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 Two passengers, a mechanic and 10 employees of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank died when the dirigible Winged Foot Express burned and fell through the skylight of the bank on July 21, 1919. The craft had been conveying passengers between Grant Park and the White City Amusement Park on the South Side, when it caught fire at an altitude of 1,200 feet.
The pilot and chief mechanic parachuted to safety. Another passenger parachuted, broke both legs and died later. The other occupants of the balloon descended with the craft to their deaths. The City Council immediately proposed regulations banning the flying of flammable gas balloons over the populated parts of the city.
Photograph: Beautiful Dirigible in Grant park prior to its death trip.
      
Photo Credit: Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. The Columns [special memorial issue July 1919 Dirigible crash] |
| Prior to 1850 |
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1812: Fort Dearborn Massacre
1837-41, 1857-58: Financial Panics
1849-1855, 1866-67: Early Cholera Epidemics
19th and Early 20th Century: Other Epidemic Diseases
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| 1850 to 1899 |
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1855, March-April: Lager Beer Riots
1863, November 3: Rush Street Bridge Collapse
1861-65: Civil War (The Great Rebellion)
1871, October 8-10: Great Chicago Fire
1886, May 4: Haymarket Tragedy
1890-1894: "H. H. Holmes", Serial Killer
1893: Death of Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr.
1894: Pullman Strike
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| 1900 to 1949 |
1903, December 30: Iroquois Theater Fire
1909, January 20: Dunne (at 68th St) Water Crib Fire
1910, December 22-23: Chicago Stock Yards Fire
1915, July 24: Sinking of the Eastland
1915, 1916: Heat Waves
1917-1918: World War I (The Great War)
1918-19: Influenza Epidemic
1919 July 21: Dirigible (Balloon) Crash
1919: Race Riots
1929, February 14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
1933: Death of Mayor Anton Cermak
1937, May 30: Memorial Day Incident, Strikers Killed at Republic Steel
1941-45: World War II
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| 1950 to 2000 |
1950, May 25: Green Hornet Accident, Streetcar Collision with Gasoline Tanker
1955: Heat Wave
1958: Our Lady of Angels School Fire
1961, 1967: Tornados
1966-1977: Riots
1966: Homicide Epidemic Onset
1967, January 16: McCormick Place Fire
1967: Major Snow Storm
1968: Disturbances at the Democratic National Convention
1972, October 30: Illinois Central Gulf Commuter Train Crash
1972, December 8: Crash of United Flight 553 at Midway
1976, January 30: Wincrest Nursing Home Fire
1976: Death of Mayor Richard J. Daley
1977, February 4: El Crash
1979: Major Snowstorm
1979, May 25: American Airlines Flight 191
1981: AIDS Epidemic Onset
1987, November 25: Death Of Mayor Harold Washington
1992, April 13: Freight Tunnel Flood
1995: Heat Wave
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