Chicago’s crazy tradition of DIBS!

Born out of sweat equity, DIBS has been debated for years. After a heavy snow and when after people have shoveled out their parking space, this unique Chicago custom kicks in. In Chicago. During the summer months we never give dibs a thought.

But once winter brings us inches of white stuff, dibs becomes the fervent desire to claim extended rights to a parking space that you just laboriously cleared out for oneself. After all that hard work the dibber calls “dibs” and believes that they have rightfully earned the spot for their exclusive use.

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THE WHEEL AND A CEMETERY NEARBY

 

Chicago History in Pictures 1895It is well known that George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., 1859-1896 a structural and civil engineer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, built the colossal Chicago Wheel for Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. What is not as well known is where the huge wheel reappeared after the fair had ended.

The fair wanted a landmark, something daring, and unique. They wanted something that would surpass the Eiffel tower which was built in 1889. Ferris’s enormous vertical structure served their purpose, which rotated around a massive center axle weighing 71 tons, and featured 36 gondolas capable of holding up to 60 people each—for a total capacity of 2,160 people. It carried some 38,000 people daily who each paid 50-cents for a 20-minute ride. Some 2.5 million people rode the wheel before it moved to a quiet northside Chicago neighborhood.

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61 years ago -December 1, 1958

There are no words to describe the horror of the Chicago’s worst  school fire. We should never forget the 92 children and 3 nuns who perished in this awful disaster.  So  with all due respect to their memory,  I offer a link to my  post a year ago.Sized_FrontPg

https://chicagoandcookcountycemeteries.com/2018/11/30/never-witnessed-a-sight-so-terrible/

 

 

Mac & Cheese and a Farm Cemetery

 

 

Thanksgiving is our special time to give thanks for all we have and enjoy turkey dinner with friends and family. But today I connect that popular blue and yellow box of mac and cheese to the story of a Chicago area cemetery. Continue reading “Mac & Cheese and a Farm Cemetery”