Login
Today in Chicago History: John Wayne Gacy arrested in suspected deaths of 33 boys and young men
Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Dec. 21, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 62 degrees (1967)
- Low temperature: Minus 14 degrees (1989)
- Precipitation: 1.81 inches (1949)
- Snowfall: 3.6 inches (1983)
1910: Aaron Montgomery Ward won a lengthy court battle to keep Chicago’s lakefront “forever open, clear, and free of any buildings, or any obstruction whatsoever.” The Illinois Supreme Court ruled the Field Museum could not be built in or adjacent to Grant Park.
Ward forced the city to create and maintain the now more than 300-acre Grant Park and won legal recognition of citizens’ rights to have a say about the city’s parks.
The debate about the lakefront did not end, however, with Ward’s court victory. A large water-filtration plant next to Navy Pier, the soaring Lake Point Tower residential building, and the McCormick Place exhibition hall were built over the objections of lakefront preservationists. Grant Park, however, fulfilled Ward’s hopes and became the city’s front yard.
1937: Chicago Blackhawks forward Paul Thompson scored a goal against his brother Cecil Thompson — Boston Bruins goalie — during the Bruins’ 2-1 win on the road at Boston Garden. It was the first time in NHL history one brother scored on another.
1939: The University of Chicago announced it would stop playing football.
“The university believes in athletics and in a comprehensive program of physical education for all students,” the school’s board of trustees said in a statement. “It believes its particular interests and conditions are such that its students now derive no special benefit from intercollegiate football.”
1941: The Chicago Bears topped the New York Giants 37–9 in the NFL title game at Wrigley Field for the team’s fifth championship.
The Bears’ 37th and final point was scored on a drop kick from Ray “Scooter” McLean. It would be the last time a drop kick was used successfully in the NFL until Jan. 1, 2006. That’s when New England Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie — in his final NFL game — converted a point-after-touchdown by drop kick against the Miami Dolphins. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the drop kick remains a legal maneuver in the NFL.
1960: Chicago Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley announced his team henceforth would be a ‘‘college of coaches” comprised of eight men: Rip Collins, Charlie Grimm, Elvin Tappe, Goldie Holt, Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, Bobby Adams and Rube Walker. The college, with a few changes, ruled for five seasons.
“Now, about the word ‘manager,’” Wrigley said as he addressed the team’s annual press luncheon in January 1961. “I looked it up and the pure definition is ‘dictator.’” (Tribune editors balked at this explanation.)
1978: John Wayne Gacy was arrested in the suspected murders of 33 young men and boys.
Police were told Gacy had already admitted to his lawyer that he committed “maybe 30” murders.
With Gacy in custody, Des Plaines police and Cook County sheriff’s office investigators obtained a warrant and entered Gacy’s one-story, ranch-style house in unincorporated Norwood Park Township. They uncovered the first of 29 bodies buried on Gacy’s property — 26 in the crawl space under his home and three more outside the house. Gacy confessed to four more murders of victims, whose bodies were found in waterways south of Chicago.
Gacy was convicted in 1980 of killing 33 young men and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection May 10, 1994.
2023: Former Ald. Edward Burke — the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history — was convicted by a federal jury of racketeering conspiracy and a dozen other counts for using the clout of his elected office to win private law business from developers. Deciding against running for reelection, he stepped down from office in May 2023.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced Burke to two years in prison — eight years less than the 10-year term that prosecutors originally sought — and fined him $2 million. Less than 10 months after reporting to federal prison, Burke was released in July 2025 to spend the rest of his sentence in the Chicago area, according to federal officials.
Want more vintage Chicago?
Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago’s past.
Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com
