The Blizzard of 1967

Categories: Historic Events, People, and Milestones

Tags: 1967 blizzard

By: Heidi Samuelson

Jan 26 2022

On January 26–27, 1967, Chicago experienced its worst snowstorm on record. The snow began at 5:02 a.m. on Thursday, January 26, and by 10:10 a.m. the next day, a record 23.0 inches of snowfall from a storm blanketed the city. High winds caused considerable blowing, with drifts of 4 to 6 feet widespread throughout the area.

Aerial view of cars stuck on Greenview Avenue in Rogers Park, Chicago, January 26, 1967; ST-17500889, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

Just two days before the storm, the high temperature was a record 65°F, and the low was 44°F. But on January 25, a cold front moved through the upper Midwest, replacing the balmy temperatures. Dew points in the 50s–60s over the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast states provided ample moisture, while high pressure centered over Lake Superior and southern Ontario kept cold dry air moving over the Great Lakes. That high pressure along with low pressure over the Ohio Valley caused winds to howl off Lake Michigan.

Cars covered with snow, view of Rosemont looking east from California
Cars covered with snow on Rosemont Ave. looking east from California Ave., January 1967; CHM, ICHi-035577, Howard B. Anderson, photographer

By noon, about 8 inches of snow was already on the ground, and O’Hare airport was shut down. Some schools and businesses released students and employees early, but the commute home was still treacherous. By Friday morning, Chicago was at a standstill—20,000 cars and 1,100 CTA buses were stranded. Helicopters delivered medical supplies to hospitals as well as food and blankets to stranded motorists. At least a dozen babies were born at home, though some expectant mothers were taken to hospitals by sled, bulldozer, and snowplow.

One man pushes a snowblower while two men pull with a rope to clean the sidewalk after the blizzard, January 1967; CHM, MDN-0000013

By January 28, Chicago had begun to dig itself out. Although CTA buses were operating most lines, abandoned vehicles hampered cleanup, and snow had to be hauled by dump truck to the Chicago River. Railcars of snow were even delivered to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, after 13-year-old Terri Hodson wrote a letter to the president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, having never seen snow before.

Snow being loaded into a refrigerated rail car by a bulldozer
Packing snow in a refrigerated rail car to send to Florida, February 20, 1967; ST-15002021-0012, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

O’Hare finally reopened around midnight on Monday, January 30, but most schools didn’t reopen until Tuesday. In the end, 60 people in the Chicago area died, and there was an estimated $150 million in business losses (equivalent to $1.19 billion today). The snowstorm was likely the biggest disruption to the commerce and transportation of Chicago of any event since the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

Digging out at Union Station, January 30, 1967; ST-11006892-0020, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM, Don Bierman, photographer

Commuters walk amid snow piles at Grand Avenue and State Street, February 2, 1967. ST-17100061-0002, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

A sign attached to a yardstick in the snow, February 5, 1967. ST-17101329-0003, Chicago Sun-Times collection, CHM

Additional Resources

In May 1967, Studs Terkel discussed the January snow-in with interviewees, who talked about how human interaction differs during a blizzard than on a clear day.
Don Bierman for the Chicago Sun-Times documented the crowd in Union Station in the days following the blizzard.
See more photographs of the aftermath of the blizzard at CHM Images.

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Sharon AvendanoJanuary 26, 2022 at 10:51 amI lived at Bryn Mawr and Kenmore at the time. My friend came over and we went out. We walked past the Edgewater Beach Hotel to the Outer Drive. We stood in the middle of the Drive and all we could see was snow and bumps in the snow where cars were buried. On the way back we passed a snow drift that was 15’ high covering a bus.

Kathy G.January 26, 2022 at 10:55 amDoes anyone remember the WFLD ‘Think Green’ promotional antenna ball to locate your car in the snow? They were so popular that car owner’s used them long after the storm to find their car in shopping mall parking lots.

Laura ZellJanuary 26, 2022 at 11:00 amWe lived in Burnham. Dad had to carry me home when school bus dropped me off at approximately 1/2 mile from home. My older brother was stranded at school. He slept on a church pew for three days. Mom got a call from local store about 1/2 mile away. There was a milk delivery truck stranded at the store and the store manager was calling families that had babies or kids under 3 yrs. to pick up what ever they could carry. The deep freezer in our basement was empty since Mom had purchased a half side of beef that she was to pick up on the day the storm started. She couldn’t get to the butcher before the storm hit, so we dug a tunnel in the snow drifts that went from our backdoor, over a fence, to our neighbors backdoor so that we could share food with the neighbor.

