As of January 1, 2016, Gapers Block has ceased publication. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
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Monday, February 18
For three years in the '30s, the showboat Dixiana was moored on the Chicago River just south of the Diversey bridge. In 1937 it was to house a performance of Tobacco Road, but Mayor Kelly saw the play and banned it from Chicago. The Dixiana headed to Michigan City, IN, where it sank in the harbor. [via]