Circus Fire Memorial to Be Dedicated in July

A memorial to the 168 people who died in the 1944 circus fire will be dedicated on July 6, 2005, the 61st anniversary of the disaster, organizers tell the Hartford Courant. The ceremony was originally planned for this month, but it had to be postponed because a key part of the memorial -- an 8-foot wide bronze medallion centerpiece, engraved with the names of the fire victims -- could not be completed in time. The memorial will stand on the site of the fire, behind the Fred D. Wish Elementary School on Barbour Street, in the city's North End.