Smith Distributing Company, 1954
southeast corner of US 42 and Center Street
| At 3:15 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1959, the building above very literally blew up. 17 people were hospitalized, 31 homes were ruined and one man, Jack Smith, died. |
After the explosion
Neighborhood houses damaged.
Home of Gilbert Hill; rebuilt as one-story home
This home was 150 feet from the blast.
This is Jack Smith's car, and all that was left of the building.
Gilbert Hill home, east of the blast
The Mayor of Warsaw, Poland, sent his sympathy
The Otto Scudder home
rebuilt as a one-story house
Exterior and Interior of the home of Mrs. Pearl Brown
Home of Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Craig, E. Main
Warsaw Furniture Factory
| The author of these pages was sitting in Glencoe at the moment of the blast, and can personally testify that the blast could be felt across the county. But then, reports of the explosion also came in from Elsmere, Carrollton and Williamstown, so Glencoe's not such a stretch. The Kentucky Post & Time-Star's story is here, a few random notes are here, and the obituary of Jack Smith, who died in the explosion, is here. |