Lakewood Lore

Freakish Explosion Strikes City in 1953

Once upon a time, a mysterious underground explosion blew up three-quarters of a mile of West 117th Street on the Lakewood-Cleveland border.

Sound like the beginning of a fairy tale? Well, it really happened. This--one of our community's most freakish disasters--occurred at 5:15 p.m. on a warm, humid Thursday--Sept. 10, 1953.

The terrific blast, which sounded like a colossal clap of thunder, demolished the street's pavement from Berea Road north to Lake Avenue. It played tiddlywinks with rush-hour cars, hurling them one against another, or crushing them under huge chunks of concrete.

A woman was killed, 64 persons were injured and at least 30 autos heavily damaged.

Water mains broke, flooding the area. Sidewalks disappeared and manhole covers sailed into the air to become havoc-wreaking missiles. Hundreds of home-goers witnessed the event. It looked like the aftermath of a World War II bombing. Some thought it was Armageddon.

"One manhole cover flew 150 feet and crashed through the roof of our one-story pet hospital on West 117th," remembers Dr. Wallace E. Wendt, Lakewood veterinarian. "The cover landed in an aisle between two rows of cages that housed 18 dogs, all of which were miraculously unhurt," he said.

Afterwards, toppled utility poles, twisted pipes and wires, smashed glass and paving rubble littered the torn street, which suffered damages totaling at least $1.5 million.

Rescue workers with hack saws and bare hands came to the aid of trapped motorists along the jagged path of the explosion that followed the course of the sanitary storm sewer.

The cause was the subject of a running debate for many years. Some form of volatile gas in the sewer was the culprit, of course. But a negotiated $205,000 settlement of 91 lawsuits with total claims of $2,500,000 ended in 1957 without any legal pinpointing of liability.

At that time an investigative committee said: "It is most probable that either industrial wastes or gasoline leaking into the sewer, or these in combination, accounted for the magnitude and spread of the damage."

Sharing in the restitution were Cleveland, Lakewood and five area firms--Sun Oil, Shell Oil, Union Carbide and Carbon, White Sewing Machine, and Ferbert-Schorndorfer Division of Marietta Co.

Nevertheless, none of the defendants ever admitted being at fault.

At first, some thought that accumulations of oil and gas from abandoned wells in the neighborhood might have had a bearing. However, such seepage, if any, finally was adjudged by the committee to have "played no important role."

Then, for awhile, it was strongly suspected that spilled chemicals from industry in the area had been a triggering factor. That, too, was discounted.

"However, reports persisted that underground tanks belonging to filling stations close by had been leaking raw gasoline," recalls Lakewood retiree Richard Baukema, who was a research chemist for nearby Glidden Co. at the time.

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post May 24, 1990. Reprinted with permission.

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