1919 — May 22, Dust Explosion and Fire, Douglas Starch Works, Cedar Rapids, IA –43-44

–43-44 Blanchard death toll range. Consensus appears to be 43 deaths, with Brucemore
providing names of 43 fatalities. The author of the Dust Safety Science site, however,
notes 44 deaths and provides a named fatality not noted in Brucemore.

–48 Galveston Daily News, TX. “In Passing of Another Eventful Year…,” 1 Jan 1920, 16.
–48 Penford Corporation Website.
–44 Dust Safety Science. “The Day Cedar Rapids Shook…Douglas Starch Works…Explosion of 1919.”
–44 kcrg.com, Cedar Rapids. “Memorial held for victims of Cedar Rapids explosion…” 5-20-2019.
–43 Brucemore. The History of Douglas & Company. The Douglas Era: 1906-1937. (Website)
–43 City of Cedar Rapids, IA. Cedar Rapids Fire Department History, “1919.” 2006.
–43 Mannan. Lee’s Loss Prevention in the Process Industries (V1/3rd Ed.), 2005, Table A1.2
–43 National Fire Protection Association. Report of Important Dust Explosions. 1957, p. 66.
–43 Price, David James. Dust Explosions: Causes and Methods of Prevention. 1922, p. 148.
–43 United States Grain Corporation. Grain Dust Explosion Prevention. June 1920, p. 18.
–43 Western Society of Engineers. Journal of…, Vol. XXVI, Dec 1921, No. 12, p. 409.
–40 Safety Engineering. “Recent Fires…Lessons,” Vol. 38, No. 1, July 1919, p. 41.

Narrative Information

Brucemore: “The Explosion that Shook the City.

“On Thursday, May 22, 1919, work proceeded as normal throughout the day…. Suddenly, an explosion boomed…. In a neighborhood across the river from the plant, a young child was thrown from a couch and died. People reported that the blast was so strong that they thought the explosion had come from inside their homes….

“The fire made initial efforts to move debris difficult. Once extinguished the residual heat and the scope of the damage slowed the recovery and it was several weeks before all rescue efforts were completed. In total, 43 men lost their lives at the plant and thirty more were injured….

“In total, 218 homes were damaged by the explosion, with others sustaining minor harm….
(Brucemore. The History of Douglas & Company. The Douglas Era: 1906-1937.)

[Blanchard note: Brucemore was the name of the home of George Bruce Douglas.]

City of Cedar Rapids: “On May 22, 1919, the Douglas Starch Works exploded, taking 43 lives and caused a $2 1/2 million loss….The explosion occurred at about 6:30 p.m. There were 109 men in the plant at the time of the explosion….The pillar of dust and flames shot skyward about 5000 feet and the explosion was felt 30 miles away. Doors were blown open and windows shattered at the Cedar Rapids Country Club three and one-half miles away. Fire trucks were everywhere. A crowd had gathered and firemen told them if they really wanted to help they should go to their homes and bring back anything that could be used as a stretcher, such as old boards or the front door from their homes. The victims were carried to the building across the street from the plant where the Red Cross had set up an emergency Hospital. Also, treated there were men, woman and children who lived nearby. Two firemen were hospitalized; Fireman C. Craft was injured by a brick hurled by a blast from one of the minor explosions and Fireman H. Hall was overcome by smoke inhalation. Of the 43 men who lost their lives, 10 bodies were never found, 10 bodies were partially found and buried in a common grave in Linwood Cemetery. There is a monument inscribed “Erected In Memory of Employees of Douglas Company Who Lost Their Lives – May 22, 1919” at the burial site.” (City of Cedar Rapids, IA. Cedar Rapids Fire Dept History, 1919.)

Dust Safety Science: “….Douglas & Company was founded in 1894 by brothers George and Walter Douglas. It produced cooking starch and oil, laundry starch, soap, and animal feed. Walter died on the Titanic in 1912 but George continued to develop the business and by 1914, the Douglas Starch Works was the biggest starch company in the world. In May 1919, the plant employed over 650 people and produced 20,000 bushels of corn per day….

“The clock in the timekeeper’s office read close to 6:30 p.m. when a massive explosion rocked the building, which was located on First Street SW, just off of C Street SW. The walls collapsed, pieces of the factory were hurled up to two miles away, and smoke billowed in the evening sky….

