The Chicago Tribune has started a series on the 7 blunders of Chicago. They define "blunder" as "a mistake of consequence typically caused by ignorance or confusion. It's a gaffe, a goof, a bumble, a bungle, a botch." I have a hard time with those list of synonyms as indicating a "mistake of consequence." Thoughts?

What 7 blunders can you come up with outside of Chicago? the first in the series was the Chicago Tribune's own headline in the November 3, 1948 newspaper, "Dewey Defeats Truman."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

I don't know about seven of 'em, but I think that one very large blunder of our Founding Fathers was not listening to Ben Franklin when he came back from France and said, "Hey, they've got a really neat system of weights and measures in France, and since we're kicking off the traces of England..."
NOT using the metric system has cost this country dearly in international trade, and cost us at least one failed scientific space mission.

I suppose to appreciate these, you have to know Chicago. However, blunder #2 is another goodie. In 1979, Chicago banned street traffic on what had been the city's main shopping thoroughfare since Potter Palmer a century earlier had developed the street following the Great Chicago Fire. They were following the trend of urban malls that had taken place in other cities. They widened the sidewalks and narrowed the streets to prepare for the anticipated "throngs" of people. The project cost $17 M...but it was a big failure. Cutting off State Street meant that when all the offices closed for the day, the area was deserted.

Therefore, in 1996, costing $24.5 M this time, they opened State Street to traffic again, widened the streets and narrowed the sidewalks. It's back the way it was, only costing them $41.5 M.

Blunder #3 was the great Chicago flood. On April 12, 1992, the Chicago River hemorrhaged 550 gallons a minute into Chicago's tunnels that were built in 1889, but abandoned in 1957. Electricity across downtown was cut. Sections of the subway were closed and would remain so for weeks. The city's financial district was crippled as the Board of Trade, Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange all shut down. Loop offices emptied. Fish swam in the basement of Marshall Field's. There were multiple screw-ups leading to the flood, which cost the $800 million in damage and lost business.

Blunder #4 is probably the most memorable...the Chicago fire of October 8, 1871, which we have discussed here. It was urban legend that the fire was from a kerosene lamp being knocked over by a cow. Instead it was from a fast-growing city that was built mostly of wood, including the buildings, the roofs, and downtown streets that were lined with pine planks. Besides that, there had been a drought where only an inch of rain had fallen in the previous 3 months.

The drought and the fast-growing city of wooden buildings couldn't have started the fire. They may have exacerbated it, but there had to be an ignition source. If the lantern didn't start the fire, what did?

Tinman

Tinman, after I posted this last night, I just knew someone would point that out! I will have to find out because now I am no longer sure. I just know that the lantern story is no longer considered to be correct. I think Shu knows, so I will jiggle his elbow. Thanks for keeping me honest!

Blunder #5 is the politics of snow, or getting 'Bilandic-ed.' December 31, 1979, we got 9 inches of snow. I remember it well because we had a New Year's Eve party that night. Then on January 12th, we received 20.3 more inches of snow, giving Chicago an accumulation of nearly 30 inches of snow. The mayor at the time, Michael Bilandic, blundered terribly in trying to get the city to work again. For example, he issued a list of 100 snow-cleared school lots for Chicagoans to move their cars to so that the streets could be plowed, but when people got to the lots, they were filled with snow. The Chicago Tribune apparently wrote what they called an "uncharacteristically snide" headline that said, "Bilandic Said You Should Park Here" along with a photo of a lot with waist deep snow. It went downhill from there. The police were ordered to have parked cars towed so that the streets could be plowed. When the mayor was asked about the sick, elderly or handicapped, he said that they could "tell it to the judge." Chicagoans were so enraged about Bilandic's dismissiveness that they voted him out of office in the February 27 election. The Tribune says that Bilandic's defeat is said to have marked the end of the once all-powerful Democratic Machine. Certainly subsequent administrations have been much better with snow removal...hoping to avoid being 'Bilandic-ed.'

quote:

If the lantern didn't start the fire, what did?

Embers from Peshtigo?

The Great Chicago Fire started in the outbuilding behind the O'Leary home, but no one knows the cause. On theory is that some young gentleman were conducting a dice game there, and had an incident which started the fire.

