All Non-Digital Titles

Piece together the story of Albuquerque's 1950 Broken Arrow disaster from the wreckage of a Superfortress Bomber crash.

On April 11, 1950, at 9:38 p.m., a B-29 aircraft departed Kirtland Air Force Base. Approximately three minutes later, it crashed into the Manzano Foothills, killing everyone aboard.

The Roswell-based aircraft and its thirteen-member crew were ferrying a Mark IV atomic weapon from Kirtland AFB to a Strategic Air Command base in Texas. The incident marked the second nuclear weapons–related accident in the U.S. military, the first accident in the continental United States, and the first of two such accidents near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Author and military historian Joseph T. Page II recalls the lives lost in this tragic crash.

A detailed look at the state’s most terrifying and destructive disasters.

Home to hundreds of faults, California leads the nation in frequency of earthquakes every year. And despite enduring their share of the natural disasters, residents still speculate over the inevitable “big one.”

More than three thousand people lost their lives during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Long Beach’s 1933 earthquake caused nearly $50 million in damages. And the Northridge earthquake injured thousands and left a $550 million economic hit.

Historian Abraham Hoffman explores the personal accounts and aftermath of California’s most destructive tremors.

On the night of November 26, 1898, with a killer storm of historic proportions approaching, the steamer Portland set out from Boston. By the following night, the winter hurricane sent the vessel to the depths of Massachusetts Bay off Cape Cod, claiming nearly two hundred lives.

On the Cape, a few dozen victims of the Portland disaster washed ashore, while ships piled up in harbors, high tides swept away railroad tracks, and the landscape and beaches were changed forever. Several Cape Cod mariners went to sea and never returned, caught in the gale’s evil clutches.

Local author Don Wilding revisits this disaster and the heroic deeds of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the Cape’s citizenry in what came to be known as “The Portland Gale.”

On November 28, 1942, fire roared through Boston’s famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub during what was supposed to be a high-spirited Saturday night. By midnight, more than five hundred people were dead, dying, or maimed for life.

Local author Stephanie Schorow probes the club’s history, the circumstances leading to the fire, and the tragedy’s lingering impact. The inferno reached deep into the city’s social structure––its politics, medical care, law enforcement, and religious life––and touched nearly everyone in the Boston area, even those who had never set foot in the club. In this newly updated and revised edition, Schorow has added new information, photographs, interviews and insights on the worst nightclub fire in American history.

Journey to the coast with Michael Morgan as he looks back at the area's most deadly storms.

Coastal Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have always been vulnerable to the power of storms. In the early nineteenth century, storm-driven shipwrecks led to the construction of the Delaware breakwater. In 1933, a storm created an inlet on the south edge of Ocean City and changed the character of the Maryland resort. The Ash Wednesday nor'easter of 1962 devastated oceanfront communities, led to the creation of beach replenishment projects that pushed the ocean back from the new multimillion-dollar buildings that sat on the sand and spurred the creation of Assateague Island National Seashore. Michael Morgan narrates the stories of these storms and reminds us of the power of wind and water.

Join author David Healey as he keeps an eye to the red horizon and chronicles the most remarkable storms to churn the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Even before John Smith's crew weathered its first squall, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries had been ravaged by every type of storm imaginable. A 1769 hurricane altered the course of history, demolishing the shipping channels of Charlestown and making Baltimore the dominant port. A once-in-five-hundred-years storm, Tropical Storm Agnes, left more than seventy people dead and devastated the ecology of the bay. Before the blizzards of 2009 and 2010, the snowfall record was held by the combination of the Great Eastern Blizzard of 1899, which blew the water out of the bay, and the Great White Hurricane, which stranded the oyster fleet of Baltimore in feet of ice.

Southeast Minnesota has regularly felt the wrath of nature.

In 1890, a driving straight-line wind on Lake Pepin overturned the Sea Wing, killing ninety-eight people within minutes in the worst marine tragedy in Minnesota history. In 1940, a raging blizzard trapped duck hunters on islands in the Mississippi River and left motorists stranded across the region, leaving dozens injured or dead. Then, in 1965, flood waters of the Mississippi River and its vast network of tributaries kept area residents in fear for two months, shattering records for high water marks and destroying buildings and farmlands before receding and leaving behind damage that took years to rebuild.

