Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Sept. 3, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

High temperature: 97 degrees (1953)
Low temperature: 47 degrees (1974)
Precipitation: 1.92 inches (1961)
Snowfall: None

Charles Dvorak pole vaults at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis. (Missouri Historical Society)

1904: Chicago Athletic Association’s Charles Dvorak traveled to France for the 1900 Summer Olympics — but failed to win a gold medal. The pole vault competition, as he understood it, was supposed to take place on a Sunday.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: Summer Olympians from the area who won gold

Since this would have violated the Sabbath, he was told the event would be rescheduled. According to the University of Michigan, however, the event took place after Dvorak and other American athletes left the competition area. Dvorak was awarded a silver medal in a consolation competition that was held to accommodate the U.S. team.

He returned to Olympic competition in St. Louis four years later, posting an Olympic record 11 feet, 6 inches to take home the gold. Dvorak, according to the Olympic Games, was the first vaulter to use a lighter bamboo pole instead of the heavier ash or hickory pole.

After he took off with more than $1 million, Milwaukee Avenue Bank president Paul Stensland was discovered by the Tribune in Tangier, Morocco, in September 1906. Stensland was brought back to Chicago where he pleaded guilty to taking the money and served time in the penitentiary at Joliet. (Chicago Tribune)

1906: Fugitive Chicago bank president Paul Stensland — who fled the city with more than $1 million — was tracked down in Tangier, Morocco, by the Tribune, which persuaded him to surrender and tell his story. The Tribune’s managing editor, James Keeley, was later presented with the $5,000 reward for the arrest and delivery of Stensland to police. Keeley gave the reward to the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, from which Stensland took the funds.

Stensland pleaded guilty and was sent to Joliet penitentiary.

Chicago Cubs player Billy Williams doffs his cap to the Wrigley Field fans after receiving a trophy marking his 896th consecutive game, a National League record, on June 29, 1969. (John Austad/Chicago Tribune)

1970: Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams ended a streak of playing in 1,117 consecutive games. The left fielder sat out while the Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union vote on whether to strike at Dunbar Vocational High School on Sept. 2, 1975. (Roy Hal/Chicago Tribune)

1975: Chicago Teachers Union members voted by a nearly 9-to-1 margin to strike on Sept. 3, 1975, which was supposed to be the first day of the school year. Union President Robert M. Healey said the issues were a complete contract for the 1975-76 school year, smaller class sizes, a cost-of-living pay raise and an improved fringe benefits package.

102 days on strike: Take a look back at Chicago’s 11 teacher strikes since 1969

How it was resolved: The Board of Education agreed on Sept. 17, 1975, to a new contract giving CTU a 7.1% salary increase, smaller class sizes, improved insurance benefits and restoration of 1,525 teaching positions that had been cut.

The agreement for the 1975-76 school year, in which Mayor Richard J. Daley played a behind-the-scenes role as a mediator, cost $79.6 million. Of that, $68.8 million went to employees represented by the CTU and $10.8 million to others.

A flag-waving Mayor Harold Washington joins Chicago Transit Authority Chairman Michael Cardilli and Gov. James Thompson, right, at ceremonies inaugurating the final leg of the CTA’s rapid transit line extension to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sept. 3, 1984. (John Dziekan/Chicago Tribune)

1984: Chicago Transit Authority trains were extended to O’Hare International Airport. At 90 cents for a one-way trip, the “L” was “a much better deal than a taxi or special shuttle bus,” the Tribune reported.

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