Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 17, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Flashback: June 17, 1950
1950: Richard Lawler led a surgical team that performed the first human-to-human kidney transplant at Little Company of Mary Medical Hospital in Evergreen Park. It’s believed to be the world’s first organ transplant. The patient was 44-year-old Ruth Tucker, whose mother and sister died of the same kidney disease she developed.
Before operating on Tucker, Lawler had performed transplants on dogs and had succeeded in keeping one of the dogs alive for more than a year following a kidney transplant.
Tucker, originally from Justice, survived for five years after the transplant, though her body rejected the new kidney just three months after the surgery. Tucker died of coronary artery disease, which doctors at the hospital said was probably unrelated to her transplant.
The successful transplant was remarkable at the time because dialysis, which helps a patient survive until a compatible donor is found, had not yet been developed; and because immunosuppressants had not been developed to protect the transplanted kidney from rejection.
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Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 97 degrees (2024)
- Low temperature: 42 degrees (1980)
- Precipitation: 1.69 inches (1978)
- Snowfall: Trace (1992)
1812: Fort Dearborn was the site of Chicago’s first murder. The suspect was John Kinzie. The victim was Jean La Lime. The reasons for the fatal dispute are unknown.
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1966: City Council adopted Mayor Richard J. Daley’s resolution that the chrysanthemum be designated the official flower of the City of Chicago. Mayor Daley proposed the resolution in response to a request by the Committee on Beautification of Chicago.
1974: 22-year-old Mary Wallace was introduced as Chicago Transit Authority’s first female bus driver. Wallace, a gospel singer in a church choir and business graduate of Olive-Harvey College, told reporters she was looking forward to piloting a bus because she liked dealing with people. No, she said in response to questions about holdups and the like, she is not all afraid of the prospect of driving at night.
1975: Turn-of-the-century-themed Old Chicago amusement park/shopping center — the first enclosed one in the United States — opened in Bolingbrook. It went bankrupt and closed in March 1980.
Amazon purchased the site in early 2020, for $50 million.
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1981: Tribune Co. announced an agreement to buy the Chicago Cubs. The company held onto the team until 2009, when it was bought by the Ricketts family.
1994: Opening ceremonies for FIFA’s World Cup took place at Soldier Field with President Bill Clinton in attendance. The Park District spent millions to prep the stadium for the soccer tournament.
2021: Chicago Bears team President and CEO Ted Phillips announces on Twitter the team recently submitted a bid to purchase the property at Arlington Park.
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