Chicago Flashback

Firemen remove the body of firefighter William H. Karstens from the sanitary district tunnel. The tunnel, which was under construction at 22nd and Laflin Streets, caught fire in the evening of April 13, 1931, killing 11 and injuring more than 54.

Famous boxer Joe Louis waves to the crowds on the South Side on Aug. 14, 1954, as he sits atop a float heading the Bud Billiken Parade. With the ex-champion are Booker Trotter, 9, left, and Joe Jr., 7. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) published August 15, 1954

The interior of Electrical Hall shows the Westinghouse Electric exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition in 1933.

Fireman hack away with axes at the roof of the superstructure above the elevator shaft in hopes of ventilating the tunnel. Albert Martino, a cement worker, testified later that he heard an explosion in the tunnel around 6:30 on Monday evening. He said he found a light flame in the tunnel and vainly tried to extinguish it and then notified other laborers and officials. Many thought the fire started when candle wax dripped on sawdust in the tunnel.

Fireman Richard Gomoll with engine company 23 and his wife at St. Anthony's Hospital on April 14, 1931. Gomoll was one of sixteen men trapped over night in an air chamber in the sanitary district tunnel, 35 feet below the surface.

Joseph Parrish's work from Nov. 26, 1964, yearns for tradition in the middle of a decade famous for its social upheaval.

Carey Orr again thinks about families separated by war. Note that the letter from "Son Jimmie" is censored. Published Nov. 25, 1943.

John McCutcheon's fun effort from Nov. 24, 1921.

The floating Swift Theater lights up the night as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays the second of two daily concerts July 7, 1934. "The Swift Theater is part of the Swift Bridge at 23rd Street, which connects the mainland with Northerly Island," the Tribune explained. "The open air auditorium will seat about 1,700 patrons, who are separated from the music shell by an expanse of 64 feet of water." The Sky Ride can be seen in the background.

Fireman Irving Strom, 28, of Squad 8, right, takes a cigarette from fellow firefighters during the tunnel disaster. Strom volunteered to use a newer type gas mask delivered from the Oak Park fire department. According to Tribune reports, Strom made seventeen trips into the tunnel and brought up six bodies and one person alive. "It was hot down there," Strom said later, "and so thick with smoke and fog that lights were of no avail. All one could do was to grope slowly through the tunnel, often bumping into obstructions."

John McCutcheon imagines the holiday from another viewpoint. Published Nov. 24, 1924.

Boxer Joe Louis and his wife ride along Michigan Avenue in the Bud Billiken Parade on Aug. 7, 1948.

Visitors wait in a long line to get into the Frank Buck Jungle Camp exhibit on Constitution Day on Sept. 17, 1934. The Tribune reported that "a throng of 356,673 people, by far the greatest crowd at the fair this year," came out for the festivities. "Throughout the afternoon and evening they came, until the avenues on the grounds were solid masses of humanity."

On April 15, 1931, investigators from the coroner's jury look over blueprints of the unfinished sanitary district tunnel where a fire killed eleven men on April 13, 1931. From left are James Versluis, city construction engineer; John Garcia, mining engineer; Elmer Stevens, State Street merchant; Coroner Herman Bundesen, Edward Kelly, chief engineer of the sanitary district; John Dean, assistant to the chief city construction engineer; John Pirie, president of Carson Pirie Scott & Co.; and Dr. Frederick Tonney, head of the city health research bureau.

Queen of the Bud Billiken Parade, center, in 1955. Editors note: this photo has a hand painted background.

Fisher Body craftsmen work on cars on an assembly line in the General Motors exhibit in 1933. The Tribune described the scene: "A conveyor on one side of the long workroom carries Fisher bodies, with workmen along the route adding parts. The entire assembly can be viewed from a continuous balcony around a work floor 420 feet long and 90 feet wide. The rate with the plant in full swing is a car every 20 minutes."

Firefighters were equipped with oxygen masks and sent down into the smoke-filled sanitary district tunnel. Many firemen attempted to rescue trapped workers in the tunnel without masks or equipment. According to the Tribune "It was impossible, even with the masks, to remain below a half hour. Many firemen overstayed the air limit of twenty minutes in their oxygen containers and were themselves rescued."