Laurie Anderson SchwartzJanuary 26, 2022 at 11:19 amI remember a huge snowstorm when I was about 9-10 years old (1967-68) and living in the suburbs of Detroit. Could this be the same snowstorm? We kids had a blast with all the snow (over my head!) but I’m sure it was a real headache for my agents!

Mary DolanJanuary 26, 2022 at 12:02 pmIt was one of the best “Snow Days” a kid could ask for!

Deborah DimaJanuary 26, 2022 at 12:14 pmI was a junior at Fenger High School. First time in my 11 years as a CPS student that the schools were closed.

Edward WinslowJanuary 26, 2022 at 12:57 pmThat snowstorm almost closed many hospitals. I was an intern at CCH on Neurosurgery those days. None of the residents or attending staff made it in. I was certainly frightened that someone might need N/S services. Fortunately patients couldn’t make it in either. I just had to “round” on patients in the ward and then talk to the Chief Resident, Luis Yarzagaray, and follow his recommendations. Fortunately no one died on our service those days.

Carl Richard GilmoreJanuary 26, 2022 at 01:06 pmDo I remember!? I had just returned from Okinawa and had not seen a snowflake for over a year!

Kevin P ClutterJanuary 26, 2022 at 02:17 pmI was a baby when the blizzard hit (I was born in 1964). We lived in Hammond, Indiana and we got slammed as well. I vaguely the deep snow and mother taking me outside while dad was shoveling out our front walk and I fell face down in a snowbank and having to be dug out.

Susan MeyerJanuary 26, 2022 at 06:59 pmWere the Burlington Northern commuter trains also not running on the 27th? I think I remember my father saying that they weren’t. He worked at Western Electric in Cicero and commuted to work from Western Springs on them. He did not go into work on the 27th. Took photos and shoveled out our driveway.

Carolyn CooperJanuary 26, 2022 at 07:15 pmWe lived in the Portage Park area. Remember the weatherman forecasted just a few inches of snow. Woke up the next morning there were snow drifts in our gangway up to the 2nd floor apartment. Walked to grade school for days in snow tunnels. People could only shovel one shovel width on the sidewalks. The snow was shoulder high on both sides of the sidewalk. Cars stuck on every street It was scary but fun!

Joe BeemsterJanuary 26, 2022 at 07:25 pmRemember it well. The drive home from the Midway Airport area to Roseland was terrible. I had to drop off two co-workers in Dalton. The two north streets, Indiana and Halsted were not moving. I remembered a side street and made it home. Some of our neighbors were taking in people who left their Autos on the Dan Ryan. Many on the Calumet Expressway stayed at the local Fire Station

MELVILLE WASHBURNJanuary 26, 2022 at 09:43 pmMy wife and I lived in Hyde Park that year, at 52d and Blackstone. That first morning, we set out to get some supplies at the grocery. We walked out of the front door of our building to confront a wall of snow five feet high. We got on top of the snow and walked south on Blackstone. We could see the roofs of the cars along the curb just peeking out of the snow.

Dan CampionJanuary 26, 2022 at 10:12 pmI was a freshman at the University of Chicago in 1967, living with my parents on the far West Side and commuting to Hyde Park for classes. I had a Bio lab in the old Stage Field labs early on the Saturday morning after the storm. It was too early to phone campus to find out if classes were on, and I dutifully rose early, rode the Lake Street El downtown, took the Illinois Central train to Hyde Park, trudged through the drifts, and arrived at the outside door, only to see a Scotch-taped sign notifying me the lab had been canceled. Reflecting that I should’ve been sensible enough to have stayed home, I simply turned around and returned there–though not without doubts that I had the right stuff to get me through the College. It’s an open question whether it was just the plain doggedness I showed on that after-the-Big-Snow morning that accounted for my getting my U of C degree in the spring of ’70.

Bev RoseJanuary 26, 2022 at 11:04 pmI remembered it well. My mother-in-law got snowed in and stayed 5 days teaching us a card game called Kaluki. My husband went to the store with a sled to pull back some groceries. It was an experience not to be forgotten.

Alyce LangbeinJanuary 26, 2022 at 11:11 pmMy best friend lived on Cornelia at the Addison ramp to the Kennedy expressway. Cars were stalled all over the Kennedy in both directions, but the ramp was clear. It made the best sledding hill!