Local author Steve Gardiner examines these powerful natural disasters and their ramifications on the people of Southeast Minnesota.

Fires were a scourge in nineteenth-century New York, destroying personal property, prominent buildings and, in many cases, a sense of community. In Madison County, fires changed the community, included the mysterious burning of the Madison County Courthouse, the complete loss of business districts in both Canastota and Hamilton and the arsonist who terrorized Cazenovia for nearly five years. Fires destroyed the historic Gerrit Smith Mansion in Peterboro, the Munnsville Plow Company and Duffy-Mott in Bouckville, drastically affecting the future of the county. Madison County historian Matthew Urtz examines the fires, their causes and the economic and psychological impact they had on this peaceful community.

Circle City Catastrophes/

Disaster was a fact of everyday life in 1800s and early 1900s Indianapolis. During the 1860s, more than 1,700 people died in what is now the Herron-Morton Place neighborhood. In 1882, ten people drowned under the Union Railroad Depot. Ropes were considered an adequate fire escape in the 1890s, but when the National Surgical Institute caught fire, they proved unequal to the task. The owners of the Prest-O-Lite Company created the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but their company also had four major incidents that caused eleven deaths and destruction in the city. In 1917, Hollywood was responsible for the deaths of six people in an Indianapolis apartment building. Join Jack Finney as he explores these and other Indianapolis fires and disasters./ 

Join Jack Finney as he explores these and other Indianapolis fires and disasters./ 

Facing the fury and danger of Lake Michigan

Ever since French explorers first cast their eyes on Lake Michigan, this huge inland sea has been the scene of thousands of shipwreck rescues and tragedies. As mishaps and disasters proliferated, a dedicated service of lifesavers arose. Braving perilous conditions, these servicemen pulled those aboard the merchant schooner Havanna from certain death. The intrepid St Joseph Lifesavers saved the crew and passengers of the City of Duluth. Sadly, not all rescues ended in heroism, as was the case with the doomed Arab that went down along with two other ships.

Author Michael Passwater captures the stories of shipwrecks and the brave men and women that risked their lives against an angry Lake Michigan.

The stretch of California coast from San Francisco to Monterey has seen its share of disastrous shipwrecks with devastating losses, but there are also stories of courage, innovative rescues and unique salvage operations. Uncover the tale of the adventurous, ill-fated Sir John Franklin, now marked only by a nearly forgotten cemetery, and relive the wreck of the New York, one of the most notorious ships to ever sail. Learn about the Coastside's worst maritime tragedy, when the passenger steamship San Juan was struck by the oil tanker twice her size and sank in minutes, plunging seventy-five men, women and children into the sea.

Join author JoAnn Semones as she shares the stories of doomed ships that found their end along Coastside California.

Central New York, a region renowned as one of the snowiest in the world, has a long and stormy relationship with its winters.

From the Lake Ontario port in Oswego to the busy streets of Syracuse and Utica, every community in the region has found themselves buried from brutal snowstorms.  

Author Jim Fafaglia draws from personal memories, family diaries and newspaper accounts to craft a two-hundred year history of Central New York's  whiteouts, blizzards and snowstorms.

Cape Cod has always been in the path of deadly hurricanes and ferocious storms.  Unwelcome summer visitors include the “Long Island Express” Hurricane of 1938, the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, the twin Hurricanes Carol and Edna in 1954, and Hurricane Bob in 1991.

These storms destroyed countless homes and left several coastal communities under several feet of water. Surging tides carried away houses with residents inside who didn't survive and sank the Coast Guard lightship Vineyard in Buzzards Bay, killing all 12 crew members. Fall and winter brought the benchmark Blizzard of 1978, the nor’easter of January 1987, and the infamous “Perfect Storm” of October 1991 which delivered some of the highest tides ever seen on the Outer Cape.

Local author Don Wilding revisits the Cape’s most severe weather events and their devastating impact. 

