Aviation Chicago Timeline

By Michael Haupt

      Aviation Chicago Timeline traces the pivotal role that Chicago played in the development of aviation in the United States. Long before the Wright Brothers took to the air, Chicago had an active balloon community and Octave Chanute was providing the latest aviation research to scores of experimenters. In the 1910s, the city w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aviation Chicago LLC
• Release date: Nov 18, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732799028

Michael Haupt

Michael Haupt is a recognized aviation historian and lifelong aviation enthusiast. Michael moved to Chicago in 1980 and adopted the city, becoming engrossed in its fascinating history. Following a career working with IBM large-system mainframe computers, he rekindled his interest in aviation. As part of a community-liaison group associated with Palwaukee Airport, Michael became the airport's unofficial historian. His research about Palwaukee resulted in a presentation which he has given many times to various aviation and community organizations including a forum at EAA's AirVenture in Oshkosh. Michael nominated Chicago aviation pioneer Edward Bayard Heath to the Illinois Aviation Hall of Fame, and made a presentation about Heath at the group's Induction Banquet. Determined to give youth a chance to pursue their early interest in aviation, Michael volunteers with youth aviation groups including Aviation Explorer Post #9 and Young Eagles, both at Chicago Executive Airport, as well as the annual Aviation Exploration Base held during AirVenture. Aviation Chicago Timeline is Michael's first book addressing his twin passions for Chicago and aviation. His insatiable curiosity and research uncover fascinating events otherwise unknown. His meticulous attention to detail and copious references enable the reader to satisfy their own curiosity. Michael formed Aviation Chicago Press to publish this work as well as future non-fiction titles by himself and other authors.

Book preview

Aviation Chicago Timeline

BY MICHAEL HAUPT

Edition 1, Revision 0

Aviation Chicago Press • Mt. Prospect, IL

Aviation-Chicago.com

Copyright © 2018, by Aviation Chicago LLC, All rights reserved.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data provided by Five Rainbows Cataloging Services

ABOUT THE BOOK

Aviation Chicago Timeline traces the pivotal role that Chicago played in the development of aviation in the United States. Long before the Wright Brothers took to the air, Chicago had an active balloon community, and Octave Chanute was providing the latest aviation research to scores of experimenters. In the 1910s, the city was bustling with flight schools, airplane manufacturers, air shows, and aviation developers. By the 1920s, Chicago was the core of the U.S. air mail system and easily transitioned into a major air passenger hub. Throughout its history, Chicago has produced leaders who shaped U.S. aviation policy, including Benjamin Lipsner (the first Superintendent of Aerial Mail of the Post Office Dept.), Daniel McCracken (major designer of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 and the the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aviation), and Samuel Skinner (Secretary of Transportation under Pres. George H.W. Bush).

Aviation Chicago Timeline offers a fascinating account of more than a thousand events documenting the development of aviation in Chicago and the surrounding region. The author, Michael Haupt, provides a series of accessibly written stories that portray Chicago’s gripping aviation history in an inviting and interesting fashion. Haupt’s meticulous research, attention to detail, and exhaustive notes make this book an essential tool for everyone interested in the history of aviation in the U.S., but especially in Chicago.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Book

Foreword

Introduction

Pre-1900

1900–1904

1905–1909

1910–1914

1915–1919

1920–1924

1925–1929

1930–1934

1935–1939

1940–1944

1945–1949

1950–1954

1955–1959

1960–1964

1965–1969

1970–1974

1975–1979

1980–1984

1985–1989

1990–1994

1995–1999

2000–2004

2005–2009

2010–2014

2015–2018

My Village (Acknowledgments)

About the Author

Bibliography

Endnotes

Index

Contact and Order Information

FOREWORD

In the year 2018, aviation in the Chicago area is still relatively new, compared to other modes of transportation, like trains, a technology developed in the early 19th century, and maritime travel, which goes back thousands of years.

And even after the Wright brothers proved the possibility of three-axis control of an aircraft in 1903, on the sands of Kitty Hawk, NC, in the Chicago area it would still be several years before anyone could claim to see a heavier-than-air aircraft ascend into the heavens. In that time, this advanced technology was more like a rumor. Unless one saw it for themselves, it was hard to believe that such a thing was possible.

When I first read through Michael Haupt’s book in manuscript form, I thought I knew a lot about Chicago Aviation. Mike’s attention to the facts showed me I did not. What it did demonstrate was that I had forgotten much of what I thought I knew, and Mike’s presentation nudged me into remembering.

And then there were the pleasant surprises, like my grandfather Pierce Scotty O’Carroll, making an appearance as the operator of Monarch Air Service back in the 1930s, when Midway Airport was named Municipal and a pilot trying to make a go of it during the Great Depression was free to starve at his chosen profession.

Mike Haupt has missed nothing. When reading along I would think, I bet he won’t write about the Gordon Bennett Races. Nope. Or the Gray Goose Fire? Not a chance. The Graf Zeppelin arrival over Chicago’s skyline? He got that one too!

That’s what is so valuable about Michael Haupt’s book, his great attention to detail. It reminds me of an Ansel Adams photograph of Yosemite—one sees the great bulk of Half Dome, but also the details of the rock, crevices, and foliage, crystal clear on the photographer’s negative.