Ronnie Jo SokolJanuary 27, 2022 at 08:15 amMy sister was caught on a train returning to the University of Michigan and had a several hour wait before she was able to reach school. We lived in the suburbs and people could not use their cars, so they went to the grocery story with sleds. My father was able to walk to the train to go to his downtown office. Students enjoyed the time off from school until we could be plowed; in those days, we almost never had a school day canceled. If one was not inconvenienced, it was a gorgeous scene!

Daniel KellyJanuary 28, 2022 at 01:02 pmI was 10 years old growing up in Wilmette at the time. It took me 4 1/2 hours to shovel the sidewalks @ our house. I pulled my 3 year old brother on a sled walking beside my mother in the middle of the street as we went to and from the Jewel grocery store @ 4th & Linden. That store closed the next year after the Plaza Del Lago store opened. Great memories of sledding down “suicide” hill @ the Wilmette Beach right after the storm.

LeoFromLakeviewJanuary 28, 2022 at 01:17 pmYup, family including us kids was taking the bus home (151 Sheridan) from downtown. Seemed like a hundred years to plow through the growing mess. Over and over again we pleaded with Mommy to let us get out and walk. She finally had enough and let us go — but only when we reached Diversey which was only a couple blocks from where we lived (Barry Ave). Nevertheless we got home way before Mommy who continued on the bus.

RayJanuary 28, 2022 at 05:23 pmIn Dolton they let us out of Vanderbilt School 2nd grade way to late. I could barely walk the snow was so high. I walked beside a crying little girl who had lost her shoe in the snow. I made it to Dante Ave 1/2 mile away. I looked down that long street & saw an elderly neighborGus Giometti, friend of my Dads’, waving at me. I remember lifting my arm & falling forward. I passed out. Next thing I knew I was being carried & it was great! My mom opened our front door & Gus yelled, “Got a package for you!” “OMG!! , My Mom said, “I should have never let you go to school! “….ya think?!?!?

DannyJanuary 30, 2022 at 06:17 pmI was born on February 1 1967 they took my mom to the hospital in a police car on January 27 because my grandparents were afraid I would be born at home and they had no experience at that we lived at 69 th and wood street in Chicago

Harry RandellFebruary 1, 2022 at 05:21 amI was 16 years old and my grandma was a patient at St Joseph Hospital. She passed away on February 2 and couldn’t be buried for a week because the roads leading to the cemetery were blocked. It was a horrible time for my family

Dorothy PirovanoFebruary 2, 2022 at 04:12 pmMy husband, 3 year-old son and I (pregnant with #2) had to move that weekend from our apartment at Touhy and Damen in Rogers Park to a duplex in Des Plaines and were distraught when the snow kept coming down. Our movers – two guys with their own little company – arrived right on time on Saturday morning, shoveling their way to our building from the snow-piled corner, carried our things from our third-floor walk-up downstairs and loaded the truck. We followed them in our car to Des Plaines and our home. They shoveled a path to the front door, unladed our things – even taking their boots off when they got inside. They quoted the move at $100 earlier and stuck to their price. All we had to our name was the $100 and a $10 bill, which we gave them as a thank you. We recommended them to anyone we knew would be moving and sure hope they succeeded in their business.

VinceFebruary 2, 2022 at 11:30 pmI was born January 30, 1967 and the same thing happened to my mother as Danny’s mom she had to be taken to the hospital by a police vehicle. I am always reminded of this incredible snow accumulation every year. Chicago is a prepared city for such a snow event. I have read some incredible stories of the mega snow fall of 1967!!!

KarenFebruary 4, 2022 at 06:37 amSnow drifts were up to the roof of our brick ranch in Park Ridge. The bus dropped us off @ Maine South in the morning only to find it closed. My friends & I trudged back home on foot which seemed to take hours! Mom & Dad were able to make it home from work in time as cars were abandoned everywhere. People skiing down the streets, pulling sleds, helping neighbors: our chance to see what life was like in a different era.

Kathe LoveFebruary 4, 2022 at 07:15 amIt’s a story I tell my kids and grandkids about. Wadsworth Elementary, Griffith IN, decided to let all the kids out in the middle of the blizzard. Basically just open the door and said get home fast. I was only seven and too afraid to go out in a blizzard. My brother’s took off without me, and I knew I would be in trouble when I got home for not being with them. So the principal of the school called my mom and told her to come up and pick me up. We had one car and my dad had it at work. We just lived a few blocks away but she was so mad when she walked up to the school, stuck her head in the door and said come on. But she kept disappearing into the blizzard right in front of my eyes so I would turn and run back to the school. She finally stomped into the school grabbed the top of my hat and dragged me along behind her. I tried keeping up with her but the snow was so deep there was no way. She kept saying follow in my footsteps but those footsteps were about up to my waist. Every time I watch Polar Express, when the man’s on top of the train, I think of Griffith Indiana.