“Twenty-four-year-old James Newbold was talking to a coworker when the explosion hit. The co-worker was blown to safety but chunks of broken concrete hit Newbold and buried him alive. Rescuers later uncovered his body in the ruins of the packing building and identified him by his signet ring….

“….43 workers were killed, along with a small child, and 30 others injured….

“Men who were tasked with sifting through the rubble ran through one set of shoes after another due to the still-hot metal debris….

“A lot of questions arose as a result of the explosion. At the time, there was very little regulation for factories that handled or produced combustible dust, so people began insisting that fire and workplace safety laws and practices receive more attention from the Iowa government. Their concerns were inspired by comments about questionable safety practices at the Douglas Starch Works plant. One day shift worker had told reporters that some of the men in the plant persisted in smoking around the buildings despite supervisor warnings.

“On May 27, an inquiry presided over by Coroner D.W. King ended with the jury finding that the victims had been killed by a ‘fire of unknown origin followed by an explosion.’ No one was ever held criminally responsible for the disaster.

“At the end of August, Joseph Hubbell, manager of the National Inspection Company of Chicago, commented on the disaster in an issue of the National Underwriter. It was his opinion that the explosion occurred in the plant’s wet process buildings, where some dry starch may have built up. He wrote:

It is now ascertained that projecting air blasts through the doors and conveyors connecting these sections filled them with a starch dust cloud, caused by smashing and upsetting of conveyors, packages, bins, and the like, and went to the end with increasing speed and compression until the building structure gave way.

It seems clear that as these explosions are initiated almost entirely by manufacturing operations having to do with the dry starch, the grinding mill was probably the cause here. It is clear that the proximity of the mill to other departments and its connection to these by spouts, conveyors and doorways, afforded an easy avenue of spread for drafts and ignition.”

(Dust Safety Science. “The Day Cedar Rapids Shook – The Douglas Starch Works Plant Explosion of 1919.”)

Fullbrook: “The explosion which destroyed the Douglas Starch Works of Cedar Rapids in May, 1919, opened up a big field for disaster relief. As a result of the catastrophe, forty families were made homeless, twenty of them being widows with children. Two representatives were sent out from the Central Division and they found the local chapter already at work on the problem. A disaster relief committee was formed and later Mrs. Lauretta K. Muir was detailed by the Central Division to work out rehabilitation plans. Fifteen thousand dollars was appropriated by the local Red Cross committee and two thousand dollars was received in voluntary subscriptions. Aside from temporary aid rendered, plans were laid for rehabilitation measures for the victims of the explosion ex¬tending over a ten-year period.” (Fullbrook. The Red Cross, Iowa Vol. II, 1922, pp. 123-124.)

Penford Corporation Website: “The company’s origins date to 1895, when the incorporation of the Iowa Mill & Elevator Company was amended to become Douglas & Company. The change was made by brothers Walter D. and George B. Douglas, who shared their father’s interest in the milling industry. Their father, George Douglas, Sr. was a Scottish immigrant who came to America to build railroads. After settling down in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he invested in various business ventures, one of which was Northstar Milling, the 1874 predecessor of Quaker Oats. George B. was involved in the Northstar Mill and Walter in the Iowa Mill and Elevator Company, a linseed milling business. In 1895, the brothers assumed control of the Iowa Mill & Elevator Company, amended the company’s incorporation, and changed its name to Douglas & Company. The Douglas brothers sold the mill four years later in 1899, seeing their future in corn milling. In 1903, they formed the Douglas Starch Works in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the largest starch industry west of the Mississippi River. The Douglas Starch Works processed 6,000 bushels of corn a day and produced consumer goods, including food products, soap stock, brewer’s grits, and paper ingredients. In May 1919, a massive explosion of unknown origin destroyed the entire plant, killing 48 workers. Stockholders subsequently pulled their money out of the insurance settlements until only the Douglas interest remained. Despite this setback, George B. Douglas managed to keep the business together until he sold it to Penick & Ford, Ltd., in December 1919.” (Penford Corporation Website)

Safety Engineering: “May 22, 1919. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Douglas Starch Works. First street, 10th avenue, West. Starch manufacturing. Seven 5- to 8-story buildings destroyed…Cause explosion. Fire started in dry kiln. Discovered at 6:30 p.m. Duration 48 hours. Confined to starch works….Persons in buildings, 125. Killed 40. Injured, 50. Means of escape, fire escapes…. Property loss total.” (Safety Engineering, Vol. XXXVIII (38), No. 1, July 1919.)

