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The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon newspaper published between 1875 and 1978. It was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty to serve as a competitor to the Chicago Tribune. Initially, Chicago Daily News experienced low sales and was considered unsuccessful. To get it off the ground, Stone urged local merchants to sell his paper for 99 cents—rather than a dollar—to boost its circulation. His strategy worked, leading to greater sales for the remainder of the nineteenth century.

The newspaper was in its heyday from the 1930s to the 1950s. What contributed to its heightened popularity was its distinctive style of writing, which was likened to a “daily novel” by editor Henry Justin Smith. The concise paragraphs of the Chicago Daily News were short enough to be read by busy people who were on the go. The paper dissolved when the rights to the Chicago Daily News trademark were sold to Australian millionaire Rupert Murdoch in 1984.

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Riverview Park was an amusement park located on the north side of Chicago and it was open from 1904 to 1967. It started out as Schuetzen Park, which was a shooting range park created by Wilhelm A. Schmidt. In 1903, Schmidt's son encouraged him to build rides on the property to attract more people. The amusement park eventually had over 120 rides including Ferris wheels, carousels, and wooden roller coasters. Admission to the park was cheap and people paid separately for each ride. The Schmidt family sold the park in October of 1967 because of increasing crime in the area and the rising costs to maintain the park. 

Maifest is a German festival that celebrates the beginning of spring. It is traditionally celebrated with the decorated maypole which shows off the crafts and history of the local culture. Maifest is currently celebrated in Lincoln Square every year in Chicago.

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On September 26, 1980, men and women in Chicago participated in a “Take Back the Night” rally at the Daley Center. The purpose was to protest sexual violence and violence against women, specifically on college campuses, because it was believed many universities had inefficient protocols in place to deal with reports of sexual assault.

“Take Back the Night” became part of a global effort to combat sexual violence starting in 1978. In 2001, a number of women who started the movement banded together and created the Take Back the Night Foundation. This is a nonprofit organization that aims to be a hub of information sharing, resources, and support for women who have been the victims of sexual violence.

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In March of 1938, the Chicago District Squash Racquets Association (CDSRA) held its eighth annual tournament at Lake Shore Athletic Club. Squash racquets, or squash, at it is now commonly known, is still a popular sport in Chicago. Each year, the city holds the Windy City Open, in which men and women compete for a place at the Professional Squash Association’s World Tour.

Sources:

Windy City Open. (n.d.) Windy City Open. Retrieved from http://windycityopen.com/.

Name Chicago Team for Squash Title Tourney. (1938 February). Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/image/372688752/?terms=chicago%2Bdistrict%2Bsquash%2Bracquets%2Bassociatio

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In March of 1937, the Chicago District Squash Racquets Association (CDSRA) held its seventh annual tournament, a week-long event held at the Lake Shore Athletic Club in Chicago. 1937 saw the largest number of top-ranking players to date compete in the tournament, a number of which were sent to compete in a national tournament. This was also the first year the CDSRA hosted a Veteran’s Championship, for which all participants had to be over the age of forty.

Squash racquets, or squash, at it is now commonly known, is still a popular sport in Chicago. Each year, the city holds the Windy City Open, in which men and women compete for a place at the Professional Squash Association’s World Tour. 

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The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, known as the Century of Progress International Exposition marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of Chicago, and its symbol was the “swirly planet”.

Fifty years later in 1983, the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) held their 11th convention at the Sheraton O’Hare Hotel. Programs included button preservation, a discussion of mail order auctions, and collecting women’s campaign items. APIC was founded in 1945 to study and collect political memorabilia.

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This button was most likely celebrating either the first or second space rendezvous missions that took place during NASA's Gemini program.  The first of these two missions, Gemini 7, was a manned spaceflight mission that took place in 1965 and performed the first space rendezvous with the Gemini 6A.  This mission lasted 14 days and was double the length of time that anyone had been in space up to that point. Gemini 7 and Gemini 6A came within 1 foot of each other and would have docked had they been equipped to do so- the Soviet Union had also rendezvoused two ships in space but not come as close to each other as Gemini 7 and Gemini 6A.  Gemini 8 was a manned spaceflight that took place in 1966 and also featured a rendezvous, this time with the docking of Gemini 8 with the Agena target vehicle (an unmanned ship used for practicing maneuvers).  Of note, this mission suffered a critical system failure after the rendezvous which caused an immediate abort of the mission. Pilots Neil Armstrong and David Scott were able to return to Earth safely after 10 hours in orbit.

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The Krueger Auditorium in Newark once boasted the largest dance floor in New Jersey. It was built by beer baron Gottfried Krueger in 1885, and he would host grand parties and dances as an effort to attract customers to his growing brewing company. In 1935, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company became the first brewer to offer beer in cans. The Krueger Auditorium hosted other events as well. Former Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, attended Jewish High Holy Days hosted at the auditorium in the 1920s. The Krueger Auditorium was demolished in the latter 20th century to make room for public housing.

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The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.
The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.