MargaretFebruary 4, 2022 at 01:20 pmI was in 8th grade in Park Forest and the school closed early, which never happened. I remember the snow being so deep walking home from the bus stop, that I had to lift my legs out, one at a time, to take another step. The snow and wind drifts kept our backdoor from opening and my brother had to dig a tunnel for us to get out! Other kids were jumping off their second story roofs and landing in snow! The streets were closed and used for sledding! What an experience!

Linda DouvilleFebruary 6, 2022 at 02:22 pmI was a nursing student at Roseland Community Hospital in my second year of training. It was an incredible learning experience for me since there was a shortage of staff. I performed front table 7 hour assistance none stop for an MD and patient needing a Carotid Endarterectomy. I was exhausted however gained great confidence having had done it. I was 18. Now a masters level RN for 53years

SandraFebruary 6, 2022 at 05:34 pmLived right next to the Kennedy expressway and we were walking out in the middle of it through the snow. No traffic. Very cool experience, no pun.

Eileen J. RichardsFebruary 27, 2022 at 12:29 pmWe lived in Park Forest and worked downtown at Esquire Magazine on East South Water. I and a friend from work took the last Illinois Central train to make it through to the Matteson end-of-the-line stop. Stayed two days at her place before trudging two miles to ou townhouse. Remember lots of community shoveling and cheers when lifeline roads were connected so side roads were passable. I delivered one of the six blizzard babies in our block that October.

AlMay 20, 2022 at 01:16 pmSomeone that I know was climbing and jumping from one snowdrift buried car to the next, until he fell through into one of them. It turned out to be a snow-buried convertible parked along Lawndale near Cortland. When the owner discovered it, he probably thought the weight of the snow had done it.

charles lampkinAugust 17, 2022 at 07:12 pmI was 5 years old living on 63th in Ellis

Linda ClairyAugust 18, 2022 at 03:38 pmWe lived in Oak Forest at the time. My dad went out and bought two snowmobiles so we could get groceries for people in the neighborhood who were stranded. I was 11 years old at the time. I just remember, as kids, we had so much fun playing in the snow and riding the snowmobile. My dad would tow us behind the snowmobile on sleds. Best winter of my life!

Mary FarleySeptember 1, 2022 at 03:54 pmWe lived in Lombard on St. Charles road. I was 10 yrs old and somehow me, my 8 yr old brother and toddler sister Patty were home alone. Both parents stuck at work for almost 2 days. My Uncle Don who lived blocks away from us had to trudge through the snow and carry us and the baby back to his house. We had a blast staying at my cousin’s. It’s a very fun memory

BonnieNovember 21, 2022 at 08:43 amI was in 2nd grade and the principal said everyone is to go home. I walked 1 mile to school😂I had all the great ideas so I brought about 8 of the kids to my house! My mom was never so mad. She didn’t have parents numbers, some never knew their numbers and the parents had No idea where the kids went! Dads were getting off work early later to find my house. I remember sitting in our den watching cartoons with all my friends🙌

Chuck KnightNovember 21, 2022 at 02:58 pmI was 12 years old when the blizzard of ’67 happened. I remember the temperature before the snowstorm was a record 65 degrees with tornado watches out for all of Chicago land. I woke up to go to junior high in about 12 inches of snow. They closed school at noon and sent us home for three days. I also recall this was the only time the Chicago post office was closed in its history.

John KornfeindJanuary 26, 2023 at 03:01 pmI went to bed the night before hoping snow would cancel school. We were in Morton Grove. I woke up and looked at our back yard while it was still dark and saw huge flakes beginning to turn the dark yard white. Sadly for us the buses were running and we got to school. It couldn’t have been long before the announcement was made, School was letting out early! This was about noon. The bus left us off a block past our regular stop but right at the end of our street. It was a challenge to negotiate the half block home. Dad was working in Skokie and must have gotten home early. The next day we took a sled to the Dominicks store. We earned money shoveling for neighbors. My dad took a minute or so of movie film of our car, playing in the snow, and from the second story of me climbing a snowdrift that reached close to our neighbors’ garage roof! We had a lot of stories to share with our friends on Tuesday when we had classes once again.

