Our Lady of the Angels school fire to be remembered at Sunday Mass

The Dec. 1, 1958, fire at the grade school at Iowa Street and Avers Avenue killed 92 students and three nuns. It resulted in stricter fire safety codes nationwide.

Three nuns and 92 children were killed in the Dec. 1, 1958, blaze at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic School.

A Mass is planned Sunday to mark the 62nd anniversary of Chicago’s Our Lady of the Angels fire.

Social distancing and masks will be required at the memorial, which is scheduled at 5 p.m. Sunday at Holy Family Church, 1080 W. Roosevelt Rd., according to the Chicago Fire Department Foundation.

Members of the fire department and relatives of those affected by the blaze are expected to attend, said Bill Kugelman, president of the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago.

The Dec. 1, 1958, fire at the grade school at Iowa Street and Avers Avenue killed 92 students and three nuns. It resulted in stricter fire safety codes nationwide.

Chicago to mark 60th anniversary of Our Lady of the Angels fire

Fire Prevention Bureau officers inspecting the third-floor hallway ceiling in the rear of Our Lady of the Angels School after the 1958 fire. From left: Robert J. O’Brien, Fire Prevention Bureau Chief; 2nd Deputy Fire Marshall Frank Theilman; Joe Mackey, chief building inspector (in topcoat and hat) and 2nd Division Marshall Vincent A. Malek, pointing to ceiling. Fire officials believe children milled in this hallway, trying to find an escape route. Chicago Sun-Times Library File photo. — Officers from Chicago’s Fire Prevention Bureau officers inspect the third-floor hallway ceiling in the rear of Our Lady of the Angels School after the 1958 fire.

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