Johnstown, Pennsylvania platform collapse

Last updated
Johnstown, Pennsylvania platform collapse
Crop straighten autotune Appalling calamity at Johnstown, Pa., on Friday, Sept. 14th, caused by the falling of a railroad bridge crowded with the citizens of the town, during the visit of President Johnson and suite LCCN98510867.jpg
"Appalling calamity at Johnstown, Pa., on Friday, Sept. 14th, caused by the falling of a railroad bridge crowded with the citizens of the town, during the visit of President Johnson" (Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Oct. 6, 1866)
DateSeptember 14, 1866 (1866-09-14)
Location Johnstown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Typeplatform collapse

The Johnstown, Pennsylvania platform collapse occurred on September 14, 1866 during President Andrew Johnson's Swing Around the Circle electioneering tour through the eastern and midwestern United States.

Contents

Collapse

A temporary platform was built over the drained Pennsylvania Canal along the Pennsylvania Railroad route past the Cambria Steel Company, so that the residents of the town could greet the presidential train. [1] [2] By 11 a.m. that Thursday morning, some 2,000 people had gathered. [3] Under the weight of 400-some people surging forward to see war heroes Ulysses S. Grant and David Farragut, the platform collapsed, dropping the crowd 20 ft (6.1 m) into the channel bed. [4] [1] According to a 1907 local history by Henry W. Storey, six people were killed and 387 people were injured. [4] The New York Times in 1866, [5] and 2021 Johnstown Magazine report stated that 13 were killed. [2]

In addition to the initial drop, said to be 20 to 23 feet, [6] [7] "a second part of the scaffold collapsed onto the first as rescuers were attempting to assist the injured from the first collapse." [2] Among the severely injured were the town's doctors, and some 300 people were estimated to have limb fractures and other substantial injuries. [1]

Responses

1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Johnstown, showing location of depot and tracks at that time Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. LOC sanborn07742 001-1.jpg
1891 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Johnstown, showing location of depot and tracks at that time

The train engineer insisted that the presidential train had a clear track for a limited period of prearranged time, so, leaving one aide behind to assist, [1] Johnson's train "barely halted before heading for the Pennsylvania capital," a departure that did no favors for his already unpopular presidency. [8] One local Republican commented that Johnson had "manifested anything but a humane feeling" by departing so quickly. [1] Grant and George Custer were visibly horrified by the disaster, and "the 1866 tragedy weighed heavily on [Grant], and he often referred to it throughout his remaining days." [2] Johnson donated US$500(equivalent to $10,405 in 2023) to the relief efforts; Gen. John W. Geary donated US$200(equivalent to $4,162 in 2023). [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbican tube station</span> London Underground station

Barbican is a London Underground station situated near the Barbican Estate, on the edge of the ward of Farringdon Within, in the City of London in Central London. It has been known by various names since its opening in 1865, mostly in reference to the neighbouring ward of Aldersgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnstown Flood</span> Massive flood that destroyed Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889

The Johnstown Flood, sometimes referred to locally as Great Flood of 1889, occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, 14 miles (23 km) upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States. The dam ruptured after several days of extremely heavy rainfall, releasing 14.55 million cubic meters of water. With a volumetric flow rate that temporarily equaled the average flow rate of the Mississippi River, the flood killed 2,208 people and accounted for US$17,000,000 in damage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnstown Flood National Memorial</span> Historic site and memorial in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania

The Johnstown Flood National Memorial is a unit of the United States National Park Service. Established in 1964 through legislation signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, it pays tribute to the thousands of victims of the Johnstown Flood, who were injured or killed on May 31, 1889 when the South Fork Dam ruptured.

A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moveable bridge</span> Bridge that moves to allow passage, usually of watercraft

A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with drawbridge, and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical definition used in some other forms of English, in which drawbridge refers to only a specific type of moveable bridge often found in castles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Union Party (United States)</span> Civil War political coalition

The National Union Party, commonly the Union Party or Unionists, was a wartime coalition of Republicans, War Democrats, and border state Unconditional Unionists that supported the Lincoln Administration during the American Civil War. It held the 1864 National Union Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president and Andrew Johnson for vice president in the 1864 United States presidential election. Following Lincoln's successful re-election and assassination, Johnson tried and failed to sustain the Union Party as a vehicle for his presidential ambitions. The coalition did not contest the 1868 elections, but the Republican Party continued to use the "Union Republican" label throughout the period of Reconstruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swing Around the Circle</span> 1866 speaking campaign by US President Andrew Johnson

Swing Around the Circle is the nickname for a speaking campaign undertaken by U.S. President Andrew Johnson between August 27 and September 15, 1866, in which he tried to gain support for his obstructionist Reconstruction policies and for his preferred candidates in the forthcoming midterm Congressional elections. The tour's nickname came from the route that the campaign took: "Washington, D.C., to New York, west to Chicago, south to St. Louis, and east through the Ohio River valley back to the nation's capital".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guadalajara train disaster</span> Deadly 1915 train derailment in western Mexico

The Guadalajara train disaster occurred in Mexico on January 22, 1915, and killed over 600 people.

Engineering failures in the United States can be costly, disruptive, and deadly, with the largest incidents prompting changes to engineering practice.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Boulard, Garry (2008). The Swing Around the Circle: Andrew Johnson and the Train Ride that Destroyed a Presidency. pp. 140–141. ISBN   978-1-4401-0239-4.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gindlesperger, James (2021-12-15). "Swing Around the Circle tour tragedy". The Tribune-Democrat. Johnstown Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  3. Henderson, Lyndee Jobe; Jobe, R. Dean (2004). Johnstown. Arcadia Publishing. p. 48. ISBN   978-0-7385-3493-0.
  4. 1 2 "CHAPTER XIX: FALL OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD PLATFORM". Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  5. "Accident at Johnstown, PA.: A Bridge Containing a Thousand People Gives Way" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
  6. 1 2 "The Johnstown disaster". The Ebensburg Alleghenian. 1866-09-20. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  7. "The Accident at Johnstown". The Evening Telegraph. 1866-09-20. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  8. "In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, disaster strikes for hundreds when a viewing platform collapses". House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College. Archived from the original on 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2023-08-04.