Chicago Foodways: 1934 Union Stock Yards Fire, 12/5 @ 10 AM

Chicago’s Second Greatest Fire:
UNION STOCK YARDS FIRE OF 1934

Presentation by
Jeff Stern

Saturday, December 5th, 2009
10 AM
Kendall College
900 North Branch Street, Chicago
(West of Halsted Street, North of Chicago Avenue)
Free Parking
Cost: $2 per person, free to Kendall students and faculty with ID.


With less than four inches of rain having fallen since the first of the year, and temperatures hitting 92 degrees on May 19, 1934, Chicago was vulnerable. It took only a carelessly tossed cigarette in the Union Stock Yards that Saturday afternoon to set off the most destructive blaze since the Great Fire of 1871.

Winds of up to 60 miles an hour at times spread the fire faster than a man could run, and six of 100 pumpers sent to put it out it were themselves destroyed while attached to hydrants. Yet, although six square blocks of property, including parts of the steel ‘L’ structure, were left in ruins, the major packinghouses were saved.

This 75th anniversary program reviews the strategies taken to control the fire and features photos and documents relating to the efforts of 1,600 Chicago firefighters to extinguish it. Suburban departments were also recognized. No fewer than 31 sent men and apparatus to provide protection at vacated Chicago firehouses.

Jeff Stern is a member of the Board of the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago. He has never been a Chicago firefighter, but has been involved with the Fire Department for well over 60 years. Whether it was the early motorized equipment that was still in service when he was growing up or some other aspect of the fire service that attracted his interest, he’s not sure, but he managed to visit all 141 of the fire houses that were then in service before he turned 13, and was able to run with some of the busiest squads and chiefs.

This program is hosted by the Chicago Foodways Roundtable. To reserve, please PM Cathy2, then leave your name and how many people in your party or e-mail: chicago.foodways.roundtable@gmail.com

Hi,

Jeff Stern will speak on the Stock Yards Fire of 1910 at the Fire Academy on Saturday October 16th at 10 a.m.

This is a podcast of Stern's presentation of Chicago’s Second Greatest Fire: Union Stock Yards Fire of 1934
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Conte ... ioID=38878

Regards,

Thanks. I'll send that podcast to my dad. He remembers being a kid and wandering around, watching the firefighters, etc.

Hi,

I attended the 1910 Stockyard's Fire program at the Fire Academy today. Until 9/11, this fire had the greatest loss of firemen when a wall collapsed on 23 people. A grandson of a deceased fireman donated his Grandfather's badge and photograph to the museum.


October-16-2010-003web by cal222, on Flickr

There was a second presentation on the 50th anniversary of the Hubbard Street fire in a bakery supply warehouse across from the Blommer's Chocolate Factory. Present at this talk were family members of some the deceased firemen as well as retirees who were working this fire. They showed a film as well as Chicago Fire Department photos of this event as well as photographs taken months and years after the fact.

In this fire, nine firemen died. A senior and candidate firemen inspected an adjacent building to see if they could prevent the fire from spreading. Unexpectedly a wall collapsed trapping them in a loading dock. While in voice contact, seven firemen attempted to break a door to free them. The building collapsed killing instantly the firemen who attempted to rescue their colleagues. The two trapped firemen ultimately died, too.

Regards,

Jeff Stern who spoke so eloquently on the 1934 Union Stock Yards Fire will present two more tragic fires:

Two Chicago tragedies that took well over 100 lives in the first half of the 20th Century will be revisited in a program presented by the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago Saturday, June 11, at the Chicago Fire Academy, 558 W. DeKoven St. (This is near Manny's)

First on the 10 a.m. program will be a presentation by a maritime historian on a fire that killed 50 workmen trapped on the Dunne water intake crib off 68th Street in Lake Michigan on a freezing winter night in 1909.

The other tragedy to be reviewed is Chicago’s most disastrous hotel fire, a fast-spreading early morning blaze that took 61 lives at the LaSalle Hotel, LaSalle and Madison Streets, on June 5, 1946, resulting in a 5-11 and six special alarms.

***

The Fire Museum of Greater Chicago, at 5218 S. Western, will be open to the public from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on the following Saturdays through the rest of 2011: June 25, July 30, Aug. 27, Sept. 24, Oct. 29 and Nov. 26.

You can access the FMGC website at http://www.FireMuseumOfGreaterChicago.org., write the FMGC at P.O. Box 4914, Chicago, IL 60680, or phone 1-877 225-7491.