Carole EspositoMarch 18, 2023 at 10:18 amWe lived in Lisle. I was in 7th grade and remember being scared about my dad getting home from work (he worked at the Alcoa Plant on Mannheim Rd). But he did get home and for the next few days we all had a great time together. My mom took me and one of the sleds to walk into town for bread and milk — we took that walk down the middle of Ogden Ave for there was nary a car on the road! Great memories although I still remember that fear!

Dave D.June 6, 2023 at 11:37 amI lived in North Elmhurst. I was at school, in the 6th grade, at the old Churchville Junior High School on Church Rd. It was pretty much rural back then. We went to school as if it was just another snowy day but before noon they put us all back on the bus and drove us home. Barely made it! My dad had to walk miles to get home from where his car got stuck, several miles through the drifts. He walked in the door at about 6 pm after he had been let off work around 1 pm. Didn’t have to go back to school until the following Tuesday. It was glorious! 😊

Sandy (Gilbert) GronauAugust 11, 2023 at 09:30 amI was 13 on margate terrace, 1 block from Lincoln Park. Had a picture in newspaper of my friend jumping out of second floor window. My best friend got stuck in alley between my street and hers. We had to shovel her out before she could move. It was magical.

CHRISTOPHER J LEMM SRJanuary 26, 2025 at 05:54 amwhat a snowstorm, I remember walking down the Eisenhour expressway with my buddy Greg, hundreds of abandoned cars completely buried were under our feet as we walked, antenna's sticking up threw the snow would cause us to trip and fall, one of our buddies living in the apartments on Bellwood avenue was jumping off the roof of his three story building into drifts that were over twelve feet tall. CTA buses were left running, we jumped into the driver's seat put them in gear and spun the tires, we were a bunch of goofy teenagers having a ball.

Darlene stoinskiJanuary 26, 2025 at 07:20 amI lived in the trailor park in melrose park 46th street, and lake street, i was 10 years old, there was silence everywhere no cars no noise, it was so erie, there were anings on some trailors that were colapesing, our family walked in the middle of lake street, it was fun and then again not because no stores were open, no work or school was in, but i will never forget it!

Bob MillerJanuary 26, 2025 at 01:40 pmLong story. Was a student at the Circle and commuted from the South Side in a '64 Buick Special. Parents told me to stay there - but - I was much smarter. I dug myself out of the parking lot, and promptly got stuck in front of University Hall. UI employees dug me out - and undeterred my friend and I started out drive home. Listening to the radio, I picked State Street as my corridor out of the city. Hours later, still on State Street, running out of gas, sitting in a cold car because we didn't want to run down the battery - the car died - in the street. Again, thinking very clearly we got out of the car, locked it, and started walking. We walked to the "L" station on 22nd street and got on a "B" train to Jackson Park.... Freezing, no place to stay warm there, we spent the night there and watched the sunrise. A CTA bus eventually appeared and we - We got on because it was warm. Took the bus to I think - not sure - 83rd street and walked to my home on 91st street and Luella. I learned that day/evening and the next day that I wasn't all that smart - and had to acknowledge my parents were smarter than me.

