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| {{Short description|1944 industrial accident}} | |||
| '''Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion''' occurred on the afternoon of Friday, ], ]. The resulting gas leak, explosion and fires killed 130 people and destroyed a one square mile area on ]'s east side. | |||
| {{more footnotes|date=August 2015}} | |||
| {{Infobox News event | |||
| | image_name = | |||
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| | date = {{start date and age|1944|10|20}} | |||
| | time = | |||
| | place = ], Ohio, U.S. | |||
| | coordinates = | |||
| | reported death(s) = 131 | |||
| | reported injuries = | |||
| }} | |||
| ] | |||
| The '''Cleveland East Ohio Gas explosion''' occurred on the afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1944. The resulting ], ] and ] killed 131 people and destroyed a one-square-mile area on the east side of ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Segall|first=Grant|last2=Dealer|first2=The Plain|date=2011-10-18|title='I knew everything was gone' – the East Ohio Gas explosion (republished)|url=https://www.cleveland.com/pdextra/2011/10/i_knew_everything_was_gone_--.html|access-date=2022-01-02|website=cleveland|language=en}}</ref> | |||
| ==History== | |||
| HISTORY OF THE DOMINION EAST OHIO GAS COMPANY | |||
| The ] Company built a full-scale commercial ] (LNG) plant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1940, just after a successful pilot plant was built by its sister company, Hope Natural Gas Company of West Virginia. This was the first such plant in the world. Originally it had three spheres, approximately {{convert|63|ft|m|0}} in diameter containing LNG at {{cvt|−260|F|C}}. Each sphere held the equivalent of about {{convert|50|e6gal|m3}}<ref name=":0" /> of natural gas. A fourth tank, a cylinder, was added in 1942. It had an equivalent capacity of {{convert|100|e6gal|m3}} of gas. The plant operated successfully for three years. The stored liquid was regasified and put into the mains when cold snaps hit and extra capacity was needed; formerly, some customers' gas service was curtailed during a cold snap.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Harding|first=Richard|date=1944-10-21|title=The Byproduct Fuel Gas Reserves Beating Emergency Helping Neighbors|page=3|work=Cleveland Plain Dealer|url=https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy2.cpl.org/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&t=mody%3A1021%21October%2B21&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1944%20-%201944&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=1944%20east%20ohio%20gas&docref=image%2Fv2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40EANX-NB-126D9B563B48EF18%402431385-1268B07E815EABF1%402&origin=image%2Fv2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40EANX-NB-126D9B563B48EF18%402431385-1268B07E81D5195B%403-1268B07E81D5195B%40|access-date=2022-01-02}}</ref> | |||
| ==The disaster== | |||
| As the first company to import more-affordable natural gas into a region that had previously relied on costly manufactured gas, the East Ohio Gas Company (later named The Dominion East Ohio Gas Company) played a significant role in state and national history. The East Ohio Gas Company (EOG) was incorporated on September 8, 1898 as a marketing company for the National Transit Company, the natural gas arm of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. The company launched its business by selling to consumers in northeast Ohio gas produced by another National Transit subsidiary, Hope Natural Gas Company. | |||
| At 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1944, the cylindrical above-ground ] number 4, holding ] in the ] Company's tank farm, began to emit a ] that poured from a seam<ref>{{Cite news|date=1944-10-21|title=Many Dead, Scores Missing in Gas Blast|page=2|work=Cleveland Plain Dealer|url=https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy2.cpl.org/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&t=&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22east%20ohio%20gas%22&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=oct%2021%201944%20-%20oct%2023%201944&docref=image%2Fv2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40EANX-NB-126D9B563B48EF18%402431385-1268B07E80ED857D%401&origin=image%2Fv2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40EANX-NB-126D9B563B48EF18%402431385-1268B07E815EABF1%402-1268B07E815EABF1%40|access-date=2022-01-02}}</ref> on the side of the tank. Experts criticized the cylinder's untested shape and materials.<ref name=":0" /> The tank was located near ] on East 61st Street, and winds from the lake pushed the vapor into a mixed-use section of Cleveland, where it dropped into the ] lines via the ]s located in the ]s.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1944-10-22|title=Cause of Liquid Gas Tank Blasts and Fires Is Mystery|page=33|work=Cleveland Plain Dealer|url=https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy2.cpl.org/apps/news/document-view?p=EANX-NB&t=&sort=YMD_date%3AA&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=%22east%20ohio%20gas%22&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=oct%2021%201944%20-%20oct%2023%201944&docref=image/v2%3A122AFBBA107AC9E4%40EANX-NB-126D9B5BB5F1D0DD%402431386-1268B07E99B17B28%4032-1268B07E99B17B28%40|access-date=2022-01-02}}</ref><!-- root cause needs to be explicated, if possible. A small leak from a tank seam would not have been sufficient to fill the city sewers with LNG, and thus NG vapors, and cause the massive explosion. Something else involved led to a catastrophic failure of the tank(s) leading to the massive amount of LNG flowing into the storm sewers. I'll look for better sources in the coming months. --> | |||