This compelling book will no doubt become required reading for those interested in Chicago Aviation history.

Christopher Lynch, 2018 • Aviation historian and author of:

Chicago’s Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years

INTRODUCTION

Chicago, the Aviation Capital

Most people today consider Chicago to be an aviation capital only in its demonstrated ability to thoroughly disrupt air travel throughout the nation. Many who are older or have an interest in Chicago history realize that Municipal/Midway Airport was the nation’s aviation crossroads for decades.

When one thinks of U.S. aviation centers, cities such as Dayton, OH, Hammondsport, NY, Seattle, WA, and Wichita, KS come to mind, not Chicago. But in fact, Chicago arguably surpassed all these cities in the early decades of the 20th century. As an article about aviation in the September 18, 1910, issue of the Chicago Tribune proclaimed:

It is doubtful if there is any city on the continent which can show a greater activity and a wider growth of interest in aviation than Chicago. It is the outcropping in a new field of the same old celebrated Chicago spirit which thrives, as it does under no other conditions, when encountering opposition and obstacle.¹

Is there any city showing a wider interest in aviation than Chicago?

To support this bold claim, we have only to look at the facts:

• In 1910, dozens of companies were building and selling airplanes around Chicago, plus a hundred amateurs were building their own aircraft of all sorts of designs.

• In 1911, Chicago hosted the largest air show of that era. To this day, it remains the largest air show held in the center of a major city.

• In 1911, the E.B. Heath Aerial Vehicle Co., known nationwide as Heath’s Airplane Trading Post, operated a catalog supply company providing barnstormers and amateur builders with hard-to-get parts for any and all airplanes.

• In 1912, Chicago’s first permanent airport, Cicero Field, became the busiest airport in the country.

• In the late 1910s, the U.S. Post Office Dept.a conducted numerous air mail tests in Chicago. After the Postal Service initiated regular air mail service, Chicago was the hub for numerous routes as well as the site for the Air Mail Service’s maintenance and repair facility.

• In the 1920s, when the Commerce Dept. initiated the reorganized Contract Air Mail (CAM) Service, Chicago was the origin for 9 out of 34 CAM routes.

Chicago’s influence spread far beyond the city.

• Chicago authors and editors produced the earliest books on aviation. Even before the Wright Brothers, Octave Chanute published Progress of Flying Machines in 1894. In 1909, the first aviation books in the country were First Lessons in Aeronautics by M.K. Kasmar and Vehicles of the Air: A Popular Exposition of Modern Aeronautics with Working Drawings by Victor Loughhead. In 1912, Aerial Age became the nation’s first aviation periodical.

• Many of the country’s major airplane manufacturers were founded by aviators rooted in Chicago, including: Edward Heath, Benny Howard, Emil Matty Laird, Bill Lear, Allan Loughhead (of Lockheed), James McDonnell, Glenn L. Martin, Eddie Stinson, Bill Stout (Ford Tri-Motor), Chauncy Chance Vought, Buck Weaver (of WACO) and others.

• Aviation corporations and organizations started or based in Chicago include: Air Line Pilots Organization, American Airlines, Challenger Air Pilots Assn., Early Birds of Aviation, Underwriters Laboratories, and United Air Lines.

• Practically all professional aviators in the first half of the 20th Century spent a lot of time flying in and around Chicago.

Chicago’s aviation impact is undeniable and it was not all hype when in 1929, this aviation school ad described Chicago as one of the school’s advantages:

Only Greer Students have the advantage that Chicago, the Air Capital of the United States, can give them—the world-famous Municipal Airport about which are grouped the hangars of every famous transport company East and Midwest—endless varieties of industries are here both in the field of Aviation and out of it. Here, if anywhere, are the greatest opportunities for the graduate.²

Aviation Chicago Timeline

The Aviation Chicago Timeline (ACT), as its title implies, is a chronology of aviation milestones in the greater Chicago region. It provides a unique perspective of Chicago as the major center of aviation in this country, if not the world.

ACT does not attempt to provide a comprehensive narrative of the development of the area’s aerial activities, as is excellently done in David Young’s Chicago Aviation: An Illustrated History or Howard Scamehorne’s Balloons to Jets, A Century of Aeronautics in Illinois 1855–1955. This volume does not present an abundantly illustrated and thorough examination of one aspect of Chicago aviation as does Chris Lynch’s Chicago’s Midway Airport: The First Seventy-Five Years, David Kent’s Images of Aviation: Midway Airport, and Michael Branigan’s A History of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. ACT is not a collection of marvelously fascinating anecdotes and oral histories (hangar stories) such as are found in Nick Selig’s Lost Airports of Chicago and Forgotten Chicago Airfields. Nor does ACT contain the wonderful verbal descriptions of a popular institution such as those contained in Gerry and Janet Souter’s Chicago Air and Water Show: A History of Wings Above the Waves or Gary Krist’s meticulously researched and documented yet wonderfully readable City of Scoundrels.

Why another book? Especially when there is such an abundance of well-written works?

