A Chicago Christmas-- Part 5: Hot, Cold and Snow

This entry is very appropriate for today.  This morning, December 23, 2022, it was -8 degrees outside here in Spring Grove, Illinois.  By 1 pm, it had "Warmed Up" to -2 degrees.  It is -5 degrees right now.

Christmas 1982 saw Chicago reach 64 degrees, setting a record for highest temperature on the holiday.

Just one year later in 1983, the coldest-ever temperature for the holiday was recorded at O'Hare at bone-chilling negative 17 degrees.

As for a very white Christmas Day, it happened in 1950 when Chicago received a whopping 5.1 inches of snow, setting a city snowfall record for that day.  Yesterday and this morning we got maybe two-tenths of an inch of the white stuff.

--CootHotColdSnow

And, Who Was This Edward "Butch" O'Hare?

Since he was a World War II hero and O'Hare Airport named after him, I will write about him in my World War II blog.

--Tattooed On Your Soul. ---Cooter

When JFK Came to Chicago in 1963-- Part 1

From the March 17, 2013, Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback: Why JFK came to town" by Stephan Benzkofer.

Fifty years ago in March, President John F. Kennedy came to Chicago to dedicate O'Hare International Airport. This was not a necessary dedication as the airport had already been named after World War II's air hero Edward "Butch" O'Hare in 1949 and then again dedicated in 1955 when it opened to commercial air traffic.

So, why did JFK really come to Chicago, some eight months before that tragic November day in Dallas? His motorcade was lined by cheering spectators and at one point, he had the limo stopped and got out to greet people at the Cumberland Avenue Exit of the Northwest Expressway, which would be renamed for him a week after his death.

The best reason for the president's coming to Chicago would be to support his old friend (and some say reason he was elected president after certain things happened with Chicago voting), Mayor Richard J. Daley, who was in the midst of a tough re-election campaign.

More to Come. ---Cooter

O'Hare Airport-- Part 2

Continued from yesterday.

Shortly afterward, three army officers were on their way to the Chicago area to pick the best of nine possible sites. The other city picked for a new Douglas plant was Oklahoma City (also on Route 66) It would build two-engine DC-3 transports referred to as the C-47 by the Army.

Other Illinois sites were Ford Airfield in Lansing, Rubinkam Airpot in Harvey; small airports in St. Charles, Aurora, and Joliet; undeveloped tracts near Orchard Place near Bensenville; and two open sites near Chicago's Municipal Airport (now Midway).

Orchard Place was chosen because of the availability of land, good drainage, and nearby railroads for transportation.

The airport adjoining the Douglas C-54 plant was originally called Orchard Douglas Field which is where the ORD luggage tags comes from.


WORK BEGINS AND BIRTH OF O'HARE

Trees, fences and farm buildings were removed starting in July 1942, just one month after the project was accepted. Construction on the first building and all four runways also began. The main building was a 42-acre behemoth and construction began on that August 24th. Within three months, planes were being built.


Once the war ended, Douglas no longer needed it and asked the government if it could be converted into a civilian field to relieve congestion at Municipal Airport. permission was granted and Douglas dropped from name.

In 1949, Chicago Tribune publisher suggested the name be changed to O'Hare to honor WW II Navy ace Edward "Butch" O'Hare and City Council agreed. Municipal Airport's name was renamed for the Battle of Midway the same year (I didn't know that).

I have flown into and out of O'Hare many times. When i first graduated from college, I drove people back and forth to the airport from the Sheraton-Walden Hotel in Schaumburg and later from the Holiday Inn in Wheeling-Northbrook.

I also thought the ORD tags on luggage were from ORcharD Field, but now I know the D is from Douglas. You learn something every day. I also thought Midway got its way because it was midway through Chicago.

So, That's the Story of O'Hare. --Old Coot

O'Hare Airport

The May 25th Chicago tribune had an article on O'Hare Airport in Chicago which was built in just one year. There were no environmental impact studies and less neighborhood opposition as there is with the planned expansion of these days.

There were some old photos as well with the hundreds who turned out for the ceremony to re-name Orchard-Douglas Field to O'Hare to honor WW II fighter pilot Edward "Butch" O'Hare, who had received a Medal of Honor from FDR in 1942. A vestige of the former name remains in baggage tags which read "ORD" for Orchard.

The current expansion program began in 2001.

After Pearl harbor, the government was looking for places to build aircraft far from the coasts. The selection of the site for O'Hare took only a couple months. There was some opposition, but the necessities of war soon squashed it. Douglas Aircraft Co. needed a safe place to build their four-engine C-54 transport planes.

Orchard Place was rezoned from farm to industrial use. Neighbors in nearby Des Plaines and Park Ridge were more interested in the potential for local taverns to do business with the factory workers.

To be Continued. --Cooter