Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 4, according to the Tribune’s archives.
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Front page flashback: March 4, 1978
1978: The Chicago Daily News published its final edition.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 73 degrees (1983)
- Low temperature: Minus 12 degrees (1873)
- Precipitation: 1.75 inches (1985)
- Snowfall: 8.5 inches (1982)
1837: Chicago was incorporated as a city.
1861: Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president in Washington, D.C., for the first time. The Bible that was used during the ceremony was used again in 2008 when Barack Obama was sworn into office.
“We are quite sure that no document can be found among American state papers embodying sounder wisdom and higher patriotism, — breathing kindlier feelings to all sections of the country, or stamped with firmer purpose to maintain the Union and Constitution inviolate — than the Inaugural Address of PRESIDENT LINCOLN,” the Tribune reported.
Lincoln’s second inauguration was also on March 4 in 1865. Also in attendance was the man who shot and killed Lincoln weeks later — John Wilkes Booth.
1902: Nine small motor clubs met in Chicago to create a national group called the American Automobile Association (AAA).
1964: The Billy Goat Tavern opened in the Apollo Savings and Loan building on lower Michigan Avenue.
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