Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion: A Brief History
On October 20, 1944, a storage tank filled with over 90 million cubic feet of natural gas exploded, destroying everything within a one-mile radius in a wall of fire. The blaze continued uncontrolled for over nine hours.
The East Ohio Gas Co. storage plant explosion was labeled as a great technical failure due to the plant's uniquely flawed construction. According to the Youngstown Vindicator, engineers designed the plant's "gas-holders" in a way that made an accident inevitable.
By October 22, the death toll continued to climb but the cause of the East Ohio gas explosion remained a mystery. Figures of missing people and seared bodies changed throughout the day, as police officers, coroners and the Red Cross updated their head counts. Although multiple investigations probed for the cause of the accident, officials reported no progress was made.
In the days after the explosion, reports estimated a possible death toll of 200 people. Out of the 100 people missing, 49 of them were East Ohio Gas Co. employees. Company officials reported damages of more than $4 million, while property damage figures ranged from $7 million to $15 million.
A few bodies lay at the county morgue -- but many of the Cleveland disaster victims were reduced to ash and dust. Rescue workers searched the 50-block east side area for bones and articles of clothing. Pieces of metal, cloth and rings brought tears of recognition, as they were some of the only ways to identify loved ones.
Then we had bodies, oh lots of bodies. But they were whole, they were like people -- not like now, with nothing but ashes and dust, ashes and dust.
Sixty-one nameless dead were buried in a circular grave on Nov. 15, all victims of the gas explosion. An estimated 2,000 people gathered during a burial, which was officiated by churchmen of the Protestant, Jewish and Catholic faiths. The official death toll was set at 130.
On April 25, 1946, Chief Justice of the common pleas court praised the East Ohio Gas Co. for its rapid and willing settlements after facing more than 2,300 claims and lawsuits. Officials said the settled lawsuits amounted to a total of $3,893,812.