| As the gas mixture flowed and mixed with air and sewer gas, the mixture ignited. In the ensuing explosion, ] covers launched skyward as jets of fire erupted from depths of the sewer lines. One ] was found several miles east in the Cleveland neighborhood of ]. | |||
| Rubber-manufacturing city Akron was the first to take advantage of the lower prices for natural gas. It granted the East Ohio Gas Company a franchise in September 1898, the same month that the company was founded. During the winter of 1898-1899, the National Transit Company built a 10-inch wrought iron pipeline that stretched from the Pipe Creek on the Ohio River to Akron, with branches to Canton, Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Uhrichsville, and Dennison. The first gas from the pipeline burned in Akron on May 10, 1899. | |||
| At first it was thought that the disaster was contained, and spectators returned home thinking that the matter was being taken care of by the ]. At 3:00 p.m., a second above-ground tank exploded, leveling the tank farm. | |||
| The East Ohio Gas Company next set its sights on Cleveland. Progressive mayor Tom L. Johnson considered natural gas a boon to the working people of Cleveland, and the city granted a franchise to the company in June 1902. Gas arrived in Cleveland via the East Ohio Gas Company on January 1, 1903. Elizur Strong, the first president of East Ohio Gas, led the company's efforts to build pipelines to supply gas to consumers in the area. An innovation in pipe-building, hinged sections, allowed the construction of longer and wider pipes. | |||
| Making use of the new technique, the company built an 18-inch wide and 118-mile-long main from the Ohio River to Cleveland. Another pipe connected Canton and Cleveland. Martin B. Daly, who had been instrumental in negotiating the Cleveland franchise, succeeded Strong as president of the company in 1906. During his tenure the company expanded into Cleveland's suburbs and began serving major industrial customers in northeastern Ohio. | |||
| However, the explosions and fires continued to occur, trapping many who had returned to what they thought was the safety of their own homes. Housewives who were at home suddenly found their homes engulfed in flame as the explosion traveled through the sewers and up through drains. The following day, ] wire stories contained quotes from survivors, many of whom were at home cleaning in preparation for the coming ]. Survivors said that within a split second after the explosion, their homes and clothes were on fire. | |||
| In 1908, the East Ohio Gas Company absorbed the Mahoning Gas Fuel Company in Youngstown, and built a gas line from Canton to the Youngstown and Warren areas. The company also took over several manufactured gas firms, purchasing the Cleveland Gas Light and Coke Company and People's Gas Light Company in 1910, the Canton Gas Light and Coke Company in 1911, and Akron's Mohican Oil and Gas in 1913. To meet increased demands generated by the integration of those companies' customers into the East Ohio Gas Company, a 20-inch main was constructed from the gas fields of West Virginia. | |||
| ] ] Dr. Samuel Gerber estimated that the initial death toll stood at 200; however, Gerber was quoted in newspaper wire stories stating the magnitude of the fire and the intense temperatures had the power to vaporize human flesh and bone, making an exact count impossible until weeks after the disaster. The final death toll was lower than the coroner's initial estimates.<ref></ref> | |||
| The company marked two notable milestones as it entered the World War I era. It began publishing a periodical for its 1,900 employees in 1914, and, in 1916, it constructed a six-story office building in Cleveland. When the United States entered the war, 134 company employees joined the service. To meet the need for workers as the number of men in the workforce plummeted, the company began hiring women as tellers and collectors for the first time. | |||
| The toll could have been significantly higher had the event occurred after local schools had let out and working parents returned to their homes for the evening. In all 225 persons were injured; over 700 people were left homeless, and seventy-nine homes, two factories, numerous cars, and miles of underground infrastructure were destroyed. | |||
