CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A memorial mass was held Sunday on Chicago’s West Side to remember the fire at Our Lady of the Angels School, in which 92 students and three nuns were killed 65 years ago.
The mission of Our Lady of the Angels, located at 909 N. Avers Ave., welcomed dozens of those who gathered in the church to remember: Friday marked 65 years since the school’s fire.
It happened on a Monday, shortly before classes were set to be dismissed. The fire started near the foot of a stairway of the elementary school, which had an enrollment of nearly 1,600 students. Some had to jump from second-floor windows in order to escape the fire.
Although the school had a brick exterior to keep any fires from spreading to nearby buildings — a safety measure that followed the Great Chicago Fire — its interior was reportedly made primarily with wooden materials.
The fire got worldwide attention, and the images of the dead children were among the most agonizing fragments of Chicago history.
The remnants of the old school building were torn down after the fire and replaced by a new building. The school closed in 1999
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