Why another book? Especially when there is such an abundance of well-written works? ACT arises from my experience while reading these and other sources and having difficulty fitting things together. Chicago has such an abundance of aviation activity that no one book can tell the whole story. While reading about some event, I’d have vague recollections of having read something different about it or something similar, but would have little luck in finding the details. ACT strives to address this complexity by making it easier to fit the pieces together.

Why a timeline? As any viewer of detective shows knows, the best way to unravel a mystery is to draw a timeline and fit the pieces into it. Our goal is to piece together the rich tapestry of Chicago’s aviation history.

ACT is, by definition, Chicago-centric. This definitely presents a distorted view. The brief bios of individuals often omit many life accomplishments or summarize them in a single sentence. The purpose of this volume is to offer an overview to demonstrate the quantity and breadth of aviation activity in the Chicago area rather than provide a comprehensive look at every individual and topic.

However, no topic is an island.a Chicago’s aviation did not take place apart from everything else. To provide context, there are short entries about other aviation activity outside Chicago as well as non-aviation events both in Chicago and in the rest of the world.

Because this book is focused on the Chicago area, all cities and towns mentioned are in Illinois unless otherwise specified. Likewise, except where specified, streets and other locations are in Cook County.

A Note about Notes

ACT incorporates both footnotes and endnotes. The few footnotes included are for the reader’s convenience, pointing out ancillary information about the topic without the need to turn to the back of the book. Often these notes identify conflicts of differing dates for an event or of the spelling of names.

Even a casual perusal of ACT reveals a copious number of endnotes. Traditionally, notes perform two important purposes: to give proper credit to others and to demonstrate a basis for the statements being made. This work is no exception. Its compilation would not have been possible were it not for countless hours invested by scores of others referenced here. Also, in this age of alternative facts, it is sadly necessary to demonstrate that the facts presented here do not come from my imagination but reflect real people and events.

However, it is my hope that for some readers, the notes will provide a gateway to more information. As I stated at the beginning, ACT does not tell a story. But stories are essential to understanding what happened. After reading a brief writeup in one of the entries, check out one of the references for a fuller description of what happened. Your investment will be rewarded.

All of the newer works are available at a library. If you find yourself wanting more information, consider purchasing a copy. Many, if not most, of the older works are available online in digital versions, many for free or for a minimal charge.

Take some time and check out documents of the period. Look at the Chicago Tribune account of Gen. Balbo’s flight into the Century of Progress Exposition. It doesn’t just tell you how many planes landed when, but gives a feel for what the reception was like. And while you probably don’t want to read Chanute’s 1894 Progress of Flying Machines from cover to cover, it’s well worth spending a few minutes perusing the digital book to get a sense of aerial activity before the Wrights flew.

If You See Something … Say Something

As an ardent lover of facts, I must make a confession to you: This book is wrong. Not very wrong … just not completely precise or absolutely complete in some cases.

Despite my best efforts and countless hours of research plus several very thorough technical reviews, exhaustive copy editing, and detailed proofreading, it is inevitable that some errors will creep in and need to be eliminated. Primarily this is because of incomplete, or even conflicting, information. Unfortunately, sources don’t always cooperate by providing all the information that I would like. Often an event is described without stating when it took place. Other times dates are given as in 1927 or 1928 or in the early 1930s. Details about people, companies, and airports are often vague and names vary.

Finally, there are numerous omissions, ones that I’m aware of and others that I’m not. Limitation of time and space prevent the book from ever being complete. As an author, I’m forced to choose what to include and what to omit. But to make an intelligent choice, I need to know what I don’t know.

That’s where you come in. Some of you will catch errors in the text or will have more detailed information than is presented. Others will wonder Why didn’t he include.?

If you see something, say something. Don’t just grumble and keep your thoughts to yourself. Let me know.

It’s my intent to release future editions, in which I can correct errors and elaborate on the current content. But corrections can’t wait until the next edition is printed. The site, Aviation-Chicago.com, has a section devoted to ACT and will include corrected and expanded entries as the information becomes available.

The AviationChicago.com site also has provisions for you to contribute content or simply to comment on the book itself. Or you can email me at [e-mail]. I can’t guarantee how quickly the suggestions will be incorporated, but they will all be welcomed and considered.

Thank you all for your support, and Blue Skies Forever.

__________________

a The Post Office Dept. reorganized as the U.S. Postal Service in 1971.

a Apologies to John Donne.

PRE-1900

1783    Montgolfiers’ Balloon

In France, the Montgolfier brothers, Joseph Michel and Jacques Étienne, pioneered flights with hot air balloons. At Versailles on September 19, they conducted the first flight with living beings aboard—a rooster, a duck, and a sheep. Two tethered manned ascents were made on October 15. The first free flight on November 21 reached an altitude of 3,000 ft. and traveled about 5.5 mi.

A little over a year later, on January 7, 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Dr. John Jeffries made the first flight across the English Channel, from Dover to Calais, using a Montgolfier balloon.³

1800/05/07    First European Leaves Chicago

Jean Baptiste Point du Sablea sold his trading post to Jean La Lime and moved further west to St. Charles, MO.

Born in Haiti, du Sable had been trading furs with the French in the Great Lakes region since the 1770s. By 1790, he had a well-established trading post at the mouth of the north bank of the Chicago River near the current Chicago Tribune building.

