About the Memorial

Mission

Our memorial aims to honor the victims of the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave and to raise awareness about the ongoing threat of climate change. By commemorating this tragic event, we hope to inspire action and ensure that such a disaster does not recur.

Chicago 2050 Flag

The First Star: Extreme Heat and the 1995 Heat Wave

The Second Star: Extreme Cold and the 1967 Blizzard

The Third Star: Hazardous Air Quality and the Summer of 2023

The fourth Star: Disaster(s) still to come

The Brown bands represent the future of a dry Chicago River and Lake Michigan

Who We Are

A group of UChicago students in HIST 17706, a class about how history can be used to publically address the past, present and future issues such as environmental racism, inequality, and climate change.

Design Meaning

Overall, this project is a memorial to the victims of the 1995 Chicago Heatwave. Where over the course of five days in July a wet bulb heatwave that featured temperatures and high humidity in the midwest led to 739 deaths in Chicago.