Western Society of Engineers: “The explosion of starch dust which wrecked the large plant of the Douglas Starch Company at Cedar Rapids in May, 1919, caused the loss of 43 lives…” (Western Society of Engineers. Journal of…, Volume XXVI, Dec 1921, No. 12, p. 409.)

Newspaper

May 22: “CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, May 22—The Douglas Starch Works in this city blew up at 6:40 tonight, killing twenty to twenty-five persons, and injuring more than 100. At a late hour tonight Chief of Police Morrison said that 100 employees of the starch company were unaccounted for. Of the 250 men and boys who went to work on the night shift at 6 o’clock comparatively few escaped injury of some kind. There are twenty-five or thirty persons in hospitals injured, many of whom will die, according to the physicians.

“The explosion was followed by a fire which burned the big plant to the ground. It is estimated that the loss will total $1,500,000. This includes the damage to buildings in the heart of the city which were damaged by the force of the shock. The Douglas Company cannot estimate its loss, but insurance men say that it will be more than a million dollars.

“The city was placed under the reserve officers’ training corps, commanded by Major Gilmore and Captain E. B. Shaw, and more than 100 men in uniform with loaded guns are at the plant, where the crowd has become unmanageable. The police have instructed the soldiers to use clubbed guns if the crowd attempts to break into the ruins.

“Scores of women are at the gates of the plant, crying for their husbands. Firemen are working in the debris in an effort to get at the imprisoned men, but it is believed there is no living person there. The explosion wrecked all the heavy machinery on the top floors, which crashed through to the lower floors.

“At 8 o’clock tonight cries were heard from the drying room of the wrecked plant. The fire was so intense that it was impossible for the firemen to cut their way in. Several overseas soldiers volunteered to go into the building but were driven back by the flames.

“General Manager Landers, who was at the plant five minutes after the explosion, would advance no theory as to its cause. Others said it was a dust explosion. An engineer, who was blown out of the building, said he believed that his boiler had exploded. It was said that the vacuum was not turned on in the starch dryers, which may have caused the dust to accumulate.

“Scores of people on the streets and about the works were injured by flying wreckage and broken glass. Windows in the business district were blown in and persons in offices were cut by flying glass. Every window in the central part of the city was blown out. Chimneys caved in on families at the supper table. Guests in the dining rooms of hotels were thrown from their seats. A Chicago traveling man in a hotel had his nose cut almost off by broken glassware….The front of the City Hall and the Y. M. C. A. Building were shattered. Ticket sellers in picture theatres were injured by failing glass. All water mains were cut by the force of the explosion and it was impossible to fight the flames.

“The Red Cross established first aid stations near the wrecked plant and did all that was possible for the injured as they were brought out.

“Two unrecognizable bodies were taken from the plant at 9 o’clock. They were badly charred. Legs of bodies could be seen protruding from the debris in various parts of the wreck. One man was taken out of the river. He had been thrown forty feet, but he was still alive. Another was picked up fifty feet from the plant. His arms were hanging on by a thread of flesh. He also begged to be shot. Until the records are available tomorrow it will be impossible to get the correct list of dead and injured. Escaping steam, the police say, blinded many of the employees and prevented them from escaping.

“Coroner David King will summon a jury in the morning and a thorough investigation will be made of the cause of the accident.” (New York Times. 23 May 1919.)