Du Sable’s trading post was on 800 acres of land and included a barn, mill, smokehouse, workshop, and other small buildings. It became a major provisioning post for other traders throughout the region.

Four years after du Sable’s departure, La Lime sold the duSable settlement to John Kinzie, who has often, mistakenly, been called the Father of Chicago.⁴

1837/03/04    Chicago Becomes Chicago

The State of Illinois granted Chicago its City Charter.⁵

1847/06/10    Chicago Tribune Goes to Press

The first issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune was published on June 10, 1847. The founders, John E. Wheeler, K.C. Forrest, and James Kelly produced 400 copies of the four-page newspaper.⁶

Joseph Medill became a co-owner and editor of the newspaper in 1855, making it a strong voice for abolition and the Republican Party.⁷

1848/04/10    I & M Canal Opens

Begun in 1836, the Illinois and Michigan Canal connected the Chicago River at Bridgeport with the Illinois River 96 miles away at LaSalle. When opened in 1848 it became possible to travel or ship goods by water from the Atlantic Ocean at New York through the Erie Canal and Great Lakes to Chicago then through the I&M Canal to the Mississippi River, ending at New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico.

The I&M Canal became the lynchpin for transportation throughout the Midwest. It was natural, therefore, that railroads would similarly center in Chicago to take advantage of existing water connections. Later, airlines would follow the same pattern by connecting to the railroads.⁸

1848/11/20    Rails Reach Chicago

Chicago took the first steps toward becoming the transportation hub of the nation when William Ogden’s Galena and Chicago Union Railroad began operation.⁹

1853    First Manned Glider

The first manned flight was made in a glider created by Sir George Cayley in England. Cayley, regarded as the Father of Aeronautics, established the principles of flying machines with fixed wings, a pilot in a fuselage, and a combined tail of vertical fin and rudder. Cayley also pioneered the idea of lift coming from a shaped wing.¹⁰

1855/07/04    First Illinois Balloon Ascension

Silas M. Brooks, a pioneering American balloonist, made the first balloon ascension in Illinois when he launched the Eclipse from a vacant lot at Randolph and Peoria streets on July 4, 1855. From New England, Brooks traveled the country prior to the Civil War, amazing people with the ability to go as high as birds.¹¹

1855/12/31    Chicago Pulls Itself Out of the Mud

During 1856 and 1857, Chicago buildings were raised up to six feet by jacks and new foundations were laid below. George Pullman, who later produced railway cars, developed a system for lifting very large buildings slowly and without damage. Pullman’s company raised the city’s prestigious Tremont House while it was occupied and without cracking the plaster or breaking a glass.

Sanitation in Chicago was horrendous, resulting in regular outbreaks of cholera and other diseases. An estimated 5% of the population died in 1854 from the unhealthy conditions. The city needed a sewer system. Because the streets were nearly level with the river and lake, it was impossible to bury pipes with sufficient slope to drain.

The solution was to build the sewer above the current street level by raising all the streets and adjacent buildings above the pipes. Chicago created the Board of Sewerage Commission to implement the solution.¹²

1861/07/21    First Military Observation Balloon

The first use of a balloon for military observation was at the First Battle of Bull Run during the Civil War.¹³

1865/12/25    Stockyards Open

On Christmas Day 1865, the first livestock arrived at the newly constructed Union Stock Yard & Transit Co. on the South Side of Chicago. For over a century, the stockyards were a primary hub of meat distribution throughout the country.¹⁴

1867/06/08    Frank Lloyd Wright Is Born

The best-known, and arguably the most-influential, architect associated with Chicago was born in rural Wisconsin. Although Frank Lloyd Wright spent only a small portion of his career in the Chicago area, it was his formative period during which he developed the Prairie Style.¹⁵

1868/05/22    Grant Nominated for President

A resident of Galena, IL, Ulysses S. Grant became a hero as the Commanding General of all Union armies who led the North to victory during the Civil War. At their convention in Chicago, the Republicans nominated Grant as their candidate for President. He served two terms as President between 1869 and 1877.¹⁶

1871/10/08    Great Chicago Fire

A fire broke out on DeKoven St. on Chicago’s South Side on the evening of October 8, 1871. The inferno raged for 36 hours, destroying over 3 square miles of the heart of Chicago.¹⁷

1872/04    First Mail-Order Store

Aaron Montgomery Ward established the first general-purpose mail-order store capitalizing on the abundant rail transportation in Chicago. He started the business the previous summer but everything was destroyed in the Great Fire. Although there had been some earlier mail-order businesses, they specialized in very narrow product lines. Ward was the first to offer a wide and ever-increasing range of products.¹⁸

1886/05/04    Protests at Haymarket Square

During a labor rally for better working conditions being held at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886, an unknown person threw a bomb. The bomb was thrown as police tried to break up the otherwise peaceful protest. Seven police and one civilian were killed during the resulting riot. In the aftermath, eight anarchists, including some who were not even present at the rally, were arrested and convicted. Four were hanged.¹⁹

1887    Orchard Becomes a Place

In 1887, Elvin Scott donated an acre of his farmland to the Wisconsin Central Railroad in exchange for construction of a depot. The railroad named the stop Orchard Place.²⁰

1889/09/18    Hull House Opens

Hull House opened its doors on September 18, 1889, to serve the poor and immigrant communities by providing language and other classes. The leadership of founders Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr made Hull House the best-known settlement house in the country.²¹

1890    U of C Opens

University of Chicago opens with William Rainey Harper as President.²²

1891    Chanute Publishes Aviation Information

In order to foster manned flight, Octave Chanute published experimentally based articles about flight in The Railroad and Engineering Journal,a of which he was the editor. Chanute, a Chicago resident, devoted himself to disseminating information about aviation as widely as possible. He maintained contact and corresponded voluminously with individuals worldwide who were pursuing aviation.

