[DISASTERS] [CLEVELAND] [PHOTOGRAPHY] 13 photographs showing the damage and destruction of the East Ohio Gas explosion of 1944

[photographer not identified]

Published by [not published?], [Cleveland], 1944

About this Item

Thirteen photographs, each measuring about 3.5" x 6", including white border and frilly textured edges. Photographs uniformly - though mildly - curled, and there are a few stray stains and corner creases. Only significant flaw is a large chip to one photograph, which does not appear to have excised any significant content. Overall in very good condition. Accompanied by an envelope which reads, "East Ohio Gas Co. Oct. 20th 1944 E. 55th + St. Clair" (ground zero of the explosion, in eastern downtown Cleveland). The East Ohio Gas explosion occurred in inner-city Cleveland on October 20, 1944. An above-ground storage tank filled with liquefied natural gas emitted a vapor which ignited upon contact with sewage lines. The explosion was horrific and instantaneous, killing over 100 people and destroying a one-square-mile area in the Glenville neighborhood, leaving hundreds homeless and with their possessions destroyed. The blast has since been calculated as being about 1/6 as destructive as the Hiroshima detonation. Since it occurred during the fever pitch of America's invasion of France and Germany near the end of World War II, it was somewhat overshadowed by international news at the time, and is not part of national memory (compared to say the Johnstown Flood or the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906), although it is well-remembered by some of Cleveland's eldest residents who lived through it. Two of the photographs are captioned on the verso. Those captions read, "Remains of a body on stretcher," and "Houses stood here once." in the first photograph there is a pile of completely unrecognizable human remains on a stretcher (indistinguishable from rubble), and the other photograph shows a row of charred trees, evenly spaced, with completely flattened, small piles of rubble behind. Other photographs depict fully burned cars, bare chimneys, and partially destroyed brick buildings. Close examination reveals that the wood-frame houses which lined the blocks essentially vaporized; it's as though they were never there. One photograph appears to depict the exploded tank, which is mangled and appears almost deflated, or melted, while somehow another tank, right next to it, appears to have survived intact. A scarce and valuable visual record of this tragedy; among the worst industrial disasters in North American history. Seller Inventory # 8283

Bibliographic Details

Title: [DISASTERS] [CLEVELAND] [PHOTOGRAPHY] 13 ...

Publisher: [not published?], [Cleveland]

Publication Date: 1944

Condition: Very good