The WWII Industry in Chicago

1. The WWII Industry in Chicago Chicago History

2. Bell Ringer Bell Ringer • Review this graph • The red dotted line is normal unemployment rate. • In what year is the unemployment rate the highest? • In what year is the unemployment rate the lowest? • Using this graph as evidence, did the New Deal end the depression? Explain your answer. • What ends the Great Depression?

3. Ending the Depression? • The WPA and PWA • The programs helped, but didn’t end the depression. • What happens after Pearl Harbor? • The government needed to outfit the armed forces. • The government needed specialized war materials. • Chicago businesses sold these to the government and began to make money again.

4. Chicago Factories During the War • Stewart-Warner Corporation • Automobile parts to fuses, ammunition boxes, bombs, and instrument panels. • Pressed Steel Car Company and the Pullman-Standard Car Company • Cars to tanks • Elgin National Watch • Watches to detonation fuses. • Western Electric • Radar systems • Creation of the Dodge-Chicago Plant • Where Ford City Mall is now • How much money did these war supply contracts give Chicago? • 9 Billion Dollars!!!

5. From Orchard Park… • In the 1930s with the rise of airplane travel, Chicago leaders wanted to another airport to support Municipal Airport (now Midway Airport). • Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the Army began to locate potential sites for airfields and test sites for their airplanes. • The Army settled on Orchard Field, a few miles outside Bensenville. • They chose Chicago, because it was far from both coasts, so sabotage could be easier to detect.

6. …to Douglas Field… • Now that the site for aircraft production and testing was determined, the contract needed to be sold to a company. • A local Chicago company, Douglas Aircraft received the contract and built 655 C-54 transport planes during the war. • The factory covered about 43 acres. • It became one of the largest aircraft manufacturing factories in the country.

7. …to finally O’Hare International Airport • After the war ended, the city of Chicago bought the field to finally construct the second airport needed for the city’s growth. • Midway Airport’s runways were too small to accommodate larger aircrafts. • Orchard Park/Douglas Airport was renamed O’Hare International Airport in 1949. • It was renamed for Lt. Col. Edward O’Hare, who was the US Navy’s first flying ace and who had won a Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor during the WWII. • “ORD” is still the airport code for O’Hare Airport, because of its ORcharD Park roots.

8. WWII and Girls Baseball • WWII also brought new entertainment to the city and the change of the woman’s role: the AAGPBL • Many major league baseball players enlisted or were drafted to serve in the armed forces. • Professional teams were forced to rely on players that were not in the war. • This also meant there would be a chance that major league baseball would not survive the war.

9. Philip K. Wrigley and the AAGPBL • Philip K. Wrigley • Owner of the Chicago Cubs • Attempted to keep interest in baseball alive by creating the AAGPBL. • All-American Girls Professional Baseball League • The league opened to small Chicago-area towns like • Kenosha, Racine, Rockford, and South Bend • Expanded to • Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Fort Wayne, Peoria, Battle Creek, and Springfield. • The first tryouts for the league were held in Wrigley Field in 1943

10. Exit Question: • Compare the pictures of Annabelle Lee (1945) and Jennie Finch (2009): • How are the two women different? • How are they similar? • How do you think the AAGPBL helped women’s sports to what it is today?