The Fallen 21

The Fallen 21. . On the cold Chicago morning of Thursday, December 22, 1910, the night watchman of the Morris and Co. meatpacking company discovered heavy black smoke billowing from Beef Plant #7, located at 44th Street and Loomis Street. The watchman pulled the A.D.T. alarm at 04:09 hours and the call for help was instantly transmitted to the Chicago Fire Department's Engine Company 59, which is located just east of this monument at 818 Exchange Ave., Box alarms then began ringing in all Stockyard firehouses, including those of Engine Companies 39 and 50, Hook and Ladder Companies 18 and 11 and Battalion 11. Firefighters began sliding down the brass poles in their stations. Horses were hitched to the engines, and the brave firemen were out the doors, responding to their destiny, the Fire of 1910. Engine 59 went west on Exchange Ave., right through the store Stockyard Gate, beneath the stoic gaze of the bull that hangs above the archway., Once on the scene, firefighters began leading their fire hoses to the burning building. The only way to reach the seat of the fire was from a long loading dock on the east side of the structure. The fire was burning from the basement to the second floor of the six-story brick building, which was hundreds of feet long and without any windows., Alongside the deck were the Chicago Junction Railroad tracks, which were lined with boxcars. An old wood canopy was attached to the building, and extended just over the tops of the boxcars., With axes and hose lines in hand, the firefighters began opening the heavy warehouse doors in an effort to get water on the fire. The heavy smoke and heat, as though it had a mind of its own, intensified and pinned the firemen to the boxcars at their backs, the rotten wood canopy looming over their heads., The brave firefighters, fed by their Chief of the Brigade, James Horan, advanced hose lines deeper into the smoke and fire. A terrifying moaning and cracking noise was heard, and suddenly the east wall of the six story warehouse blew outward and straight down on the twenty one firefighters, Killing them instantly. Boxcars were thrown off the tracks from the weight of the molten hot bricks that came crashing down., On Friday morning, December 23, 1910, after twenty-six and a half hours, the fire was controlled. But continued to smolder for several days after. The Stockyard Fire of 1910 had the greatest number of firefighter casualties at one incident until the fateful morning of September 11, 2001. The memory of Chicago's Fallen 21 shall forever radiate from this site, but remains one of Chicago's forgotten tragedies., By Bill Cosgrove