Chanute’s publications and correspondence were helpful to the Wright brothers in their early days.²³

1892    Field’s Opens New Store

In 1856, when he arrived in Chicago, Marshall Field became active selling dry goods. He jointly owned a series of stores including a collaboration with the aging retailer and developer Potter Palmer. Following the destruction of his store in the Great Chicago Fire, Field rebuilt. In 1881, he began retailing under the Marshall Field and Co. banner.

In 1892, Field commissioned architect Daniel Burnham to build a stunning retail store on his State St. property as a showcase to impress those attending the World’s Columbian Exposition the following year. Burnham’s store was modified and expanded until the current 1.3 million sq. ft. structure was completed in 1914. Occupying an entire square block, Field’s State St. store was the largest retail store in the world.

In 2005, Field’s became Macy’s when Marshall Field’s sold the building, along with the remainder of their retail business, to New York retailer Federated Department Store (originally R.H. Macy and Co.).²⁴

1892/06/06    First Chicago L

Chicago’s first elevated train began operation between Congress Pkwy. and Wabash Ave. going south to State St. and 39th St. (Pershing Rd.). By the following year, the line extended to Jackson Park for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Part of this line has been incorporated into the current Green Line.²⁵

1893    Baseball Popularity Soars

The National League introduced the Sunday ball game which for the first time permitted those working six-day weeks in factories and offices to attend ballgames.²⁶

1893/05/01–10/30    World’s Columbian Exposition

Organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World, the World’s Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893) ran from May 1 through October 30, 1893. This world’s fair showcased Chicago’s rebound from the fire twenty years earlier. The Main Fairgrounds presented new technologies and offered cultural exchange while the Midway provided a plethora of entertainment options.²⁷

1893/06/07    Balloon Rides at the World’s Fair

Starting June 7, 1893, attendees at the the World’s Columbian Exposition could ascend to 1500 ft. in the Chicago, for an astronomical $2.00. The tethered balloon was inflated with 100,000 cu. ft. of hydrogen

The Chicago was short-lived, however, because on July 10 a storm tore the silk to shreds spreading it over a half mile.²⁸

Also in the area was a Balloon Park at 35th St. and Cottage Grove Ave. which also offered tethered ascensions from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.²⁹

1893/07/06    First Open Heart Surgery

The world’s first open heart surgery took place at Provident Hospital on July 6, 1893. The surgeon, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, an African American, was one of the founders of the interracial Provident Hospital. The patient had been stabbed in the heart and was bleeding internally. Dr. Williams opened his chest and stitched the gash in the heart. The patient survived and was discharged 50 days later.³⁰

1893/08/01–04    Third International Conference on Aerial Navigation

At the suggestion of Albert Zahm, a professor of physics and mathematics at Notre Dame University, Octave Chanute organized the Third International Conference on Aerial Navigation to be held in conjunction with the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Chanute organized and chaired the Conference attended by over a hundred delegates assembled from around the world the first week of August 1893. Sessions were held in the World Congress Art Hall in Lake Front Park at Adams St., in the building now known as the Art Institute.a Nearly 50 speakers presented their findings on balloons, kites, gliders, engines, and theoretical aspects of flight.

The following year, Chanute published the Conference Proceedings. Also in 1894, he published Progress on Flying Machines, a compilation of aviation articles he had previously published in The Railroad and Engineering Journal.³¹

1896/05/06    Langley’s Model Flights

Samuel Pierpoint Langley, who was Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution between 1887 and 1906, was an avid aviation experimenter. He designed and built a number of model flying machines that used different wing configurations.

Langley’s models, which started small with rubber band-powered versions, culminated with large ones powered by a steam engine and launched by a catapult. During experiments in May 1896, his Aerodromes #5 and #6 flew approximately 3300 ft., but they lacked three-axis control. Later experiments with a full-size Aerodrome failed.³²

1896/06/07    Chanute Glider Flights

In the summer of 1896, Octave Chanute conducted hundreds of flights in kites and gliders of many different configurations. Chanute, who was already in his mid-60s, flew the gliders at Miller Beach on the Indiana Dunes along with his associate, August Herring. Always an engineer, Chanute made meticulous notes about the performance of the various configurations in differing conditions. Chanute’s biplane glider stayed aloft 14 sec. and traveled 359 ft.

Chanute’s work, including his detailed notes and his methodology, proved helpful to the Wright brothers efforts.³³

1896/08/10    Lilienthal Dies in Glider Crash

German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal was seriously injured when a glider he was testing stalled and crashed on August 9, 1896. The 48-year-old died the next day in a Berlin hospital.

