Today’s random find: in 1901, residents of East Garfield Park were riled up over the noise problem in the 13th Ward. Most disconcertingly, they wanted a proposed roller coaster (“centrifugal railroad,” for how centrifugal force would keep it on the tracks in a loop) stopped, as “they dreaded the yelling this novelty would produce.”

It’s hard to even imagine a time when (a) roller coasters were so close to houses that they could be heard from there, as amusement parks now have to locate out in the exurbs to get the needed quantities of parking; and (b) yelling was a primary concern of voters.