How Not to Report On Your Own Comfort On the Hottest Day Ever About 78 years ago, Chicago went through not just the Depression, but the hottest day ever recorded in the city. On one stagnant day, the city baked… but the Tribune Tower was pleasantly refreshing.

At 10:40 AM in Chicago, the temperature is 91 degrees. It’s looking like we’ll approach or break the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago: 105 degrees on July 24, 1934. The following day, during the worst summer the city had ever seen at the height of the Depression, was a busy news day. Headlines read THIRSTY CATTLE SHOT AS MEN DIG NEW WELLS; ORDER ARREST OF ALL PERSONS OPENING CITY FIRE HYDRANTS; CROWDS OF HOME FOLKS SEE DILLINGER BODY; FREE ICE FUND HAS BANNER DAY.

And, of course, TRIBUNE TOWER COOL DESPITE SWELTERING WEATHER IN STREETS.

(That’s just under five grand in 2012 dollars.)

I liked @Kyle_Ryan’s take: “I’m pretty sure that was written by T. Herman Zweibel.”

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