How Powerful Storms Shaped Martha’s Vineyard and Its Resilient Spirit

Martha’s Vineyard is no stranger to storms. Its location puts it in the direct path of any weather system moving up the Atlantic coast. In 1635, the Great Colonial Hurricane devastated the island, and the 1898 Portland Gale is well remembered to this day for its fury and death toll. In 1944, Gay Head was isolated when the access bridge was washed away. Other storms included the famous 1938 Hurricane, Carol and Edna in 1954, and the Perfect Storm in October of 1991. Each storm was unique in its creation, impact, and resulting changes in the landscape of the island. Tom Dresser reveals how each of these devastating events affected life on island, and the future dangers posed by an ever-warming climate. 

How Powerful Storms Shaped Martha’s Vineyard and Its Resilient Spirit

Martha’s Vineyard is no stranger to storms. Its location puts it in the direct path of any weather system moving up the Atlantic coast. In 1635, the Great Colonial Hurricane devastated the island, and the 1898 Portland Gale is well remembered to this day for its fury and death toll. In 1944, Gay Head was isolated when the access bridge was washed away. Other storms included the famous 1938 Hurricane, Carol and Edna in 1954, and the Perfect Storm in October 1991. Each storm was unique in its creation, impact, and resulting changes in the landscape of the island. Tom Dresser reveals how each of these devastating events affected life on the island, as well as the future dangers posed by an ever-warming climate.

Crippling winter storms are locked in the memories of millions of New Jerseyans.

On December 26, 1947, an unpredicted storm buried Newark in twenty-six inches of snow. A record-setting nor’easter on January 22, 2016, unleashed sixty-mile-per-hour wind gusts, six-foot drifts and snowfall depths of thirty inches in Bernards Township and Long Valley. But no storm was more infamous than the so-called Great White Hurricane. Coming when the science of meteorology was in its infancy, the blizzard of 1888 left tens of millions at the mercy of a vicious three-day nightmare with tragic loss of life and property that no one saw coming.

Author Don Colgan tells the stories of winter’s fury and of those who lived through the most extraordinary winter storms in New Jersey history.

“The greatest natural disaster of all time” That’s how observers at the time viewed Agnes. When the storm arrived in Virginia in June of 1972 it largely spared coastal areas. With modest wind speeds, Agnes no longer registered as a hurricane as it crossed the Old Dominion. Yet its prodigious rainfall combined with saturated ground and topography to create massive floodwaters. Its impact on communities large and small was immense. Learn of the struggles of those affected, the efforts of responders, and the larger role Agnes played in the national discussion of disasters and their aftermath. /Local historian Dr. Earnie Porta describes the complex history of hurricanes and details the devastating path of Agnes through Virginia.

Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay's myriad inlets in summer, it is hard to imagine that come January icebreakers might be plowing the waters you cruised in July.

When portions of the Great Shellfish Bay are iced up the flow of commerce is impeded. At the turn of the 19th century, with the center of the new nation's government established in its arms, a frozen Bay meant that the United States' emergence to a status on par with the foremost nations of the world might be painfully slow. Throughout the 20th century years of extreme cold continued to halt navigation and fishing.

James Foster chronicles the disasters, large and small, which come with the coldest of winters.

Human action made one of the worst natural disasters in Indiana history even worse. Indiana and the Great Flood of 1913 reveals how this happened and how to avoid a similar fate in the future.

Indiana suffered enormous losses in the Great Flood of 1913, yet this disaster is largely forgotten. The combined tornado and flood barreled through Terre Haute, killing more than twenty. One hundred fourteen miles away in Peru, the circus lost most of its animals in the storm. At the southwestern corner of the state, a "sea of water,'? as local papers put it, washed over Evansville turning streets into canals. In the capital, levee failures left hundreds homeless and vulnerable to disease and famine. Pulling from archival photographs, newspapers, and local accounts, Dr. Nancy M. Germano shares stories from across the state to reveal how Indiana's history of settlement and development contributed to one of the state's worst disasters.

Island in the Storm, by local historians Jamie and Dorothy Moore, documents in vivid detail the devastation, loss and eventual rebuilding of this beloved island community.