Starting in 1891, the German experimenter conducted about 2,000 manned and countless unmanned glider flights. He carefully recorded the results of various configurations of airfoils and wing shapes. Lilienthal was the first person to plot lift and drag values for varying angles of attack, although the accuracy of his results was severely limited by his instrumentation.

Lilienthal extensively communicated with Octave Chanute who, in turn, conducted his own glider experiments and data collection.³⁴

1897    The L Loop Completed

Chicago’s initial elevated train lines stopped outside downtown, which was served by cable cars in a square area known as the Loop. Chicago businessman Charles Yerkes began building elevated tracks to connect various separately-owned elevated train lines together. In 1897, a train completed the first complete circle of the elevated Loop.³⁵

1897    Chicago’s Public Library Opens

Built on the last available parcel from Fort Dearborn, the building, which today is the Chicago Cultural Center, was shared by two organizations: the Chicago Public Library and the Grand Army of the Republic memorial.

The south entrance on Washington St. led to the Chicago Public Library, which had a collection that included 12,000 books donated by Britain after the Great Fire. At the top of a grand staircase was Preston Bradley Hall, the main circulation and reading room, which contained the world’s largest Tiffany Dome.

Entering from Randolph St. on the north led to a memorial for the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of veterans of the Civil War.³⁶

1898    First Santos-Dumont Dirigible

A Brazilian living in France, Alberto Santos-Dumont built the first of 14 powered dirigibles and flew around Paris in 1898. On October 19, 1901, he won 100,000 francs by flying his airship No. 6 in a circuit around the Eiffel Tower.³⁷

1898    Chicago Starts Loop Tunnel Project

In an effort to alleviate street congestion, the City of Chicago authorized Illinois Telephone & Telegraph Co. to construct a series of tunnels under the downtown area. A small, electric railroad was installed primarily to deliver coal and remove ashes from scores of buildings. The tunnels were also used to transport mail and freight.

In 1959, the Chicago Tunnel Company went out of business. Some tunnels were later used to house cables but they were mostly ignored and forgotten until the 1990s.³⁸

1899    First Zeppelin Flight

Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s first dirigible, LZ-1, made its first flight in Germany.³⁹

__________________

a Pacyga and other sources refer to de Sable.

a Various sources interchangeably associate Chanute with a variety of publications. The American Railroad Journal and Van Nostrand’s Engineering Magazine are often referred to with shortened versions of their name. The two publications merged to become The Railroad and Engineering Journal which was later called The American Engineer and Railroad Journal.

a The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1879 and changed its name to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1882. The Art Institute moved into the World Congress building after the end of the Columbian Exposition.

1900–1904

1900/01/02    Chicago River Flows Backwards

The 28-mile Sanitary and Ship Canal opened on January 2, 1900, connecting the Chicago River with the Des Plaines River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. The opening of the canal reversed the flow of the Chicago River diverting sewage from Lake Michigan toward the Mississippi River.⁴⁰

1900/10/22    First Wright Trip to Kitty Hawk

The Wright brothers made the first of their annual trips to Kitty Hawk, chosen as a test site for their glider experiments because of its strong winds.⁴¹

1901/08/18    Wilbur Wright Addresses Conference

In Chicago, Wilbur Wright addressed the Western Society of Engineers. His presentation included lantern slides of their gliders at Kill Devil Hills and information on their aerodynamic experiences.

Wright’s presentation came at the request of the society’s President, Octave Chanute. The Wright brothers began corresponding with Chanute in May 1900 and developed a close relationship. The elderly Chanute even visited the Wrights at Kill Devil Hills during their glider experiments.

The presentation was well-timed in that it stimulated Wilbur, whose enthusiasm and optimism had been waning with their lack of success. Following the presentation, Wilbur prepared the 10,000-word paper Some Aeronautical Experiments, which was published in the society’s journal.⁴²

1902/05/24    First of the Chicago-Style Bridges Opens

The Courtland Street (formerly Clybourn Place) bridge over the Chicago River was Chicago’s first double-leaf fixed-trunnion bascule bridge.a The design, in which each side of the bridge is counterbalanced by a large weight that reduces the effort to raise and lower it, became popular worldwide as the Chicago-Style Bridge.⁴³

1903    White City Amusement Park Establishes Balloon Base

Horace B. Wild, a Chicago aeronaut, established a balloon base at White City Amusement Park on the South Side not far from the 1893 World’s Fair site.

Wild flew both tethered and free-flight balloons as well as powered dirigibles of his own design. White City visitors could watch demonstrations or take sightseeing flights in lighter-than-air craft.⁴⁴

1903/03/23    Wright Brothers File Patent

Nine months prior to the successful flight at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers file an application for a Flying Machine. The application is based on lateral control during flight rather than powered flight.⁴⁵

1903/12/17    Wright’s First Flight

Orville Wright made the first flight of a controllable, heavier-than-air vehicle. That flight lasted 12 sec. and covered a distance of 120 ft. with a maximum altitude of 10 ft.

