Vintage Chicago Tribune: 5 largest crowd estimates in city history
Summer is the season of getting together, Chicago.
And when we all get together, it can get a little crowded. This made me wonder: What Chicago celebrations, speeches, sporting events or religious gatherings have attracted the most people?
A trip through the Tribune’s archives reveals more than 120 years of activities. Crowd estimates, however, are often gathered from organizers and/or Chicago officials and can usually be disputed.
Take the 1979 visit by Pope John Paul II, for example. His nearly 3-hour Mass in Grant Park supposedly attracted 500,000 to 1.5 million people. Could the park host a crowd nearly half as large as the city itself? Tribune reporter Bill Currie set out to get answers.
Currie found the only way 1 million people could have attended the Mass was for some to be standing in — or on — Lake Michigan. He remains convinced that most crowd estimates are incorrect.
“I don’t think 1 million people (let alone 2 million) have ever gathered together in any one place in the world since time immemorial,” Currie said. “Prove it, I say.”
So, is this a definitive guide? No.
Is it accurate? Maybe.
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— Kori Rumore, visual reporter
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5. White Sox World Series championship parade and rally (2005)
On Oct. 28, 2005, an estimated 1.75 million people endured the crush of humanity at the corner of Wacker Drive and Clark Street.
4. Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship parade and rally (2010, 2013, 2015)
On three separate occasions, more than 2 million people feted the club with a massive parade and rally — each remembered as one of the best-attended celebrations in city history.
3. Apollo 11 astronauts parade and rally (1969)
Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins were here, alive and real with their families, and more than 2 million people came to see them on Aug. 3, 1969.
2. Gen. Douglas MacArthur visits Chicago (1951)
MacArthur, ousted from his command just weeks earlier by President Harry S. Truman, thrilled a vast audience in Soldier Field on April 26, 1951, with a fighting defense of his stance on Korea. He electrified the crowd, which had expected no more than a routine greeting. An estimated 3 million people saw him during his visit.
1. Cubs World Series championship and rally (2016)
While there was no shortage of fans who came out to cheer the Cubs as they took a victory lap during the World Series championship downtown parade on Nov. 4, 2016, experts cautioned the crowd numbers may not be as robust as city officials claimed.
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Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.