On the night of September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at Sullivan's Island with winds exceeding 160 miles per hour. The colossal force of the hurricane was punctuated by storm surges ranging from five to ten feet above sea level. At approximately one minute after midnight, Hugo's eye passed over the island, and the charming community seaside community disappeared beneath the tumultuous sea for nearly an hour. After Hugo left Sullivan's Island in its furious wake, the first news broadcasts from the Charleston area reported that the island and neighboring Isle of Palms were completely destroyed. The Ben Sawyer Bridge—the only connection to the island at the time—was knocked off its pedestal and rendered useless, and so the hundreds of families who had evacuated the area could not return to their homes to see what, if anything, remained. The recovery process started slowly, and for many it would be a long, arduous journey. More than 15 years later, Sullivan’s Island’s homes and businesses have been restored, but the memory of Hugo’s fury will not soon be forgotten.

Discover lost history in the dark waters of Lake George.

Lake George is bustling with boaters, swimmers, fishermen and many others, enjoying its scenic, quintessentially Adirondack shores. But the depths below hide a whole other world--one of shipwrecks and lost history. Entombed are remnants of Lake George's important naval heritage, such as the legendary Land Tortoise radeau, which sank in 1758. Other wrecks include the steam yacht Ellide and the first famed Minne-Ha-Ha. These waters hold secrets, too, like the explanation behind the 1926 disappearance of two hunters. After years of exploration across the lake's bottomlands, underwater archaeologist Joseph W. Zarzynski and archeological diver Bob Benway present the most intriguing discoveries among more than two hundred known shipwreck sites.

Experience the historic superflood that decimated the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and the resilience displayed by the people of Memphis.

The greatest flood in United States history struck the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys in January 1937. Perhaps no single flood in the United States had caused as much damage, displayed as much brutal natural force and displaced as many people. Not even the calamitous flood of 1927, which has eclipsed the '37 flood in terms of historical coverage was as massive. Author and Memphis local Patrick O'Daniel illustrates how this national natural disaster affected Memphis, in particular, and how the politicians of the day, from national figures like FDR to local political bosses like Ed Crump, handled unprecedented infrastructural challenges. Yet beyond politics and policy, O'Daniel tells the story of this historic disaster through the eyes of everyday Memphians, their struggles, care for thousands of desperate refugees and the measures they took to save their city from this devastating flood.

Swim at your own risk…

Millions of tourists visit North Carolina beaches each year, but advertisements promoting fun in the sun along idyllic shores forget to mention the dangers lurking under the waves. The Old North State is home to some very large and lethal sharks--bull sharks, tiger sharks, oceanic whitetips and great whites. Large sharks used to be prolific along the coast, especially in the waters of Carteret County, where some brutal, fatal attacks have happened. Offshore, mariners dreaded the infamous Graveyard of the Atlantic, knowing their chances of meeting a gruesome end were high in those shark-haunted waters.

As shark populations rebound in waters where humans congregate, local author John Hairr tells forgotten tales of historic clashes between these two apex predators.

They Didn’t Need to be There

It was a calm, moonless night in late April 1865. Robert E. Lee had surrendered. Abraham Lincoln was dead. Assassin John Wilkes Booth and accomplice David Herold, previously hiding in the swamps of Southern Maryland, had crossed the Potomac River to safety. The barge Black Diamond was anchored with the Potomac Flotilla near Blackistone Lighthouse, hoping to prevent that crossing and catch the perpetrators. All onboard were unaware that they were too late. The steamer Massachusetts was running downriver carrying U.S. soldiers back to their regiments. By dawn, the Black Diamond was on the bottom of the river, the Massachusetts was crippled and eighty-seven men were dead. Author Karen E. Stone reveals the story of a heroic pursuit turned tragic.

Lake Erie has seen its share of disasters, claiming more ships per square mile than any other body of freshwater. Read the mysteries of its most mysterious and notorious wrecks and disappearances.

The great lakes have seen many ships meet their end, but none so much as Lake Erie. As the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is prone to sudden waves and wildly shifting sandbars. The steamer Atlantic succumbed to these conditions when, in 1852, a late night collision brought 68 of its weary immigrant passengers to watery graves. The 1916 Black Friday Storm sank four ships -- including the unsinkable James B. Colgate -- in the course of its 20-hour tantrum over the lake. In 1954, a difficult fishing season sent the Richard R into troubled waters in the hopes of catching a few more fish. One of the lake's sudden storms drowned the boat and three man crew. At just 50 miles wide and 200 miles long, Lake Erie has claimed more ships per square mile than any other body of freshwater. Author David Frew dives deep to discover the mysteries of some of Lake Erie's most notorious wrecks.

