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Our Lady of the Angels: The fire that ‘changed everything’

Firefighters hurry down a ladder with a child. Intense heat and thick smoke forced children to the windows.
Chicago American photo by Steve Lasker
Firefighters hurry down a ladder with a child. Intense heat and thick smoke forced children to the windows.
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On Dec. 1, 1958, a fire consumed Our Lady of the Angels grade school on the West Side of Chicago, killing 92 children and three nuns.

A wire story from that day captured a fragment of the desperation:

“Max Stachura stood outside the burning building, begging his little boy, Mark, 9, to jump into his arms. Children were falling all about the father and he caught or stopped the fall of 12 of them. B ...

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