Tuesday, July 31, 2018

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 31


July 31, 1921 – More than 60 persons were injured, two stores, a cigar store and a jewelry store, were wrecked and two others damaged, and a part of the loop district was thrown into darkness for nearly an hour early today while the cause of the blasts was being corrected, the result of a series of gas explosions in underground electric wire conduits on Nicollet Avenue downtown Minneapolis.

It began yesterday evening when portions of pavement were blown up on Nicollet between Sixth and Seventh Streets. Geysers of flames were sent into the air from 10:10 p.m. until early today.

The first explosion blew the cover of a manhole on the northwest of the street 35 feet into the air, and a ten foot stream of fire shot out just as firemen arrived, called by a passerby who had noticed smoke coming from the manhole.


Minneapolis Manhole Cover1

A large crowd gathered and a second explosion, shortly after 11 p.m., burst into the middle of it from the first manhole, hurling those near in every direction, breaking a large hole in the pavement and demolishing the United Cigar Store at 525 Nicollet Ave and damaging the Joseph H. Green store adjoining. Flying glass was the primary source of injuries for people in the blast area.



Cigar Store Wrecked in Blast2



While the injured lay stunned, a mob broke for the demolished cigar store and began to loot it. Police reserves drove the crowd away, and a cordon was drawn across every street a block from the scene.

Picking up loose diamonds from the street, mixed with bits of glass from broken windows, was the unique experience of Joseph H. Green, proprietor of the jewelry store at 624 Nicollet Ave.

Green was called by the police early today after the last of the explosions had blown out the front of his store, and scattered the display window’s contents over the sidewalk.

Diamonds loose and set in rings and necklaces, watches and other jewelry, had been hurled into the street. Green recovered most of his jewelry. At daylight, however, when police were cleaning the broken glass from the sidewalks, they found other diamonds among the glass.

Officials of the electric company and city officials continue to be perplexed as to the cause of the explosion.

“It is possible that heat generated by the recent long hot spell broke down insulation in the cables resulting in the short circuit, which seems to have started the explosion,” said R. F. Pack, vice president of the Minneapolis General Electric Company.

Police and fire officials were of the opinion, however, that some form of gas must have gotten into the conduits, either by the breaking down of insulation or by leakage of illuminating gas from some nearby main.

Mining experts and chemistry professors at the University of Minnesota, while declining to venture an opinion on the probable cause of the explosion until they had gone over the ground personally, were speculating today as to a possible origin.

It was suggested by one authority on chemistry that rubber insulation, if subjected to intense heat, would form a heavy gas, which would readily ignite and explode if mixed with air.

The most common theory advanced was that illuminating gas or sewer gas had entered the conduits and had been touched off by a spark.

The Sunday Journal
; “Sixty Hurt in Six Downtown Blasts. Two Nicollet Avenue Stores Wrecked; Loop Thrown Into Darkness. Explosions Send Up Geysers of Fire—57 Victims Go to General Hospital—Twenty Physicians in Service. Five Reported in Serious Condition; Mobs Loot Shops. Short Circuit in Electrical Wire Conduits, Igniting Gas; Blamed for Blasts—Spectators Fall Into Hole.”; Minneapolis, Minn.; July 31, 1921; pp. 1 & 4.


The Minneapolis Morning Tribune
; “Property Loss in Nicollet Mystery Blast Over $50,000. Experts Advance Various Theories as to Cause of Explosion. All but Two of 30 Victims Taken to Hospital Are Discharged.”; August 1, 1921; pp. 1 & 5.

1
https://sidewalkcity.wordpress.com/tag/manhole-cover/
2
The Minneapolis Morning Journal; August 1, 1921; p. 1.

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