| At the end of World War I, the East Ohio Gas Company entered a period of significant change, both within and beyond the company. The company introduced an annuity and benefit plan in 1918. Regulation, first by the state and then, during the Great Depression, by the federal government, became a fact of life for gas companies. Both during and after the war, demand increased and gas supplies from West Virginia diminished, causing gas shortages. Measures such as efforts to make gas appliances safer and more efficient and raising awareness about the importance of conservation sufficed to protect the supply of gas to East Ohio customers until World War II. | |||
| Following the explosions and fires, East Ohio Gas worked to assure the public that the destroyed plant held only 24 hours' worth of gas for the city. Many families living in the area not only lost their homes, but stocks, bonds, and cash, which many kept at home. Estimates for destroyed personal and industrial property ranged between $7 million and $15 million. | |||
| During much of the inter-war period, two brothers presided over the East Ohio Gas Company and led the company through its struggles with supply shortages, competition from electricity, increased federal control, and the Great Depression. Ralph W. Gallagher succeeded Martin Daly as company president when he died in 1926. | |||
| Gallagher headed the company until 1933, when his brother Charles E. Gallagher took over. Charles Gallagher was president until 1940. Under Gallagher direction, the company managed to weather the depression without a single employee furlough. Charles Gallagher also managed to guide the company through the aftermath of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which forced Standard Oil to divest itself of public utilities as subsidiaries. That divestiture resulted in the creation of Consolidated Natural Gas Company (CNG) in 1943 as a holding company for Standard Oil Company's natural gas concerns, including the East Ohio Gas Company. | |||
| The explosion also had a long-range impact on the ] industry. Until the disaster, above-ground low-pressure storage of natural gas, used as fuel for homes, office buildings, and factories, was a common sight in cities across the US. Following the disaster, utility companies and communities began to rethink their natural gas storage systems, and below-ground storage of natural gas grew in popularity. | |||
| On the eve of World War II, J. French Robinson assumed the presidency of the company. It was his task to meet growing demands for natural gas by defense industries in northeastern Ohio. Underground storage pools were opened in 1941 and 1942. The company built a 120-mile pipeline across Ohio in 1943 to tap into pipelines that brought southwestern gas into Ohio. In 1944, gas became available from Hope Natural Gas, another CNG company, when a pipeline linked Hope to gas fields in Texas. The East Ohio Gas Company also made tremendous strides in the liquefaction, storage, and regasification of natural gas. Liquefaction and regasification made it possible to reduce the volume of gas by ratio of six hundred to one, which reduced the amount of storage capacity the company needed. | |||
| The disaster plays a major role in ]'s 1965 novel ''The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread'' and also in ]'s novel '']'' published in 2011. | |||
| The company built a plant in Cleveland in 1941 for performing the process of liquefaction and regasification. Three tanks were built to hold 60-million cubic feet of gas each. A fourth tank was added in 1943 that held 120 million cubic feet, setting the stage for a historic industrial disaster. Gas escaped from the fourth tank and ignited into a ball of flame that swept a mile-wide area and claimed 129 lives. In the aftermath of the explosion and fire, the company paid $7,000,000 in compensation to injured workers or families of workers killed in the disaster. It also created a scholarship fund for children of employees who perished. | |||
| The East Ohio Gas explosion was calculated to equal a 2.43 kiloton TNT explosion or one-sixth of the ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Day Cleveland Exploded: The Unthinkable Disaster of the East Ohio Gas Co. Explosion of 1944|url=https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/the-day-cleveland-exploded-70-years-later-the-unthinkable-disaster-of-the-east-ohio-gas-co-explosion/Content?oid=4391878|access-date=2022-01-03|website=Cleveland Scene|language=en-us}}</ref> | |||
| Following World War II, demand for natural gas skyrocketed. The East Ohio Gas Company built four new trunk pipelines in the first five years after the war and added six hundred new workers before 1950. Company growth spurred efforts to modernize and institute a formal training program for new workers. | |||
| Despite the expansion of company operations, East Ohio Gas was unable to keep up with the increasing level of demand for natural gas. Severe winters aggravated the problem, prompting a ban on new gas connections and curtailment of industrial usage. Relief came when the federal government sold two interstate pipelines to the Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation in 1947, and the company increased the importation of natural gas from the southwest. | |||
