Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 28, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Sports front flashback: March 29, 1990
1990: Michael Jordan scored a career-high 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 117-113 victory. He hit 23 of 37 field goals, went 21-for-23 on free throws and grabbed 18 rebounds.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 79 degrees (1986)
- Low temperature: 9 degrees (1887)
- Precipitation: 1.48 inches (2020)
- Snowfall: 5.3 inches (1894)
1918: Grace Wilson became the first Black woman to join the Chicago police. She remained on the force for almost 25 years.
1920: The “Palm Sunday” tornadoes: Around noon, with temperatures rising through the 60s, Chicago-area skies turned dark as waves of thunderstorms swept into the area. By 1:15 p.m., wide portions of the metropolitan area from DeKalb east to Joliet and north to Wauconda and Wilmette were in shambles; 28 people had perished and more than 400 had been injured.
These twisters were just the opening act of a tragic Palm Sunday tornadic outbreak that affected not only the Midwest but also portions of Alabama and Georgia. In all, at least 31 twisters on that Palm Sunday killed more than 150 and injured more than 900.
1929: Chicago Stadium — the largest indoor sporting venue in the world at the time — opened with 15,000 people (10,000 fewer than capacity) who watched boxer Tommy Loughran defeat Mickey Walker.
The original “Madhouse on Madison” was demolished in 1995, one year after the United Center opened.
1957: Just one year before he entered the U.S. Army, “Heartbreak Hotel” crooner Elvis Presley wowed a crowd of 12,000 fans at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
Kids, however, weren’t the only ones moved by Elvis. “A mother, seated with her three children, reached out and touched Presley. Tears of joy rolled down her face,” the Trib said.
1980: Wisconsin Steel abruptly closed its Southeast Side plant and more than 3,000 workers lost their jobs.
Wisconsin Steel was owned for 75 years by International Harvester. After years of losing money, Harvester sold it in 1977 to Envirodine, a small California firm with no experience in steelmaking. Three years later, after a strike at Harvester destroyed its best market, Wisconsin Steel went bankrupt and closed.
The old 265-acre mill at 106th Street and Torrence Avenue in South Deering long stood vacant.
Daily Herald executive dies saving kids in Florida rip current: ‘We need more Petes’
2021: Peter Rosengren, Batavia, died when he ran into the Gulf of Mexico along the Florida coast to save children caught in a rip current. Rosengren was vice president of sales and digital strategies for the Daily Herald Media Group in Arlington Heights.
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