An iron worker, perched on the west tower of the Sky Ride, drinks an Edelweiss beer during construction of the World's Fair in 1933. When completed, the Sky Ride consisted of two, 625-foot-tall towers that straddled the lagoon between Northerly Island and the lakefront. The ride had rocket-shaped cars that transported 36 fair-goers across the lagoon at a time.

Carey Orr takes a break in 1954 from his typical diatribe against Americans ignoring the real spirit of Thanksgiving. Here the familiy returns to the farm to visit Grandpa. Published Nov. 25, 1954.

Firefighter William Fitzgerald is visited by John Mahoney, from left, John Fitzgerald (William's brother), and Capt. James Cotter of Squad A at St. Anthony's Hospital on April 14, 1931. Fitzgerald was one of the many firefighters that were injured while trying to save the laborers and other firefighters trapped in the sanitary district tunnel during the fire.

The Bud Billiken parade in 1976. (Tribune archive photo by George Quinn)

Ald. Charlie Chew and boxer Muhammad Ali ride in the Bud Billiken Parade on Aug. 9, 1975.

An inside view of the air chamber where 16 men were trapped overnight while a fire raged outside the tunnel door at 22nd and Laflin Streets on April 13 and 14, 1931.

Fireman Otis Loftus, center with helmet in hands, is helped out of the elevator shaft at the sanitary district tunnel fire. Loftus was with Squad 8.

The 41st annual Bud Billiken Parade at 39th and King Drive in Chicago in August 1970.

A firefighter is removed from the unfinished sanitary district tunnel after attempting to rescue trapped workers.

John McCutcheon makes light of recent trouble in the stock market with a clever twist on the Thanksgiving speech. Published Nov. 28, 1929.

From left, Beverly Glenn, 12, Elizabeth Barnes, 11, and Rita Black, are baton twirlers in the Bud Billiken Parade of 1951.

Laborer Dominick Palisaitis with son William, left, and laborer Peter Rakulski at St. Anthony's Hospital on April 14, 1931. Palisaitis and Rakulski were part of the 16 men who were trapped over night in an air chamber 35 feet below the surface.

On April 15, 1931, investigators from the coroner's jury look at the spot where the fire started in the sanitary district tunnel below 22nd Street.

Paraders march in the Bud Billiken Parade on Aug. 14, 1982.

Carey Orr's go-to sentiment on Thanksgiving year after year: Americans are spoiled and don't appreciate how good we have it. Published Nov. 27, 1947.

Fire Chief Thomas Geary of the 8th battalion with nurse Eileen Geary, 18, his daughter, on April 14, 1931 at St. Anthony's Hospital. Geary had been carried out of the sanitary district tunnel unconscious after he and other firefighters attempted to enter the tunnel and save trapped workers.

John McCutcheon bemoans an early winter on Nov. 24, 1926.

Firefighters worked through the night on April 13, 1931, to rescue laborers and firefighters trapped in the sanitary district tunnel while a fire raged 35 feet under the surface. The Tribune reported, "Into the mouth of the shaft were played two high power spotlights mounted on fire department trucks. So dense was the smoke most of the time that the beams failed to penetrate more than half of the 25 feet down [the shaft]."

Announcer Eddie Lovett, center, shows off Martin Laurello, the "Revolving Head," left, and Demetrio Ortis, the "Human Twister", at Ripley's Odditorium on June 7, 1934. Robert Ripley first displayed his collection of oddities to the public at the World's Fair.

An evocative Carey Orr cartoon pictures the World War II GI and his family thinking about each other. Published Nov. 23, 1944.

The Sky Ride soared over the lagoon between Northerly Island and the lakefront in 1933. One Tribune reporter wrote of the ride: "You get off the elevator and, when your turn comes, enter either the upper or lower half of a large steel capsule set with windows. They seal you in and start you off, bumping slightly, for a ride across the lagoon to the tower on the other side. It costs you 40 cents a head to get this sky view of the Fair, and another forty to go to the top of each tower. These are about as high as the Woolworth building, being 625 feet up, and the view, particularly at night, is gorgeous. A clear day in the towers gives you an idea of the vastness of the spreading city below you. The greatest city in America it will be one day."

South Side beauties ride in the Bud Billiken Parade on Aug. 7, 1948.

Mrs. Mary Paleones, from left, Mrs. Josephine Palisaitis and her son William Palisaitis at the 22nd Street tunnel disaster on April 13, 1931. Laborer John Paleones was one of the eleven men killed in the sanitary tunnel fire, while Dominick Palisaitis survived in an air chamber 35 feet below ground.