| The use of gas from others states gave rise to federal efforts to regulate the company and lengthy legal battles over the issue. Another remedy for gas shortages was the new practice of storing natural gas underground in depleted gas fields, which allowed large volumes of natural gas to be kept in reserve. | |||
| ==References== | |||
| William G. Rogers assumed the presidency of East Ohio Gas in 1951, and a new era began. To compete with suppliers of electric power, the company aggressively advertised its gas and gas appliances, adopting uniforms, standardizing the color of their service trucks, and taking advantage of the new medium of television. A TV program promoting natural gas use, Through the Kitchen Window, was telecast from the company office building. | |||
| {{Reflist}} | |||
| *AP News Wire Releases, October 21, 1944, and October 23, 1944.{{nonspecific|date=August 2016}} | |||
| *, ''Encyclopedia of Cleveland History'', Indiana University Press. | |||
| *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325184429/http://www3.gendisasters.com/ohio/1972/cleveland-oh-gas-company-plant-explosion-oct-1944 |date=2015-03-25}}, GenDisasters.com. | |||
| {{coord|41.52703|-81.648847|display=title|region:US-OH_type:event|format=dms}} | |||
| The modern era continued to unfold under the presidency of Robert W. Ramsdell, who took over in 1957, when Rogers became the board chairman. The company moved into a new headquarters in 1959. Computers were introduced for billing work, and professional business management methods replaced tradition in the offices. The structure of the company was reorganized and new departments were created. | |||
| During the same era, conflicts arose between the company and government regulators. | |||
| The company insisted that regulation contributed to gas supply problems, and regulators contended that prices for natural gas must be kept low and consistent. Despite problems with regulation, the company flourished, and industrial sales expanded. Marketing and sales were coupled with new innovations to serve specific consumer needs, such as cogeneration, in which gas is used to produce electricity. | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion}} | |||
| G.J. Tankersley became president of The East Ohio Gas Company in 1966. He also became chairman of the American Gas Association (AGA) in 1971. Tankersley continued to emphasize marketing and sales, but a looming gas shortage increasingly occupied his attention. To help offset the crisis, the company, in partnership with its parent company, Consolidated Natural Gas, revived gas exploration and production in Ohio and West Virginia. It also stressed conservation and included conservation education in its sales efforts. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| The height of the crisis came in the mid-1970s, just after Francis Wright became president of the company. The federal government, reacting to the full-fledged energy crisis, placed a moratorium on new gas hookups between 1975 and 1978. Another complication was the severe winters of the period. Dudley Taw inherited the presidency and the crisis in 1975. A result of the energy crisis was increased employee and consumer activism. Employees were concerned about downsizing that resulted from the gas shortage, while consumers were frustrated about the problems with gas supply. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| Improving relationships between the East Ohio Gas Company, its employees and its consumers was an important mission for J. Richard Kelso, who became president in 1981. During the 1980s, the company also benefited from advancements in communications, computerization, and pipeline construction. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| The East Ohio Gas Company reflected on its history in 1988 when it celebrated its 90th anniversary. It made plans to create a historical center by soliciting historical materials and developing a system of cataloging and preserving them. A company history, The Spirit of Progress: The Story of the East Ohio Gas Company and The People Who Made It was published. In 1998, the company celebrated its centennial by creating a traveling exhibit and turning over its archives to the Ohio Historical Society so that they could be made available to the public at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor. | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| On January 28th, 2000, The East Ohio Gas Company officially became The Dominion East Ohio Gas Company. | |||
| ] | |||
| Bibliography: | |||
| http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/archlib/dominion/history.html | |||
Latest revision as of 21:26, 29 December 2024
1944 industrial accident | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Date | October 20, 1944; 80 years ago (1944-10-20) |
|---|---|
| Location | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Deaths | 131 |
The Cleveland East Ohio Gas explosion occurred on the afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1944. The resulting gas leak, explosion and fires killed 131 people and destroyed a one-square-mile area on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.
