February 4, 2009 – In the early morning a fire is
discovered in the roof of Holy Name Cathedral, and it burns for more than two
hours, damaging the attic of the 134-year-old house of worship and leaving huge
holes in the roof. Fortunately, the fire
set off the sprinkler system which kept the flames away from the interior of
the church. Unfortunately, the water
from the sprinkler system and from the hoses firefighters used to attack the
fire left the basement half-full of water with icicles hanging from pews and
light fixtures. This was a particularly
devastating event since the parish is just finishing up a year-long restoration
brought about when a large piece of the ceiling broke off and fell to the
church floor. Structural engineers determined
that a total structural repair of the ceiling was required, along with the
strengthening of 32 columns supporting the roof. The church was closed for seven months while
the intricately decorated ceiling was replaced.
The columns were still a work in progress when the fire broke out,
destroying all of the work that had been done on the ceiling restoration. According to the Holy Name website it was
fortunate that the earlier work had been done because “According to structural
engineers and firefighters, if the piece of the ceiling had not fallen and
structural renovations were not undertaken in 2008, the water from the fire …
would have been too heavy for the structure and the roof would have collapsed.”
[http://holynamecathedral.org] Although work continued on the roof and
structural columns, the cathedral re-opened on July 31, 2009, just in time for
the wedding of Michael de Franco and Sarah Yoho. Reverend Dan Mayall was ecstatic about the
effort workmen made to save the gold-accented ceiling composed of 23,000 pieces
of wood. He said, “When people come,
they’ll immediately look up, and they always did anyway, because that ceiling
is the most beautiful work of art in this place. They were able to save it. The workers were able to save it two years in
a row; first from falling down, and then second from the fire.” [https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Holy-Name-Set-to-Reopen.html]
February 4, 1977 – At least a dozen people are killed and close to 200 are injured when an elevated train falls from the Loop elevated tracks to the street below at Lake Street and Wabash Avenue. The crash occurs in the heart of rush hour, about 5:25 p.m., when an eight-car Lake-Dan Ryan train begins to round the curve at Lake and Wabash and slams into the rear of a Ravenswood train that had stopped to allow a preceding train to clear the station ahead. The second and third cars of the Lake-Dan Ryan train land on their sides in the street, while the first car is propped against the elevated structure with one end resting on the pavement beneath. Police and fire units work for two hours to free people who are trapped in the wreckage. Fire Commissioner Robert Quinn calls the crash “one of the worst wrecks I have seen.” [Chicago Tribune, February 5, 1977] Mayor Michael Bilandic says, “All city departments – police, fire, streets and sanitation, public health – everybody Is here.” Subsequent investigation reveals that the motorman of the Lake-Dan Ryan train, who had a poor safety record, had been smoking marijuana. The best guess was that somehow he had overridden the restrictive cab signal and had left the preceding station at a rate of speed under 15 miles per hour, slower than the speed which would have triggered an automatic control signal that normally would have stopped the train before impact.
February 4, 1862 -- A man named Frederick Kuntz is arrested for shooting his wife. The Chicago Daily Tribune's coverage of the unfortunate event makes me wish that newspapers could return to this style. The article reads, "Kuntz was formerly a bar-tender in the employ of one William Veitz, who kept a saloon on Wells street, between Washington and Madison streets. In the course of time Veitz died, and the bar-tender married the widow, after she had sported her weeds a sufficient length of time, and succeeded to the charge of the saloon. The honeymoon was brief, for business is business and time is fleeting. Scarcely had it waned ere trouble commenced. The bar-tender manifested an affinity for other widows, and the widow for other bar-tenders. Criminations and recriminations followed, and the spirit of jealousy was aroused upon each side. On Sunday it culminated in a violent quarrel, during which Kuntz drew a revolver and discharged three barrels at her, the contents of the third taking effect in her side and inflicting a dangerous, and if inflammation sets in, a mortal wound." The bar-tender manifested an affinity for other widows, and the widow for other bar-tenders . . . you HAVE to love that kind of reporting!
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