1923 – June 21, Fire, Tenement Building, 22nd and Federal Streets, Chicago, IL       —     10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-7-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  AP. “10 Lose Lives in Chicago Tenement Fire.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL. 6-21-1923, 1

–10  NFPA. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly 34/3, Jan 1942, p. 238

–10  NFPA. “Two Tenement Holocausts.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V.17, No. 1, July 1923, 69.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association, “Two Tenement Holocausts,” 17/1, July 1923, p. 69: “The tenement at 2138 Federal Street was a three-story and basement ordinary joisted building, built about 1897.  The walls were of brick and the partitions were of wood lath and plaster.  There was one central stairway in a wood paneled doors to the floors.  The first floor was occupied by a second-hand furniture company and the two upper floors were used as small fiats occupied by approximately sixty…

“On June 21, 1923, at about 3 A. M. the fire originated at the ceiling of the basement from a gas flame. A gas bracket was installed between two joists and within four inches of the combustible flooring above. The flame burned through this floor igniting the wood lath and plaster par­tition enclosing the only stairway. The fire was not discovered until one of the firemen on duty at an engine house two blocks away saw the flames shooting across the street from the store on the first floor. This was at 3:54 A. M., and when the fire department arrived the fire was burning all through the center of the building and several of the people on the upper floors had jumped to the cement pavement below. It was impossible for those on the upper floors to get out except through the windows. Ten persons lost their lives, some by jumping to the pavement, and nineteen persons suffered injuries.

“The hazards of unsafe gas brackets is clearly emphasized by this fire. The lack of intelligence of the person who installed this bracket is in­excusable. The construction of the building was such, however, that the result might have been the same had the fire started from any other cause.”  (NFPA  “Two Tenement Holocausts.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V.17, N. 1, July 1923, pp. 68-69.)

NFPA. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly 34/3, Jan 1942, p. 238:

“Tenement, Chicago, Ill., June 21, 1923. Fire due to an unsafe bracket in the basement cut off escape by means of the central stairway and resulted in ten persons being trapped and burned to death. Many occupants, with their clothing ablaze, jumped from second and third-story windows (Quarterly, July, 1923, page 68.).”

Newspaper

June 21, AP: “By Associated Press  Chicago, June 21. – Nine negroes and one unidentified white man are known to have been killed, and at least thirty injured in a fire which swept a three story tenement house at Twenty-second and Federal streets here today. The 160 negro tenants of the building were cut off from escape by the destruction of the main stairway and numbers jumped to the streets from the windows. Scores of heroic rescues were made by firemen.

“Several emergency alarms carried virtually every fire fighting apparatus and ambulance on the South Side to the scene. The fire started in a furniture store on the ground floor and quickly destroyed the wooden tenement.

“The dead were taken to a nearby morgue for identification. The injured were treated at emergency hospitals.

“The fire did not spread. In most parts of that section, the heart f the negro district and only a short distance from Chicago’s Chinatown, buildings are closely pressed one against another. The tenement, however, stood apart from the rest in that block, which, firemen said, prevented more loss of life and extensive property damage. No estimates of the loss has been made.

“Later, Joseph Smith, wealthy negro owner of the furniture store was arrested.

“The fire, which started from an unexplained cause, spread so rapidly that when the firemen arrived the fist floor and entrance way were masses of flames.

“Many of the tenants fled before firemen reached the place. Some fifty or sixty others were rescued by firemen and policemen.

“Battalion Chief Patrick Egan declared he believed the fire possibly started from a still in the basement. The building was a fire trap, Egan asserted. Three stills and more than 300 gallons of mash were discovered in the ruins of the tenement dwelling by investigators of the fire department today.” (Associated Press. “10 Lose Lives in Chicago Tenement Fire.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL. 6-21-1923, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “10 Lose Lives in Chicago Tenement Fire.” Alton Evening Telegraph, IL. 6-21-1923, p. 1. Accessed 3-7-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/alton-evening-telegraph-jun-21-1923-p-1/

National Fire Protection Association. “Loss of Life Fires in Apartments and Tenements.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 34, No. 3, Jan 1942, pp. 237-238, 244, 246-247.

National Fire Protection Association. “Two Tenement Holocausts.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 17, No. 1, July 1923, p. 66.