Named Fatalities taken from Brucemore website interactive map:

1. Alnutt, Dewey, 20. Pulled from wreckage, taken to Mercy Hospital where he died.
2. Baker, E. J., 59. Night watchman.
3. Berry, Howard, 30. Working on the corn flour reels.
4. Bleadsaw, Rube Filling trays at time of explosion.
5. Cayat, John Machinist; body recovered two weeks after explosion.
6. Costellos, George, 23.
7. Cricheles, J. Laborer in packing room.
8. Culdice, George, 21. Night foreman.
9. Culdice, Joseph. Father of George, was near the kilns.
10. Cyrist, George, 22
11. Eckert, Harvey. Headman on the Kelly Press.
12. Erickson, Peter A plant foreman; 15 of his men died.
13. Ezecoule, Mike, 25.
14. Getz, S. Working near the driers.
15. Hahn, C. J. Electrician
16. Hartman, David Working on boiling tanks at time of explosion.
17. Johns, Charles Laborer
18. Kalaras, Gust.
19. Klemish, J. Worked as a drier tender; died at St. Lukes Hospital that day.
20. Kosina, J. Jr., 21.
21. Kozina, A. J. Sr.
22. Kuviatkovsky, I., 24.
23. Lybarger, W. D., 64.
24. Martinek, J., 42.
25. Miller infant, 9-days. Child and mother thrown from couch; the child was killed.
26. [Newbold, James, 24 Body uncovered in ruins of packing building. ]
27. Ormiston, H., 37. Injured; taken to St. Lukes Hospital where he died.
28. Pappas, George
29. Pfeifer, P. Machinist.
30. Prentice, Everett, 19. Injured and taken to Mercy Hospital where he died.
31. Ramsell, Percy.
32. Rush, W., 32 Foreman of the hot kilns.
33. Schmidt, E., 34.
34. Schultz, Mike
35. Stastnick, F., 37.
36. Stensled, Peter. Pump tender.
37. Taljat, John
38. Thomas, Alfred, 46.
39. Trelas, Mike, about 32.
40. Triebel, Charles, 24. Was tending the driers.
41. Tsibrojos, Mike
42. Vaverka, Joe, 18.
43. Vopalka, C., 48
44. Watson, Orvel, 28. Body found on ninth day of searching debris field.

Sources

Brucemore. The History of Douglas & Company. The Douglas Era: 1906-1937. Website accessed 3-14-2023 at: https://www.brucemore.org/history/douglas-company/

City of Cedar Rapids, IA. Cedar Rapids Fire Department History, “1919.” 2006. Accessed at: http://www.cedar-rapids.org/fire/history.asp

Dust Safety Science. “The Day Cedar Rapids Shook – The Douglas Starch Works Plant Explosion of 1919.” Accessed 3-14-2023 at: https://dustsafetyscience.com/the-day-cedar-rapids-shook-the-douglas-starch-works-plant-explosion-of-1919/

Fullbrook, Earl Stanfield. The Red Cross, Iowa Vol. II – Iowa Chronicles of the World War. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1922. Digitized by Google. Accessed 3-14-2023 at: http://www.archive.org/stream/redcrossiniowa02full#page/n10/mode/1up

Galveston Daily News, TX. “In Passing of Another Eventful Year, Its History,” 1-1-1920, 16. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=42334478

kcrg.com, Cedar Rapids, IA. “Memorial held for victims of Cedar Rapids explosion nearly 100 years ago.” 5-20-2019. Accessed 3-14-2023 at: https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Memorial-held-for-victims-of-Cedar-Rapids-explosion-nearly-100-years-ago-510184881.html

Mannan, Sam (Ed.). Lee’s Loss Prevention in the Process Industries: Hazard Identification, Assessment and Control (3rd Ed., 3 Vols.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005.

National Fire Protection Association. Report of Important Dust Explosions: A Record of Dust Explosions in the United States and Canada Since 1860. Boston: NFPA, 1957.

New York Times. “25 Dead, 100 Hurt in Big Explosion at Cedar Rapids.” 23 May 1919. At: http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/25-dead-100-hurt-big-explosion-at-cedar-rapids.html

Penford Corporation. Website. Accessed 7-4-2009 at: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Penford-Corporation-Company-History.html

Price, David James. Dust Explosions: Causes and Methods of Prevention. Boston, MA: National Fire Protection Association, with permission of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 1922.

Safety Engineering, Vol. 38, No’s. 1-6, July-Dec, 1919. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1919. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=BSHOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Safety+Engineering+Vol+38&lr=0

United States Grain Corporation. Grain Dust Explosion Prevention. New York, June 1920. Accessed at: http://www.archive.org/details/graindustexplosi00unitrich

Western Society of Engineers. Journal of the Western Society of Engineers, Vol. XXVI, December 1921, No. 12. Fort Wayne IN: WSE, 1921. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=qesMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0