History
The East Ohio Gas Company built a full-scale commercial liquid natural gas (LNG) plant in Cleveland, Ohio in 1940, just after a successful pilot plant was built by its sister company, Hope Natural Gas Company of West Virginia. This was the first such plant in the world. Originally it had three spheres, approximately 63 feet (19 m) in diameter containing LNG at −260 °F (−162 °C). Each sphere held the equivalent of about 50 million US gallons (190,000 m) of natural gas. A fourth tank, a cylinder, was added in 1942. It had an equivalent capacity of 100 million US gallons (380,000 m) of gas. The plant operated successfully for three years. The stored liquid was regasified and put into the mains when cold snaps hit and extra capacity was needed; formerly, some customers' gas service was curtailed during a cold snap.
The disaster
At 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Friday, October 20, 1944, the cylindrical above-ground storage tank number 4, holding liquefied natural gas in the East Ohio Gas Company's tank farm, began to emit a vapor that poured from a seam on the side of the tank. Experts criticized the cylinder's untested shape and materials. The tank was located near Lake Erie on East 61st Street, and winds from the lake pushed the vapor into a mixed-use section of Cleveland, where it dropped into the sewer lines via the catch basins located in the street gutters.
As the gas mixture flowed and mixed with air and sewer gas, the mixture ignited. In the ensuing explosion, manhole covers launched skyward as jets of fire erupted from depths of the sewer lines. One manhole cover was found several miles east in the Cleveland neighborhood of Glenville.
At first it was thought that the disaster was contained, and spectators returned home thinking that the matter was being taken care of by the fire department. At 3:00 p.m., a second above-ground tank exploded, leveling the tank farm.
However, the explosions and fires continued to occur, trapping many who had returned to what they thought was the safety of their own homes. Housewives who were at home suddenly found their homes engulfed in flame as the explosion traveled through the sewers and up through drains. The following day, Associated Press wire stories contained quotes from survivors, many of whom were at home cleaning in preparation for the coming Sabbath. Survivors said that within a split second after the explosion, their homes and clothes were on fire.
Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Samuel Gerber estimated that the initial death toll stood at 200; however, Gerber was quoted in newspaper wire stories stating the magnitude of the fire and the intense temperatures had the power to vaporize human flesh and bone, making an exact count impossible until weeks after the disaster. The final death toll was lower than the coroner's initial estimates.
The toll could have been significantly higher had the event occurred after local schools had let out and working parents returned to their homes for the evening. In all 225 persons were injured; over 700 people were left homeless, and seventy-nine homes, two factories, numerous cars, and miles of underground infrastructure were destroyed.
Following the explosions and fires, East Ohio Gas worked to assure the public that the destroyed plant held only 24 hours' worth of gas for the city. Many families living in the area not only lost their homes, but stocks, bonds, and cash, which many kept at home. Estimates for destroyed personal and industrial property ranged between $7 million and $15 million.
The explosion also had a long-range impact on the natural gas industry. Until the disaster, above-ground low-pressure storage of natural gas, used as fuel for homes, office buildings, and factories, was a common sight in cities across the US. Following the disaster, utility companies and communities began to rethink their natural gas storage systems, and below-ground storage of natural gas grew in popularity.
The disaster plays a major role in Don Robertson's 1965 novel The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread and also in Sebastian Barry's novel On Canaan's Side published in 2011.
The East Ohio Gas explosion was calculated to equal a 2.43 kiloton TNT explosion or one-sixth of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
References
- ^ Segall, Grant; Dealer, The Plain (2011-10-18). "'I knew everything was gone' – the East Ohio Gas explosion (republished)". cleveland. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- Harding, Richard (1944-10-21). "The Byproduct Fuel Gas Reserves Beating Emergency Helping Neighbors". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- "Many Dead, Scores Missing in Gas Blast". Cleveland Plain Dealer. 1944-10-21. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- "Cause of Liquid Gas Tank Blasts and Fires Is Mystery". Cleveland Plain Dealer. 1944-10-22. p. 33. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
- Find a grave East Ohio Gas explosion Virtual Memorial list 109 victims by name
- "The Day Cleveland Exploded: The Unthinkable Disaster of the East Ohio Gas Co. Explosion of 1944". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
- AP News Wire Releases, October 21, 1944, and October 23, 1944.
- East Ohio Gas Co. Explosion and Fire, Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Indiana University Press.
- Cleveland, OH Gas Company Plant Explosion, Oct 1944Archived 2015-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, GenDisasters.com.
41°31′37″N 81°38′56″W / 41.52703°N 81.648847°W / 41.52703; -81.648847
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