John McCutcheon finds another clever twist on the holiday: Returning collegians shock their parents. Published on Nov. 29, 1928.

Laborers are put into ambulances and sent to St. Anthony's Hospital after being rescued from the tunnel fire. Fifty-four firefighters and laborers were injured and treated at the hospital.

An unsigned cartoon published Nov. 27, 1918, marks the end of World War I.

Lt. Conrad Wynne, of squad 10, is pulled out of the smoke-filled elevator shaft of the sanitary district tunnel on April 14, 1931.

A group of Seminole Indian children pose in the Seminole Village in 1933 at the Century of Progres Exposition. The Seminole tribe, which entertained the crowds at the fair by wrestling alligators, was from the Florida Everglades.

Each year, two youngsters get to be the parade's king and queen, seen here at the Bud Billiken Parade along at 39th Street and King Drive in Chicago on Aug. 8, 1970.

A crowd of firefighters and workers gathers at the unfinished sanitary district tunnel at 22nd and Laflin Streets in Chicago to help with the rescue mission.

Winnie Hannon and Beto Parlato re-enact a bullfight in the Mexican Village on June 8, 1934.

Women wave from a Navy recruiting float in the Bud Billiken Day Parade as it passes 49th Street and South Parkway in 1958.

The Chrysler Motors Building, designed by John A. Holabird and John W. Root Jr., at the Century of Progress Exposition in 1933.

According to the Tribune, on April 14, 1931, "Groups of men dug feverishly beneath the pavement of 22nd Street to reach the concrete [sanitary district] tunnel, the top of which is seventeen feet below the surface." They hoped to dig holes in the tunnel and rescue the firefighters and laborers who had been trapped 35 feet below the surface overnight. Bystanders watched the progress from across 22nd Street.

The crowd watches the Bud Billiken Parade on Aug. 8, 1981.

Division Marshal Patrick J. Egan, left, shakes hands with Peter Pirsch, the manufacturer of the smoke ejector, which was used to rescue 16 men from the unfinished sanitary district tunnel fire on April 14, 1931. Pirsch drove the smoke ejector from Kenosha, Wisc. when he heard of the disaster. The ejector was able to blow out the deadly smoke and fumes, allowing firefighters to rescue the 16 workers and firefighters that were trapped overnight in an air chamber in the tunnel. Fire Chief Charles W. Ringer of the Minneapolis fire department invented the machine.

Cement worker Albert Martino recovers at St. Anthony's Hospital. Martino testified later that he heard an explosion in the tunnel around 6:30 on Monday evening. He said he found a light flame in the tunnel and vainly tried to extinguish it and notified other laborers and officials.

The annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic has been held every August in Chicago since 1929. Founded by Chicago Defender publisher Robert S. Abbott, it became the largest African-American parade in the United States, founded to be a celebration of African-American life. Here, Chicago Mayor Martin Kennelly, left, and Chicago Defender Publisher John Sengstacke attend the parade in 1948.

John McCutcheon peers into the future and sees Europe's trouble infringing on America's "happiness and prosperity" in the Nov. 30, 1916, edition. The U.S. entered World War I the next year.

A fireman is assisted from the scene after a trip down the elevator shaft into the sanitary district tunnel on April 13, 1931. Many firefighters went into the smoke-filled tunnel without masks or oxygen tanks.

Fireman Irving Strom, 28, volunteered to use a newer type mask delivered from the Oak Park fire department. According to Tribune reports, Strom made seventeen trips into the tunnel and brought up six bodies and one person alive. Editors note: this image is partially damaged.

Workers and firemen surround the smoke-filled entrance to the intercepting sewer tunnel at 22nd and Laflin Streets on April 13, 1931. According to the Tribune, "It was down this shaft that fireman after fireman was lowered during the morning hours."

Workers and firemen surround the smoke-filled entrance to the intercepting sewer tunnel on April 13, 1931. According to the Tribune, "It was down this shaft that fireman after fireman was lowered during the morning hours."

President Harry Truman, from left, John Sengstacke and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley ride in the 1956 Bud Billiken Pardae. Sengstacke was the publisher of the Chicago Defender.

Firefighter Anthony Hrubec is visited by his wife and son at St. Anthony's Hospital on April 14, 1931. Hrubec was one of the 54 people injured while trying to save lives at the sanitary tunnel disaster.