Chicago.
2019: Trump made his first visit to Chicago as the nation’s chief executive. Speaking at the annual gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police at McCormick Place, Trump slammed Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson in front of his peers and criticized the type of federal order the city was under to reform the CPD. Trump also called Chicago “the worst sanctuary city in America” and cited the refusal of the city’s Police Department under Johnson to detain people in the country illegally for immigration enforcement.
Also in 2019: Federal bribery charges were announced against state Rep. Luis Arroyo of Chicago. A longtime Democrat, Arroyo resigned his seat shortly after he was arrested on charges that he took bribes from politically connected business owner James Weiss in exchange for help promoting legislation beneficial to Weiss’ company, Collage LLC, which specialized in sweepstakes gaming machines.
Arroyo also admitted he enlisted the help of then-state Sen. Terry Link, arranging for Weiss to pay Link bribes to help push the legislation in the General Assembly. At the time, Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, was secretly cooperating with the FBI. Link resigned from office before pleading guilty to unrelated tax evasion charges in September 2020.
A federal appeals court upheld Arroyo’s 57-month prison sentence, saying the district judge was well within his bounds by placing extra emphasis on general deterrence for any future elected officials thinking about taking bribes.
The Dishonor Roll: Meet the public officials who helped build Illinois’ culture of corruption
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