It was an eventful year for the city, marked early on by the devastating Great Sheffield Gale, a violent storm that wreaked havoc across numerous neighborhoods.
Friday, February 16, 1962, stands as one of the darkest and bleakest days in Sheffield's history, when hurricane-force winds battered the area.
The disaster claimed four lives, injured more than 250 people, and caused damage to approximately 70,000 homes. Power lines were brought down, causing widespread blackouts, and emergency services received thousands of calls within hours.
This gallery shows the damage wrought by the storm in parts of the city.
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As they have done numerous times before, the steel-forged Sheffielders’ persisted and made the best of a bad situation (something they would have to do again many years later after the collapse of the mining industry and steel manufacturing).
You’ll see children playing in the street and on roundabouts in playgrounds, who remembers those? Later in the year, Cliff Richard (later Sir Cliff) performed at Sheffield City Hall, did you see him perform?
In this look back into the archives, we get a glimpse into local life captured at various points throughout 1962.
1. The vicarage was so badly damaged it was beyond repair.
Sheffield Hurricane damage 16th February 1962 A workman starts demolition work at Brightside Vicarage in Firth Park Avenue, Sheffield, where Mrs Shirley Margaret Hill, wife of the vicar, the Rev Colin Hill, was killed during the gale. The vicarage was so badly damaged it was beyond repair.
2. Gale damage
Assessing the damage to Mr D Wilson's house on Skye Edge Avenue, Sheffield, following the gale in February 1962. Part of the roof was ripped away by the gale's intensity. | Picture Sheffield/Sheffield Newspapers
3. After the storm
Workers boarding up the front of a house in Crookes, Sheffield, after a gale had blown out the front bedroom wall in February 1962 | Sheffield Newspapers
4. After the gale
Youngsters watch as John Townend starts to clear up the wrecked window of Peter Pell's shop at Atterclife after the hurricane in Sheffield in February 1962