Things to do / Travel Guide
- If you think Boston was the only city with baseball curse, think again. Chicago is the only city in the United States with a Billy Goat curse. During game four of the 1945 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs, tavern owner Vasili “Billy Goat” Sianis brought his pet goat to the game, and was quickly ejected from the stadium. Outside, he supposedly put a curse on the Cubs so they would never win a pennant or play in the World Series. While the curse has been “officially” lifted several times, the cubbies still can't seem to shake it!
- While we're at it, the Wrigley of Wrigley Field is the same as that of the chewing gum. William Wrigley, Jr. chewing gum magnate, bought the field in 1919.Built in 1914, it's the second-oldest still-functioning baseball stadium in the nation. When it was built it had a capacity for a measly 14,000 spectators - now, after renovations and expansions, the number is more than 40,000!
- Animals were also blamed for the start of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. The Chicago Tribune ran a story claiming the fire started in the barn of Catherine O'Leary by a cow that kicked over a lantern. The paper later admitted it made the story up in 1893. Other theories behind the fire are just as outrageous. One accuses Daniel “Peg-leg” Sullivan of knocking over a lantern while trying to steal milk. Another slightly more believable theory is that Biela's Comet broke up and rained over the Midwest, starting four other large fires that day. The world may never know what really happened, and “Peg-Leg” ain't talking
- Visitors to the site of the Fort Dearborn Massacre claim to have spotted figures dressed in early 1800's garb.
- Along the lines of creepy, and weird - the 1933 Worlds Fair came complete with its own “Midget Village.” The village was comprised of 60 “Lilliputians” or fictional small people from “Gulliver's Travels” by Jonathan Swift.
You can thank Chicago for a lot of life's simple pleasures: Roller skates rolled onto the scene in 1884; the delicious Hostess Twinkie, with its amazing shelf life, came around in 1930; daytime soap operas were dramatically brought to television in 1949 with a series called “These are my Children”- it lasted less than a month.
If the bridge in 2005's Batman Returns looks dimly Chicagoan, it should - it's Chicago's own Franklin Street Bridge. Built in 1919, it connects the North End to the Loop. In the movie, it's the bridge that connects the Narrows to Gotham City.
Milwaukee played a vital role in getting the United States drunk, legally, after Prohibition ended. On January 1st, 1934, at 12:01 a.m. the moment Prohibition was officially repealed, Beer City shipped out 15 million bottles of beer! No one is quite sure how they legally made it, but we're pretty sure no one cared.
Racine, Wisconsin's women's baseball league, the Racine Belles, was featured in the movie “A League of Their Own.”
Racine is also the city that invented the garbage disposal.
Chicago loves a good television series almost as much as a deep dish pizza: “Chicago Hope,” “ER,” “Perfect Strangers,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” “According to Jim,” “Family Matters,” and “Married with Children” all were set in Chicago.
Don't forget “Laverne and Shirley” and “Happy Days” in Milwaukee.
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