Discover the thrilling, mysterious history of the shipwrecks found beneath the waves of Rehoboth Beach.

Under the hot summer sun, vacationers stroll the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, chewing saltwater taffy and listening to the gulls' raucous cackle. Few realize that under the sparkling water rests a graveyard. Horrific nor'easters, treacherous shoals and simple human error caused the demise of countless ships, giving birth to legends of treasure and terror. There is De Braak, rumored to hold millions of dollars in gold; the Mohawk, which burned like a torch in the Delaware Bay; and the vessels that fell victim to the Great White Hurricane, which froze dead men to the mast. Journey with local author Pam George as she deftly picks her way through the history of Delaware's most intriguing and mysterious shipwrecks.

Explore southwest Virginia’s local links to maritime history.

Until the growing popularity of air travel post-World War II, Americans going abroad traveled by ship. Though Southwest Virginia is not a coastal region, its residents traveled far and wide. Some were involved in the most infamous shipwrecks of the age of steamships, many of whom lost their lives. The foundering of the legendary Titanic on her maiden voyage, the horrific fire aboard Morro Castle and the smoke-engulfed decks of U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor were all witnessed by Southwest Virginians.

Local author Brandon Whited grants them their long-overdue place in the history books.

At 11:37 p.m. on August   17, 1959, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake rocked Montana's Yellowstone country.

In an instant, an entire mountainside fractured and thundered down onto the sites of unsuspecting campers. The mammoth avalanche generated hurricane-force winds ahead of it that ripped clothing from backs and heaved tidal waves in both directions of the Madison River Canyon. More than two hundred vacationers trapped in the canyon feared the dam upstream would burst. As debris and flooding overwhelmed the river, injured victims frantically searched the darkness for friends and family.

Acclaimed historian Larry Morris tells the gripping minute-by-minute saga of the survivors who endured the interminable night, the first responders who risked their lives and the families who waited days and weeks for word of their missing loved ones.

Author Janis Thornton reveals the stories of a day in Indiana like no other.

Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.

Claiming the lives of seven adults and seventeen children, the Belvidere tornado struck the most vulnerable at the worst possible time: just as school let out. More than five hundred people suffered injuries.

New interviews and fascinating archival history underscore the horrific drama, as well as the split-second decisions of victims and survivors that saved their families and neighbors. Since the tragedy, three more devastating tornadoes have further defined Boone County's resilience: Poplar Grove in 2008, Caledonia in 2010 and Fairdale in 2015.

In 1980, a record-breaking thunderstorm unleashed a disastrous amount of water on the tiny town of Brady’s Bend.

In a mere forty minutes, the community was annihilated by a catastrophic flash flood. Residents ran for their lives, and nine people drowned. Although rescue and recovery soon followed, the harrowing experience left a mark on the survivors that remains decades later.

Author and Brady’s Bend native Lisa Olszak Zumstein tells this community’s story in full and reveals how this devastating storm mirrors numerous others in the Appalachian corridor.

Follow the tragic story of a fishing trip gone wrong and its impact on the community of Brockton, Massachusetts.

On May 13, 1928, ten prominent men of Brockton, Massachusetts, headed off on a fishing trip to Moosehead Lake in Maine. After traveling fourteen hours, the group met Maine guide Samuel Budden and boarded the Mac II for the final voyage to their destination. Approximately six miles from the Tomhegan sporting camp, the boat took on water in rough seas and sank, taking Budden and all but one of the adventurers to a watery grave. Jim Benson and Nicole Casper chronicle this horrific tragedy and its legacy in two New England communities.

Georgia historian and professor Jeffery C. Wells recounts the tragic tale of the Camp Creek Train Crash of 1900.

