Glenn, what a wonderful interview. I heard these stories my whole childhood. My mom was 8 months pregnant and down the street at CB Shelton’s. They were going to go down and watch the fire but CB hadn’t finished her breakfast dishes. My dad was delivering a load of lumber and got a cut on his ear when the blast blew out the windows. My grandfather had just left the little diner down there and was walking back to Republic Oil. He was knocked down and lost his glasses. My grandmother was the police dispatcher and was on duty. The fact that I had all four direct family members affected, but none severely injured or killed is a miracle.
What a great interview you did. The things you never learn in school. Somehow this seems like it should have been one of them. This made my jaw drop over some of the statistics, and the magnitude of it.
As a rule, we seem to be really good at selectively teaching our history. It was such a part of our daily lives that I was surprised when folks outside of my hometown bubble didn’t know about it. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Yes, that's true. I guess we kind of know that most of it is written by the white, male population. Much like I had never heard of Cahokia Mounds which was the largest prehistoric Native American village north of Mexico. It is in Illinois. Just learned that recently as well. Anyway, love your posts and photos. You have a ton of good stuff to read and look at.
Harrowing story! Quite a "first" interview. I'd never heard of this disaster but these industrial accidents must have been fairly common back in the day.
Glenn, what a wonderful interview. I heard these stories my whole childhood. My mom was 8 months pregnant and down the street at CB Shelton’s. They were going to go down and watch the fire but CB hadn’t finished her breakfast dishes. My dad was delivering a load of lumber and got a cut on his ear when the blast blew out the windows. My grandfather had just left the little diner down there and was walking back to Republic Oil. He was knocked down and lost his glasses. My grandmother was the police dispatcher and was on duty. The fact that I had all four direct family members affected, but none severely injured or killed is a miracle.
Thank you, Stacy, for reading and sharing your family's story of that historic day. It is a miracle.
Wow!
Thanks, Darin! It’s a remarkable story.
But where do you go when you start out at the top?
Almost 50 years later I’m still trying to figure that out.
What a great interview you did. The things you never learn in school. Somehow this seems like it should have been one of them. This made my jaw drop over some of the statistics, and the magnitude of it.
As a rule, we seem to be really good at selectively teaching our history. It was such a part of our daily lives that I was surprised when folks outside of my hometown bubble didn’t know about it. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Yes, that's true. I guess we kind of know that most of it is written by the white, male population. Much like I had never heard of Cahokia Mounds which was the largest prehistoric Native American village north of Mexico. It is in Illinois. Just learned that recently as well. Anyway, love your posts and photos. You have a ton of good stuff to read and look at.
Thank you!
Harrowing story! Quite a "first" interview. I'd never heard of this disaster but these industrial accidents must have been fairly common back in the day.
Sadly, they were. But this topped them all.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. Means a lot.