March 31, 2003 – Under cover of darkness trucks
carrying construction equipment move onto Meigs Field and shortly after
midnight bulldozers begin to dig six huge “X” marks into the airstrip,
stranding 16 privately owned aircraft on the tarmac of an airport that will never
function again. Mike Daffenberg, an air
traffic controller at the airport, says he found out he was out of a job on his
way to the airport from DeKalb for his 6:00 a.m. shift. “I felt I was laid off by the radio this
morning,” he said. [Chicago Tribune, April 1, 2003] Mayor Richard M. Daley is
unapologetic, and the Tribune
observes, “Still stewing because federal authorities were quicker to restrict
airspace over Mickey and Minnie at Disney World and Disneyland than they were
for Chicago, Daley said his unilateral closure of Meigs was prompted in part by
fears that the nation’s homeland security bureaucracy was moving too slowly to
address the city’s needs.” A spokesman
for the Aircraft Pilots and Owners Association, Warren Morningstar, says, “We
have our version of shock and awe right tin downtown Chicago. What we really are upset about is that the
mayor has no honor, and his word has no value.”
March 31, 1890 -- The Chicago Daily Tribune reports that "The Accountant," a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn, will remain in Chicago on display at the Art Institute. The treasure comes by way of Chicago oil man P. C. Hanford, who purchased the painting, valued at the time at $60,000. "I did not want to see it go away from Chicago," said Hanford. "I was waiting for some of our rich people to buy it -- one of the men who could spend the money and not feel it. I am not rich, but I love art. I waited till the last moment. We are going to have a World's Fair here and anything that we can get hold of in the way of art we ought to keep here." [Chicago Daily Tribune, March 31, 1890] You won't find the painting at the Art Institute today. Mr. Hanford sold the work on January 31, 1902 for £4,600 or a little over $22,000.
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