Today in Chicago History: ‘Miracle Million’ wows Arlington Park just one month after devastating fire

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Aug. 25, according to the Tribune’s archives.

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

Front page flashback: Aug. 26, 1980

1980: A year after it was designated a Chicago landmark, the 129-year-old Heinrich (Henry) Wilhelm Rincker House at 6366 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Norwood Park — the city’s second-oldest residence (after the Henry B. Clarke house, renamed Clarke-Ford House) — was “accidentally” demolished by the Cirro Wrecking Co. The Skokie company blamed an address change for contributing to the confusion, yet Ald. Roman Pucinski said no record had been submitted to allow the demolition to take place.

Rincker, a German immigrant, was known for casting the bell that hung from the first Cook County Courthouse, which was felled by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. His house on the Northwest Side had been saved in February 1980 by firefighters after a suspected arson broke out on the second floor. Its attic and roof were destroyed, yet the Commission on Chicago Landmarks fought to keep the structure on the roll of the city’s more than 2,500 landmark buildings.

Building owner Anthony Roppolo, who opposed plans to designate the house as a landmark, wanted to build a shopping center and condominiums on the site. Residents and City Council members fought Roppolo’s development of the property.

Tribune architecture critic Paul Gapp pointed out three problems faced by preservationists:

1. The Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks had “inadequate means of detecting skullduggery,” Gapp wrote.
2. Penalties for deliberate destruction of landmarked buildings  were “too mild to act as a deterrent.”
3. “Sneaky demolition” to prevent landmark designation could happen again.

 

Lawsuits drug the case out for years. A sign posted by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks in the parking lot of a grocery store that was later built on the site says the conclusion was “a settlement for the City, to be used for the preservation of other designated landmarks.”

Tougher preservation rules have also been added to the city’s landmark ordinance.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

• High temperature: 95 degrees (2003)
• Low temperature: 47 degrees (1917)
• Precipitation: 1.88 inches (1972)
• Snowfall: Trace (1941)

1922: In what the Tribune called a “Comedy of Runs, Hits and Errors,” the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 26-23. It’s still the highest-scoring game in MLB history. The Cubs scored all 26 runs in just 4 innings.

Both teams repeated their 20-plus runs against each other during a game in 1979 — also at Wrigley Field.

1985: More than 35,000 fans crowded temporary tents and bleachers to watch the “Miracle Million” at Arlington Park, as Great Britain’s Teleprompter defeated Greinton by less than a length.

Fire tore through Arlington Park racetrack 40 years ago. Less than a month later, the season’s biggest event went on as scheduled.

The Arlington team was recognized by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association with an Eclipse Award, the first ever awarded to a racetrack, less than a month following a devastating fire.

2020: Two people were shot to death and a third was wounded as 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle during a third night of protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake.

Rittenhouse, who was taken into custody in Illinois the next day, said he was defending himself after the three men attacked him as he tried to protect businesses from protesters.

A Kenosha County jury on Nov. 19, 2021, acquitted Rittenhouse of all charges against him, finding the teenage gunman acted in self-defense.

Also in 2020: Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito struck out 13 and walked only 1 in a 101-pitch no-hitter — the 19th in the franchise’s history. White Sox pitchers have thrown more no-hitters than any other American League team.

Chicago White Sox pitchers have thrown 20 no-hitters since 1902 — including 3 perfect games

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