1. In 1925, the Chicago Bears played their first NFL game at Wrigley Field. The Bears defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-0 in front of 12,000 fans.

2. In 1952, the first skyscraper in the world equipped with double-decker elevators was opened in Chicago. The Prudential Building, which stands at 41 stories, was the first building to have double-decker elevators that could carry up to 16 people.

3. In 1986, a fire at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago claimed the lives of 61 people and injured over 100 others. Despite the tragedy, many acts of heroism were reported as hotel staff and firefighters worked tirelessly to rescue guests from the burning building.

4. In 1999, Illinois governor George Ryan declared a moratorium on the state's death penalty, citing concerns about the fairness of the system. The moratorium lasted until 2011, when Illinois abolished the death penalty altogether.

5. In 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to build a new basketball arena for DePaul University in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. The arena, which is scheduled to open in 2017, will seat 10,000 fans and provide a new home for DePaul's men's and women's basketball teams.