| New School Open |
| By Norman Glubo |
| Little Tom Cleary, 9, brushed a tear from his cheek as he walked into the new Our Lady of the Angels school this morning. |
| “He's still upset about what happened.” explained his mother. Mrs. Grace Cleary of 1046 N. Pulaski rd., as she nudged him toward his fourth grade classroom. |
| For the first time since Dec. 1, 1958, when 92 pupils and three nuns were killed in Chicago's worst school fire, Tom and his 1,500 classmates are together again under one roof. |
| The handsome million dollar structure, built on the site of the old school at 3816 W. Iowa st. as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the fire, opened today for the first time. |
| Built of tan brick and reinforced concrete, its architects call it Chicago's safest school. |
| “This is it,” beamed Msgr. Joseph F. Cussen proudly as he took a reporter on a tour of the three story building. He pointed out. |
| “Look. Except for classroom doors there's not a piece of wood in the school. Everything's metal—desks, lockers, all the furniture.” The pastor said he planned no special ceremony for the occasion. |
|
| “We just want to get started again,” he added. |
| Since the tragic fire, parish pupils have been attending classes in three nearby public school buildings— Hay, Orr, and Cameron. |
| “The public school people were just wonderful to us,” said Sister St. Florence, the principal, as she registered new pupils. “But we're happy to be back together again.” |
| For some it was a day of sad memories. Theresa Whittaker and Marie Hartman, the most seriously injured survivors of the fire, rejoined their seventh grade classmates for the first time. Until now they have been “attending “ classes by telephone as they recovered in their homes. |
|
| Karen Cascio, 12. of 3748 W. Thomas st., remembers the fire vividly. |
| “We were trapped in our room for quite a while,” she told a reporter outside her new 8th grade classroom. “Then one of the boys broke window and pulled down the fire escape. |
| “He ran for help and the janitor came and broke down our door with an ax. Everyone escaped.” |
|
| Aside from the fireproof construction, the school has the latest fire safety and alarm equipment. All stair wells are inclosed by heavy metal doors. |
| At strategic locations thru-out the building are smoke and heat rise detectors that set off an automatic fire alarm. |
| At the end of each corridor a red fire alarm lever within each reach of the shortest child. |
| And outside on the sidewalk is a shiny, new fire alarm box, number 25539. |
| The box sets off an automatic alarm in the fire alarm office and in the school. Due for All School. |
| Such boxes are being installed outside every school in Chicago as a result of the city's new fire code adopted after the Our Lady of the Angels fire. |
| The box on Iowa street is guarded during school hours by a patrol boy. |
| “You know, it's been pulled five times already by pranksters,” explained Msgr. Cussen. “And every time that alarm goes off we get an awful lot of engines.” |
| (Article contributed by Sally Konley) |