Teresa BogutaJanuary 30, 2025 at 06:07 amwas a junior downstate at the University of Illinois in Urbana. It was an unusually balmy day in January. January 25th, the day before D-Day, the great snow Disaster in Chicago, Students were out on the quad playing frisbee wearing shorts in the warm spring like weather. The mood on campus was gay and carefree as finals had just ended and semester break was in progress. I hurried past the frat boys on the lawn to my dorm to finish packing. My train, the City of New Orleans, was scheduled to stop in town for students like me heading home to Chicago. The next day it was overcast and much colder when I boarded the train for the 3 hour ride. I was looking forward to mom’s cooking, especially my favorate- potatoe pancakes with sour cream hot off the griddle. Mom would fry as many as I could eat, and that was a lot for a skinny 20 year-old who could eat a horse and not gain a pound. Snowflakes where falling throughout the afternoon ride. By the time we pulled into the Illinois Central station at the end of the line the snow had turned into a full-blown blizzard. Fortunately for me I did not have far to walk for the next leg of the trip. I had to battle the vicious wind off the lake for only two blocks. The red line CTA train station was right there. Up the steep stairs and jump into the first traincar to arrive, safe and warm out of the storm. We headed downtown. I was a hardened chicagoan having weathered countless storms since childhood. Bundled up in coat, hat, scarf, gloves, this intrepid midwesterner was ready for combat. Little did I know what lay ahead. The red line soon left the overhead tracks and descended into the subway portion. I had not bothered to look out the window mainly watching for my transfer point. A few minutes later I had disembarked from the red line, crossed the tunnel under state street and arrived at the green line station to catch the Douglas train to Cicero. It was by now rush hour and the trains were crowded. In fact it seemed more packed with passengers than usual. Luckily I managed to grab the last seat as we pulled out. Last leg of the trip, hurrah. I was beat, the stress of finals was begining to catch up with me. Closed my eyes for a few minutes lulled by the rythmic rattle of the wheels on the steel tracks. When the train jerked to a stop at Western avenue my eyes flew open. I started to look at the street below.The storm had worked itself into a rage, white out conditions had started. In the faint light of streetlamps blurred by the snow I could see an unusual sight. It seemed no vehicles were moving. In fact the lanes of cars where oddly configured. Instead of neat parallel rows of cars I saw a Jigsaw helter skelter pattern. Buses and trucks where bunched up in uneven batches. Dozens of cars where standing diagnolly across the roadway. Figures of men could be seen pushing cars to no avail. There was a stream of folks abandoning a bus and Heading out stalwarthly through the drifts. At all the subsequent stations the intersections were in the same sorry state. I began to comprehend the severity of the storm. Never had I seen anything like it. Upon reaching my home station at Cicero avenue I braced myself for an epic trudge. My parents house was fairly close by. In good weather the 3 block walk from 21st to 24th was an easy 10 minutes. Not so, not so on this historic night in the city where half the commuters did not make it home that evening. The hotels, motels, restaurants and bars where full of exhausted and frustrated travelers. I struggled to walk home whiplashed by an icy wind while pushing through the snow drifts. The sidewalks had dissapered and only a slightly more navigable path could be seen in the street where a car had made it through. I think it took a good half hour to reach home. Arrived at the house looking like the abominable snowman . Struggling up the porch stairs draging my suitcase I rang the doorbell. My mom answered and upon seeing me shouted my name with such joy and gusto I almost fell over backwards. You’d think I had come back from the dead. Well almost, according to dad. My poor parents had waited for me in great anxiety all evening long. They had been watching with increasing alarm the news reports about the blizzard and all the helpless stranded travelers. Calling home to reassure them of my safety while traveling was just not in the cards. This was before the cell phone era. Public pbone booths were not always available, correct change had to be in hand, and it was understood that they were for dire emergencies only. I did not recognize that I was in a dire emergency, that I was caught up in a city-wide disaster. I proceeded blightly foreward ignorant of the unfortunate citizens derailed by the weather. I was one of the fortunate few who could travel home safely on the elevated tracks above the fray on the ground. So I had soldiered on, struggling yes but undaunted or afraid with home in sight. At last safe and warm in mom’s kitchen I heard about the terrible havoc wreaked by the storm and the perils I had avoided. The blizzard raged on. The city came to a dead stop for three days. It took weeks for the city crews to clear the streets and alleys. People could not find their cars burried under 10 foot snow mountains pushed up by snowplows. The kids were in heaven. The adults were in hell. Neighborhood men joined up to dig out their streets. The citizens were enraged. But the “Boss”, the mayor Richard J. Daley, with the reins of a vast political machine in his hands, knew how to make Chicago work and set the wheels churning in due course. Ten years later, after another historic storm paralized the city, the outcome was different .The sitting mayor was booted out of office and replaced by a fresh faced reformer. Bilandic was out, Jane Byrne was in. In 1967, I did not care one way or another. We ciceronians were an independant township with our own mayor, our own political machine, our own style of corruption that could trace its roots to famous as well as infamous figures such as Al Capone. But that is another story. I spent a tranquil two weeks at home gobbling potatoe pancakes, borscht and sausage. No tests no homework just the pure bliss of full Immersion in my favorite Dostoyevski novels. Mom spoiled me and I was happy, enjoying the last days of carefree childhood before adult reality unveiled its stern and unforgiving face.

John JohnsonApril 5, 2025 at 09:30 pmI remember this in 1967, we thought it might be fun jumping from apartment building porches, I didn't realize that big pile of snow had a 1960 chevy underneath it, I was the sorest 6th grader at Spencer elementary after that.