1953 — Sep 7, Fire (wiring), Spector Realty Co. tenement building, State St., Chicago, IL-18

–18 Bugbee. “Fire Protection Developments in 1953.” Quarterly [NFPA], 47/3, Jan 1954, p.214
–18 Dixon Evening Telegraph, IL. “Illinois Leads Nation…41 Deaths over Holidays.” 8-8-1953
–18 Edwardsville Intelligencer, IL. “Chicago Slums Shock Investigator.” 9-11-1953, p. 6.
–18 Mt. Vernon Register-News, IL. “Tenement Fire Claims Lives of 18.” 9-8-1953, p. 1.
–18 National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “…in Chicago on September 7, 18 persons were burned to death on the upper floors of a crowded four-story tenement building.” (Bugbee, Percy. “Fire Protection Developments in 1953.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 47, No. 3, January 1954, pp. 213-217.)

National Fire Protection Association: “1953…9/7…Chicago IL…18…Spector Realty, State St. Tenement building.” (National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).)

Newspapers

Sep 8, AP: “Chicago (AP) — Police and Fire Department officials today sought to determine the cause of a fire that swept through a South Side tenement early Monday [Sep 7], killing at least 18 persons. The known victims in the fire that destroyed a four-story brick building were five women, four men and nine children, all Negroes. Among the dead were nine members of one family, including six children.

“Firemen said it would be several days before the debris is cleared sufficiently to determine whether it contained more dead.

“Fire Marshal John J. Haberkorn said the cause of the blaze was not determined. It was believed
to have started in a first floor apartment, in the rear of a tavern. The rear two-thirds of the 63-year-old building collapsed into the basement about 20 minutes after firemen arrived. Fire officials estimated damage at $75,000.” (Mt. Vernon Register-News, IL. “Tenement Fire Claims Lives of 18. Four-Story Brick Building on Chicago South Side Destroyed; All Dead Are Negroes.” 9-8-1953, p. 1.)

Sep 11, UP: “Chicago (UP) – Coroner Walter McCarron, shocked by a visit to a slum tenement he said was a death-trap housing more than 2,000 persons, has threatened to subpoena Chicago’s mayor and other top officials to an investigation.

“McCarron said he discovered the “unbelievably shocking” tenement building Wednesday while investigating a slum fire that killed 18 persons Labor Day. He said he will subpoena Mayor Martin Kennelly and other officials to a hearing Monday and demand they explain why fire-trap housing is allowed to stand here.

“When the coroner came away from the teeming seven-story tenement on the city’s near South Side he said he “never before saw such hazardous and unsanitary housing conditions.” “I understand there are 10,000 more buildings like it,” McCarron said.

“The building was not far from the four-story building gutted by the Labor Day fire. Both are in
Negro neighborhoods. McCarron said he was told that from 2,000 to 2,500 persons lived in the seven-story building, with several families in some rooms. “Apartments were marked out with chalk on the floors.”

“He said that he and members of the coroner’s jury could feel the seventh floor sway under the weight as they walked over it.

“During Wednesday’s hearing into the Labor Day tragedy witnesses blamed defective wiring and lack of sufficient fire escapes for the fatalities.” (Edwardsville Intelligencer, IL. “Chicago Slums Shock Investigator.” 9-11-1953, p. 6.)

Sources

Bugbee, Percy. “Fire Protection Developments in 1953.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 47, No. 3, Jan 1954, pp. 213-217.

Dixon Evening Telegraph, IL. “Illinois Leads Nation with 41 Deaths over Holidays.” 8-8-1953, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=4489181&sterm=tenement+fire

Edwardsville Intelligencer, IL. “Chicago Slums Shock Investigator.” 9-11-1953, p. 6. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=4385071&sterm=tenement+fire

Mt. Vernon Register-News, IL. “Tenement Fire Claims Lives of 18.” 9-8-1953, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=162408201&sterm=tenement+fire

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)