December 1, 1958: A fire breaks out at Our Lady of the Angels School in the Humboldt Park section of the West Side of Chicago. Of the school’s 1,600 students, 92 die, as do 3 nuns. The cause has never been determined.
The elementary school was operated by the Archdiocese of Chicago. The fire originated in the basement near the foot of a stairway, shortly before classes were to be dismissed for the day. Smoke, heat, fire, and toxic gases cut off the normal means of egress through corridors and stairways. Many were injured when they jumped from second-floor windows which, because the building had a raised basement, were nearly as high above ground as a third floor would be on level ground, approximately 25 feet.
The severity of the fire shocked the nation and surprised educational administrators of both public and private schools. The disaster led to major improvements in standards for school design and fire safety codes.
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December 1, 1958 was a Monday. Born that day were Dallas actress Charlene Tilton, Sex & the City creator Candace Bushnell, and Senator Gary Peters of Michigan.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek: There would be no Monday Night Football for another 12 years. And no games were scheduled in the NBA or the NHL. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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