Cleveland, Ohio
This article is inspired by all of the recent gas leaks that occurred in Independence and Solon, and the explosion in Twinsburg due to the construction in those areas.
There’s a reason why the house styles change pretty dramatically when you’re wandering around north of St. Clair on East 61st and East 62nd Streets. Back in 1944, there was a catastrophic explosion and fire that started on the East Ohio Gas Company grounds just north of what is now Grdina Park.
The East Ohio Gas Company
In the 1940s, the gas company grounds, unfortunately (still) located in a residential area, had above-ground storage containers that held natural gas. On October 20, 1944, one of them cracked open and started leaking liquid gas.
Before anyone could contain the leak, it turned into vapor and, thanks to an open flame nearby, exploded. The vapor poured down the nearby streets, bringing more destruction, and houses began to catch fire. A firefighter at the time described it as if the fire were fed by a flamethrower.
Subsequent explosions occurred, turning the area into an inferno of burning houses, cars, and buildings. Over the two days the fire burned, it damaged more than 98 acres of land. 81 homes were lost, as well as 217 automobiles. 15 nearby factories were damaged, two of which were entirely destroyed.
Even worse, 129 people died, an additional 32 were never found, and around 400 people were injured and sought medical care at a nearby hospital or the makeshift field clinic near the grounds.
After the Fire
Once the fire was extinguished, a rebuilding campaign began. Anton Grdina, well known in the Slovenian community, founded the St. Clair-Norwood Rehabilitation Corp and provided the organization with $5,000 to get started.
The group purchased several burned-out lots and built 16 new homes, helping revitalize this part of the destroyed St. Clair-Norwood neighborhood. Others pitched in, and around 10 years later, the area was rebuilt, and you’d never know that those blocks were once totally destroyed.
Part of the land formerly owned by the East Ohio Gas Company became a park. Grdina Park (named after Anton Grdina and conveniently located on Grdina Road) is still there, and even has an historical marker to remind everyone of the tragic event.
Sources
- Cleveland Police Museum
- Cleveland Historical
- Cleveland.com
- Newspapers.com
- Cleveland Scene
- Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
- They Died Crawling by John Stark Bellamy II
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