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Today in Chicago History: Mayor Richard M. Daley orders Meigs Field shut down

Working overnight, construction crews used backhoes to tear up large sections of the runway at Meigs Field, March 31, 2003. The X's effectively shut down the lakefront airport since no traffic could take off or land. (David Klobucar/Chicago Tribune)
Working overnight, construction crews used backhoes to tear up large sections of the runway at Meigs Field, March 31, 2003. The X’s effectively shut down the lakefront airport since no traffic could take off or land. (David Klobucar/Chicago Tribune)
By | krumore@chicagotribune.com | Chicago Tribune
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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 30, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Front page flashback: March 31, 1981

President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981 outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. (Chicago Tribune)
President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981, outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. (Chicago Tribune)

1981: John Hinckley Jr., son of a wealthy Denver oil executive, shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan who was leaving a ballroom at the Washington Hilton. Also injured were Reagan’s Press Secretary James Brady, a Centralia, Illinois, native who was shot in the head, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, a Chicago native who later became police chief of Orland Park.

Reagan, who was born in western Illinois, underwent two hours of surgery at George Washington University Hospital for removal of the bullet, which was lodged in his lung.

Hinckley was confined to a mental hospital in Washington for more than two decades after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting. He was freed from court oversight in 20222.

Brady, who was partially paralyzed after the shooting, became a leading gun control advocate. Brady and his wife, Sarah, campaigned for a gun law that would be known as the “Brady bill.” The law, which was passed in 1993, required a mandatory five-day waiting period for purchase of handguns and also background checks for would-be gun buyers. A Virginia medical examiner ruled Brady’s 2014 death a homicide due to the 1981 shooting.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 79 degrees (1998)
  • Low temperature: 12 degrees (1969)
  • Precipitation: 1.84 inches (2017)
  • Snowfall: 7.8 inches (1926)
DePaul's coach Ray Meyer,left, and Michael Jordan, of North Carolina, right, were named coach and player of the year in college basketball in Seattle by the Associated Press, March 30, 1984. Jordan received the Adolph F. Rupp Trophy which is sponsored by the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky. (AP Photo/Barry Sweet)
DePaul's coach Ray Meyer, left, and Michael Jordan, of North Carolina, right, were named coach and player of the year in college basketball in Seattle by the Associated Press, March 30, 1984. Jordan received the Adolph F. Rupp Trophy which is sponsored by the Commonwealth Athletic Club of Kentucky. (Barry Sweet/AP)

1984: DePaul’s coach Ray Meyer and North Carolina’s Michael Jordan were named coach and player of the year in men’s college basketball by the Associated Press.

1992: The Chicago White Sox sent Sammy Sosa and Ken Patterson to the Chicago Cubs for George Bell.

MET MILLENIUM 86463 3/30/98 = Planned Millenium Project announced this morning at the Cultural Center, will improve and enlarge a portion of Grant Park along and above the Metra/South Shore Railroad Tracks east of Michigan Avenue from Randolph St to Monroe Street. = Standing in front of a large artists rendering of the completed park and new bandshell, Mayor Daley talks about the ambitious project. (tribune photo by Carl Wagner) (Richard M. Daley, Chicago, Grannt Park, Lakeshore Millennium Project, Plan, Press Conference) (RMDA) ORG XMIT: 86463
Mayor Richard M. Daley announces the Millennium Project on March 30, 1998, at the Cultural Center in Chicago. The mayor said the project will improve and enlarge a portion of Grant Park. (Carl Wagner/Chicago Tribune)

1998: Mayor Richard M. Daley unveiled plans for the Lakefront Millennium Project.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Millennium Park — ‘the best thing former Mayor Richard M. Daley ever did’ — 20 years later

2003: Meigs Field was shut down overnight — without notice — by Daley. Crews carved large X’s and ripped up the runway to prevent landings.

Demolition begins on the last of the Cabrini-Green high-rise buildings on March 30, 2011. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
Demolition begins on the last of the Cabrini-Green high-rise buildings on March 30, 2011. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

2011: Demolition of the last Cabrini-Green high-rise began.

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