The attribution to Mrs. O'Leary and her cow stems from ditty of the time. The supposed story is that the fire was lit by an accident when she came into the building to get some milk. Frankly, I doubt it. With her own residence in front, she would surely taken immediate steps and promptly called for help if she were present when and where the fire started.

By the way, the site where the fire started is now occupied by a fire station, and has absolutely no memorial of the fire.

Thanks, Shu! By the way, what is an "outbuilding?" It's not an outhouse, right? Is it a barn? Or a tool shed?

The sixth Chicago blunder I have difficulty with. They talk of architectural blunders, both of tearing down historically important buildings and in some egregious new buildings. The former I agree with, and they include tearing down the Pullman mansion on the South Side, the Edgewater Beach Hotel on the North Side, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the rail station at Harrison and Wells downtown. However, their discussion about blunders in new buildings misses a big one. They talk about the new Soldier Field, which is a mix of classical and modern, and most people don't like it (though I do). Here is a picture of Soldier Field, and here is another. They also talked about the the devastation of the city's neighborhoods by bad residential structures tossed up to take advantage of the real estate boom. I can understand both of those discussions. But they missed the most egregious building in the state of Illinois...The State of Illinois building (or the Thompson Center), built by then-governor Jim Thompson, an egotistical, arrogant fool who wanted the "best." Well, it is not only the ugliest building around (red, white and blue!), but it also is very impractical because much of the inside is just space, as you can see here (click the image on the far right of the top row.)

quote:

Originally posted by shufitz:
The Great Chicago Fire started in the outbuilding behind the O'Leary home, but no one knows the cause. On theory is that some young gentleman were conducting a dice game there, and had an incident which started the fire.

The attribution to Mrs. O'Leary and her cow stems from ditty of the time. The supposed story is that the fire was lit by an accident when she came into the building to get some milk. Frankly, I doubt it. With her own residence in front, she would surely taken immediate steps and promptly called for help if she were present when and where the fire started.

By the way, the site where the fire started is now occupied by a fire station, and has absolutely no memorial of the fire.

What is this claptrap? More revisionist history? Do they know for sure the fire wasn't started by the cow? Was the outbuilding possibly a barn?

Even if she had been in the barn and seen the fire start, it is doubtful she could have done much about it. The wooden barn (and the hay) would have been extremely dry, especially after a 3-month drought, and the fire would have been out of control in seconds.

An outbuilding, Kalleh, is any building outside of the main building. It could be a barn, a shed, an outhouse, or a chicken coop.

Next you'll be telling me that George Washington didn't really chop down that cherry tree!

Tinman

quote:

Next you'll be telling me that George Washington didn't really chop down that cherry tree!

Or it's not true that he never lied ;-)

As I read your Blunder #2 description, Kalleh, an idea got ignited in my mind.
Your paragraph is not a gaffe, a goof, a bumble, a bungle, or a botch. It's an inspiration.

How about a linguistic exercise where we change the pronouns so that your description becomes:
We were following the trend of urban malls that had taken place in other cities. We widened the sidewalks and narrowed the streets to prepare for the anticipated "throngs" of people. ...

... Therefore, in 1996, costing $24.5 M this time, we opened State Street to traffic again, widened the streets and narrowed the sidewalks. It's back the way it was, only costing us $41.5 M.

Jerry, I lived in the suburbs at that time and therefore one could say it was "they." Yet, I do have Chicago in my location byline here, so I see your point!

BTW, I am the queen of blunders, linguistically speaking.

Blunder #7 is so disappointing that I am thinking of writing them. With all the blunders in this fair city, they pick a sports one? While those who live across the pond may not remember Chicago's biggest political blunder, surely most Americans do. How in the world could they miss the 1968 Democratic Convention? The city was unable to control the melee that occurred. I didn't live here then, and besides I am much too young to remember it, but it is not a proud time in Chicago's history. Here is a fair, I think, chronology of the events. Those were amazing times.

Instead the Tribune posts the 1964 trade of Lou Brock to the St. Louis Cardinals. Yes, it turned out to be a stupid trade, though I won't bore you with the details. But...that's one of Chicago's 7 major blunders? Geez!