Over the next couple of days, the Wrights made three additional flights, the longest of which lasted nearly a minute and covered more than 850 ft. On their fifth flight, a wind gust caught the plane destroying it in a crash.⁴⁶

1903/12/30    Iroquois Theater Fire

A little more than a month after it opened, the Iroquois Theater was packed with 1,900 people. Nearly 600 people died when a fire broke out and the patrons found many of the exits locked.⁴⁷

1904    Riverview Park Opens

Chicago’s iconic Riverview Amusement Park opened in 1904 on the bank of the North Branch of the Chicago River, by Belmont and Western avenues.⁴⁸

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a Despite the common claim that this was the first bridge of this type in the U.S., the Grand Ave. bridge in Milwaukee opened three months earlier.

1905–1909

1905    Aero Club of America Formed

New York aviation enthusiasts (primarily balloonists) formed the Aero Club of America in New York City in 1905.a Its purpose was to promote aviation as was being done by the Aero Club of France, although the structure was similar to the existing Automobile Club of America.

The Aero Club of America became the major aviation body in the U.S., issuing pilot licenses, sponsoring events, and supporting similar local groups such as the Aero Club of Illinois.⁴⁹

1905/01    Wrights Begin Sales Demos

After a year of perfecting their airplane in relative secrecy in Dayton, the Wright brothers contacted their Congressman offering to sell their airplane to the U.S. military.

The Congressman referred the request to the War Department’s Bureau of Ordinance and Fortification. This agency had recently invested $50,000 in Samuel Langley’s Aerodrome which was a spectacular—and public—failure. Not inclined to be humiliated again, the War Department sent the Wrights a stock rejection letter.

Almost concurrently, the Wrights approached the British government. Although the British had previously shown interest in the Wrights’ accomplishments, nothing ever came from the negotiations.⁵⁰

1905/05/05    Chicago Defender First Published

With a first press run of 300 copies, Robert Sengstacke Abbott published the first issue of a weekly newspaper for Chicago’s African American community. By WWI, the Chicago Defender, distributed via the railroads, was the most influential black newspaper in the country, with over two-thirds of its readers outside Chicago.⁵¹

1906    Original Sears Tower Opens

Ten years after its 1894 founding, Sears, Roebuck & Co. purchased land for a new complex in the Homan Square area on the West Side. The first buildings that opened in 1906 included the first Sears Tower, a 250 ft., 14-story structure that provided offices for the distribution complex.

For a while, part of the Tower housed radio station WLS, which stood for World’s Largest Store. In 1974, Sears moved the management offices to a new and much larger tower in the Loop. The Homan Square facility remained a distribution center until it closed in 1987.

Now called the Nichols Tower, the original Sears Tower completed a $15 million restoration in 2016. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.⁵²

1906/01    Kodak Ordinance Passed

In order to combat the evil of the Kodak fiend, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance stating that no person shall take photographs in the streets or public grounds of any person or persons without his or their consent.⁵³

1906/02/26    Stockyard Conditions Exposed

On February 26, 1906, Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle was published. The book sensationalized the unsanitary conditions at the Union Stockyards as well as the exploitation of the workers. A strike by the workers on July 12, 1904, focused local attention to the situation, but quickly faded from the public eye. Sinclair’s work had a longer-lasting impact across the nation, primarily in legislation concerning food handling.⁵⁴

1906/05/22    Wright Patent Issued

The U.S. Patent Office issued patent 821,393 for a Flying Machine to Orville and Wilbur Wright.⁵⁵

1906/10    Chicago Cross-Town World Series

An all-Chicago World Series pitted the Chicago Cubs, who played at the West Side Grounds, against the Chicago White Sox, playing at South Side Park. The Sox bested the Cubs in a six game series that included snow flurries during the first two games.⁵⁶

1906/10/23    First Official European Flight

After making short hops for over a month, Brazilian Albert Santos-Dumont made the first officially observed European flight on October 23, 1906, when he flew 197 ft. On November 12, he flew the 14-bis for 772 ft. and received the French Aero Club’s prize for the first European flight over 100 meters (328 ft.). Resembling a box-kite, the 14-bis was unable to perform either sustained or controlled flight.⁵⁷

1907    First Monoplane

The Bleriot V, the first somewhat successful monoplane, was designed by Louis Bleriot and Gabriel Voisin. The Bleriot V crashed but after several enhancements during the year, the successful Bleriot VII established the general pattern for later Bleriot planes.⁵⁸

1907/07    Aeronautique Club of Chicago Commences

In July, 1907,a aviation enthusiasts chartered the Aeronautique Club of Chicago primarily to serve the large community of balloonists. The Aeronautique Club was affiliated with the Federation of American Aero Clubs and elected Charles A. Coey its president. Octave Chanute and Horace B. Wild were among the 140 members.⁵⁹

1907/11/13    First Helicopter Flight

Paul Cornu makes first free flight in a helicopter at Lisieux, France.⁶⁰

1908/02/08    Army Signal Corps Orders First Plane

The U.S. government placed an order with the Wright Corp. for a Model A airplane, the first of many aircraft the U.S. military would acquire over the next century.⁶¹

1908/05/21    Glenn Curtiss First Flight

Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss makes his first flight in the White Wing, an airplane designed by his colleague, Alexander Graham Bell. The White Wing had wheeled landing gear and was controlled using ailerons rather than wing warping. The following month, Curtiss designed and flew an airplane of his own design, the June Bug.

