Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

This overpass along Webster Avenue on the Kennedy Expressway was built in 1958.

How Chicago’s expressways were born — and furthered segregation

As the Kennedy construction project gears up to start its second phase this spring, here’s a look back at the massive effort behind its creation, as well as the decisions that went into building the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower.

By Susy Schultz, Richard Cahan, and 1 more

The Sun-Times front page from July 17, 1980.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

Whoops! Mistakes, we’ve made a few in our 75-year history

By Neil Steinberg

Former Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lillian Williams.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

For Black journalists, Sun-Times’ 75th anniversary is a time to look back at those who came before us

By Mary Mitchell

Fletcher Martin, the first Black reporter hired by the Chicago Sun-Times, in an undated photograph.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

75 years covering race in Chicago: A newspaper for a diverse city

By Neil Steinberg

Mamie Till Bradley (center) looks down at the grave of Emmett Till at her son’s funeral on Sept. 6, 1955, at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. Alma Spearman stands beside her daughter, Mamie Till Bradley.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

How we covered Emmett Till’s murder and his mom’s decision to ‘let the people see what they did to my boy’

By Richard Cahan and Michael Williams

Chicago Sun-Times Executive Editor Jennifer Kho.

Celebrating 75 years of covering Chicago news

Over 75 years, the Chicago Sun-Times has covered stories of triumph and infamy, innovation and resilience, crime and corruption. There were unforgettable sports moments and legends, and the many Chicago characters that make up the highs and lows of the city we love.

We are so proud to be a part of this history.

To mark our anniversary, we are looking back at stories from our archives and looking forward with opinions from new thought leaders in our ‘Chicago’s Next Voices’ series.

We also look forward to hearing from you! Tell us how the Sun-Times has fit into your life below.

Chicago's Next Voices

The Sun-Times asked readers to share their predictions for Chicago’s future. Each month, we will share a new take on what the city could and should be for our fellow Chicagoans.

Commentary

Meet the Columnists

They come from all walks of life and share the hopes, frustrations and fears that connect us all.

Read

Commentary

Here’s why we decided to give Chicago’s Next Voices a platform in the Sun-Times

We’ll be publishing pieces from the winners every month, and we need your feedback to make decisions about what’s next.

By Jennifer Kho

A view of the Chicago skyline from part of the old U.S. Steel South Works site near 85th and South Shore Drive in 2014.

Columnists

Chicago should lead the way in turning old industrial sites into green neighborhoods

On the Southeast Side, I discovered folks working to restore eco-preserves sprouting between shuttered mills. Here was a nascent template for the entire city and region.

By John F. Wasik

Columnists

In one 1977 front-page photo at Southwest Side school, the human story of school desegregation era

Protests had erupted in Chicago as minority students were bused to majority-white schools. Amid all of that, two young girls, one white, one Black, sat together as new friends. One was my daughter.

By Nancy Osness

What are your most memorable Sun-Times moments?

Every Chicagoan has their favorite Sun-Times memory — whether its reading the comics section at their Nana’s house or realizing that the world will be forever changed based on a front page story. 75 years is a lifetime of memories and we’d love to hear how we have fit into your life — big or small.

Your story could be shared in the paper or online.

My Sun-Times Memory

Write your story here.

First name

Last name

Neighborhood

We’d love to know where you are writing from!

Phone number

Can we share your story in the paper or online?

Yes

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Chicago Sun-Times Photo Vault (@cstphotovault) • Instagram photos and videos

Bob Richards, one of America’s most popular athletes in the 1950s, pole vaults in the heart of the Loop to promote the 1959 Pan American Games. That’s the old Federal Building in the background.

NASCAR In Chicago

NASCAR’s not the first to use Chicago as a sports arena, venue

As the NASCAR drivers take to Chicago’s streets, we remember other times this city has opened its roadways to provide a venue for national and local sports events.

By Richard Cahan and Michael Williams

Eppie Lederer, the longtime Sun-Times advice columnist who wrote under the name Ann Landers.

Columnists

Covering LGBTQ+ issues, including an Ann Landers column lauded as ‘a beacon of light in a dark world’

The Sun-Times has covered LGBTQ+ communities with growing understanding and support for 75 years.

By Neil Steinberg

Ismael Perez outside the Newberry Library last year.

Columnists

How Chicago LGBTQ+ and straight media trailblazers paved the way for this column

A journalist’s coming-out story in the 1970s. Straight reporters taking on the gay beat. Where are we now?

By Ismael Pérez

Tracy Baim rides in the 1987 Chicago Pride Parade and hands copies of the gay newspaper Outlines.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

Tracy Baim: Finding my niche early in the gay press

By 1984, after graduating with a journalism degree — and being a very out lesbian — I knew mainstream newsrooms were not for me. I was not going back into the closet for my career.

By Tracy Baim

Mayor Harold Washington with a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times declaring him the winner of the 1987 Democratic primary election. Washington would win a second term that year, but die in November.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

75 years, 10 mayors: How Sun-Times coverage of City Hall evolved

The newspaper has praised and scourged the city’s chief executives for three-quarters of a century.

By Neil Steinberg

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

Rushing to face death, then telling the tale

Over the Sun-Times’ 75-year history, have staffers witnessed disasters that are seared into the memory of the city.

By Neil Steinberg

Cold temperatures, strong winds and heavy lake wave action covered piers in a layer of ice off the lakefront near North Avenue on Jan. 2, 2003.

Columnists

On the front lines for 75 years of blizzards, heat waves, floods and other calamities

Throughout our history, Chicago Sun-Times photographers, reporters and editors have worked hard to capture our icebound, storm-tossed, sun-baked city.

By Neil Steinberg

The Feb. 2, 1948, first edition of the Chicago Daily Sun and Times’ front page.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

Sun-Times at 75: A look back, starting with a story that became a Jimmy Stewart movie

The first daily edition was a reminder to readers that, while they were reading a new paper, they could trust the reporting. That has never changed.

By Stefano Esposito

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

A Mockery of Justice in Mississippi

This Sun-Times editorial was published Sept. 27, 1955, just after the two men charged with brutally murdering 14-year-old Emmett Till were acquitted of the murder charge. The paper expressed disgust at the “nauseating” verdict. This is part of a 75-anniversary project highlighting decades of exceptional journalism.

By CST Editorial Board

This is the front page of the Sept. 8, 1955 Chicago Sun-Times outlining the plans of Mamie Till-Bradley to go to Mississippi to testify against the two men who brutally murdered her teenage son, Emmett Till.

Sun-Times 75th Anniversary

Slain Boy’s Mother Going to Mississippi; She Will Testify at Death Trial

This story was published on Sept. 8, 1955, when Emmett Till’s mother announced she would be going to Mississippi to testify at the trial of the two men who brutally murdered her teenage son. This is part of a 75-anniversary series highlighting decades of journalism coverage

By Sun-Times staff