Remembering an Accident: Grover Shoe Factory Disaster
On March 20, 1905, 58 employees died and 150 people were injured during a boiler explosion in Brockton, Massachusetts. Among the 300+ employees who worked at the factory, about 100 went unharmed.
The Grover Shoe Factory is the largest boiler disaster ever recorded in American Industrial Industry.
What happened? An over-worked pressure boiler exploded and shot through the roof of the factory causing the roof to collapse. The floors below collapsed because of the extra weight added by each collapsing floor, leaving the workers trapped in the rubble.
The combination of broken gas lines, air, and ventilation caused the factory and the buildings around it to become a blazing inferno.
The boiler traveled several hundred feet causing damages to a number of buildings and eventually landing on a house.
To read the full PDF about this incident click here.
Before the explosion
After the explosion
The boiler and the house it landed on
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I believe my great uncle perished in this fire. Is there a list anywhere of the people who died in this fire?
I’m so sorry. There is not a list that we are aware of.