Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 12, 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: 81 degrees (1990)
- Low temperature: 1 degree (1948)
- Precipitation: 1.72 inches (1902)
- Snowfall: 4.4 inches (1991)
1849: An ice flood in the Chicago River tore ships from moorings and hurled them, along with blocks of ice, against bridges. The bridges at Madison, Randolph and Wells streets were swept away.
1966: At the star-studded Chicago Freedom Festival fundraiser — featuring Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, Mahalia Jackson and Sidney Poitier — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. told the more than 12,000 people in attendance that a Black person in Chicago is an alien in an affluent society. He also said he came to Chicago to give the Black community dignity, self-respect and power.
Also in 1966: Bobby Hull became the first NHL player to exceed 50 goals in a regular season. Hull scored No. 51 — a 50-feet slap shot from center ice — in the third period against New York Rangers goaltender Cesare Maniago. The game was delayed for seven minutes and 33 seconds for “one of the most hysterical demonstrations in (Chicago) Stadium history,” the Tribune reported.
Hull went into the game tied with Maurice “Rocket” Richard of the Montreal Canadiens as the only players who had scored 50 goals in a season.
1980: After five weeks of testimony from psychiatrists, police, neighbors, acquaintances and family members of the victims, the jury of seven men and five women took less than two hours to convict serial killer John Wayne Gacy of killing 33 young men.
Gacy was sentenced to death the next day. He was executed May 10, 1994, at Stateville Penitentiary near Joliet.
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