Curtiss and Bell were part of the Aerial Experiment Assn. (AEA) of Hammondsport, NY, a group dedicated to experimentation with various designs for flying machines. All AEA planes used ailerons rather than wing warping to maintain control. Since Curtiss did not seek patent protection for ailerons, they were widely copied over the next few years and have become the standard to control wing position.⁶²

1908/07/04    First International Aerial Race

In February 1908, the Aeronautique Club of Chicago hosted representatives from other Aeronautique Clubs around the country. Their goal was to adopt rules for aerial contests as well as to promote and educate the public about aviation. ⁶³

One of the Chicago club’s first activities was to sponsor the First International Aerial Race from Chicago to Canada. The club contracted to construct two balloons, one 77,000 and the other 67,000 cu. ft. Aeronautique Club President Charles Coey entered his own Coey’s Chicago, the first American balloon of 110,000 cu. ft.⁶⁴

On Independence Day 1908, an estimated 150,000 people gathered at the two launch sites: White City Amusement Park and Washington Park. The event drew nine participants, including international figures Horace B. Wild, Charles Coey, Alberto Santos-Dumont, and Lincoln Beachey. The race winner travelled 895 mi. to Sheffield, Quebec.⁶⁵

1908/08/08    Wrights Fly in Europe

The Wrights traveled to Europe in January in an attempt to interest purchasers. On August 8, they made their first public flight in Europe. Unlike previous flights by French experimenters, the Wrights amazed the audience with their ability to bank and turn with ease. The following summer, they established a flight school at Pau, France.⁶⁶

1908/08/18–19    Patent Wars Begin

On August 18, 1908, the Wright Brothers filed a lawsuit against the Herring-Curtiss Co. demanding royalties on their sale of an airplane two months earlier. The following day, they sued the Aeronautique Society of New York, the purchasers of the Curtiss airplane, to prevent any use of the airplane because it infringed their patents.⁶⁷

1908/09/17    First Airplane Fatality

While flying with Orville Wright, Army Lt. Thomas Selfridge became aviation’s first fatality in a crash that also injured Orville.⁶⁸

1908/12    First Chicago-Made Airplane Flies

Iowa-native Carl S. Bates attended Armour Institutea in Chicago, where he was taught by Octave Chanute, among others.

Bates started building a plane of his own, a smaller version of Curtiss’s plane. While trying to build airplanes, Bates discovered the need for reliable, lightweight engines so he built his own. He formed the Bates Aero Motor Co. which produced high-quality air- and water-cooled engines.

In December1908, Bates completed the first aircraft built in Chicago using his own 10 hp engine. He took his plane to Washington Park Golf Course, where he made a few short hops

Later that month, the owner of White City Amusement Park, which already had an existing balloon and dirigible port, cleared some land to make a landing strip for Bates to use as he improved his airplane designs.

A year after building a scaled-down Curtiss plane, he expanded his business. Bates produced aircraft of his own design, although most were modifications of other aircraft. Nevertheless, his planes and reliable, lightweight engines became popular throughout the area.⁶⁹

By the time of the Aviation Meet in the summer of 1911, Bates had designed a monoplane combining the best features of many planes. The body was similar to the Nieuport while the wing was an improved version of the Morane plane with wing-warping and a pigeon-tail empennage. It used the Bates-Heinemann motor.⁷⁰

1909    First Jane’s Aircraft Published

In London, Fred T. Jane published the first edition of a compendium that came to be known as Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft. Except for brief periods during the two world wars, the book has been published annually.⁷¹

1909    First Aviation Books Published in Chicago

The first two of many aviation books to be published in Chicago on powered flight went to press in 1909.

An early Chicago aviation enthusiast, M.K. Kasmar wrote First Lessons in Aeronautics, which was published by the American Aeronautical Society. The following year, Kasmar would found the city’s first aeronautical school, the Chicago School of Aviation.⁷²

Victor Loughhead (pronounced Lockheed) began working as a mechanic for James Plew’s White Steam Automobile and Curtiss Airplane dealership. He was soon joined by his brother Allan. Both learned to fly and became members of the Aero Club of Illinois.

Victor became so enthusiastic about aviation that he wrote Vehicles of the Air. It was an extensive (500-page) work covering all aspects of aerodynamics as well as describing some of the early aircraft. Later, Victor and Allan had a falling out and Allan returned to California, where he changed the spelling of his name and founded what would become Lockheed Aircraft Corp.⁷³

1909    Jimmie Ward Learns to Fly

At 15, James Jimmie Ward ran away from his Minnesota home and moved to Chicago. Loving speed and thrills, Ward got into automotive work both as a mechanic and as a driver competing in numerous speed contests for various manufacturers or dealers.

Ward’s proclivity for adventure naturally drew him to flying. About 1909, he taught himself to fly using a plane manufactured by Carl Bates. Soon thereafter James Plew, who had just started a Curtiss dealership, hired Ward to be one of his pilots.

The next year, 1910, during