Pemberton Mill Collapse

More than 600 children, women, and men were working in the Pemberton Mill when the five-story brick building's walls suddenly buckled and crashed on January 10, 1860. The horrible sound could be heard for a good distance, accompanied by ground movement that rivalled a small earthquake. Around 2,000 people gathered to pull the dead and wounded out of tons of rubble, which lay 30 to 50 feet high. Cries from the trapped filled the air and frantic onlookers ran through the streets in mourning and disbelief. City Hall was converted to a temporary hospital. A father desperately seeking his daughter caught the debris on fire with his lantern, and dozens who were trapped but alive burned to death. Around 145 died and 166 were injured, many of them Irish immigrants. While a mystery at the time, an inquest proved that poor quality posts were used to hold up the cotton mill's floors. The architect was censured for culpable neglect but never accepted responsibility.