On June 23, 1900, the Southern Railroad Company's Engine ,7 and its passengers were greeted by a tremendous storm en route to Atlanta, Georgia. Stalled for some time in nearby McDonough, travelers grew impatient as rain pelted the roof and wind buffeted the cars. When finally given the go-ahead, their resulting joy was short-lived: the locomotive soon reached Camp Creek--and disaster.

After weeks of constant showers, the swollen creek had eroded the bridge supports. Under the train's weight, the bridge collapsed, and all but nine perished in either the fiery fall or watery depths.

Families watched in horror as walls of water swept away homes and businesses, and men held onto saplings for their lives while the winds howled.

The destruction was beyond belief. Buildings on Atsena Otie were swept away so completely that only cracked stone foundations remained, and the forests of red cedar that gave the islands their name and livelihood were flattened. Resulting in dozens of deaths and millions of dollars in damage, Hurricane Number 4 in 1896 changed the Cedar Keys forever and set the city on a path to the present. Historian Alvin F. Oickle, drawing on firsthand accounts and extensive archival research, tells the story of ordinary Floridians who were faced, like so many before and so many since, with nature's fury.

Explore the facts and mysteries surrounding the history and collapse of Richmond, Virginia's Church Hill Tunnel. A must for fans of railroad and Richmond history.

Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, was in shambles after the Civil War. The bulk of Reconstructionbecame dependent on the railways, and one of the most important links in the system was the Church Hill Tunnel.

The tunnel was eventually rendered obsolete by an alternative path over a viaduct, and it was closed for regular operation in 1902. However, the city still used it infrequently to transport supplies, and it was maintained with regular safety inspections. The city decided to reopen the tunnel in 1925 due to overcrowding on the viaduct, but the tunnel needed to be strengthened and enlarged. On October 2, 1925, 190 ft. of the tunnel unexpectedly caved in, trapping construction workers and an entire locomotive inside.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the tunnel and the mystery surrounding its collapse. There were cave-ins and sink holes above the surface for decades after the tunnel was sealed up, and in 1998, a reporter from the Richmond Times-Dispatchdid an investigation, trying to determine the current condition of the tunnel. In 2006, the Virginia Historical Societyannounced its efforts to try and excavate the locomotive and remaining bodies.

Wrecks and disasters have been part of New England’s railroad history since the 1830s. Derailments, head-on collisions, equipment failures, and human error all contributed to the tragic list of events between 1853 and 1966.

Forever etched in the public's memory is the horrific bridge disaster at South Norwalk, Connecticut - the deadliest railroad event to occur in the region that claimed forty-six lives. The catastrophic rear-end collision at Revere, Massachusetts, and the head-on crash of the Quebec Express in West Canaan, New Hampshire are among the eighteen wrecks explored herein.

Renowned railroad author Gregg M. Turner details the deadliest rail disasters across six states, their causes and some of the safety improvements they inspired. 

On March 14, 1940, a train heading west along Highway 83 from Donna to Alamo struck a truck driver turning north from the highway onto Tower Road. The horrific crash killed twenty-nine of about forty-five farmworkers who were on the truck. A one-day investigation faulted the truck driver and led to meager court settlements for the devastated families. In the wake of these events, several of the victims’ children and grandchildren became lawyers and some of the first Mexican American judges in South Texas. Juan Carmona and Taylor Seaver De La Fuente revisit the deadliest traffic accident in Texas history, while seeking to preserve the stories of Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers and their relatives whose backbreaking contributions continue to feed our country to this day.

Fortitude after the flames

In 1893, Fargo was simply trying to thrive amid an impending national depression. One Wednesday afternoon in June, a ferocious fire quickly devoured hundreds of businesses and more than thirty blocks in the heart of the fledgling city. Residents were stunned, but they weren’t defeated. Through perseverance, grit and some helpful insurance money, owners immediately began rebuilding. The arduous reconstruction ended up protecting the city against unemployment and poverty.

Author Danielle Teigen describes the efforts and individuals who helped rebuild a stronger, better city. More than a century later, that resilience and determination continues to be a hallmark of the Gateway to the West.

What really happened on the circus train in 1918? Read the story of this tragedy for the entertainment industry of the time.

In the cool, pre-dawn hours on a June night in 1918, a train engineer closed his cab window as he chugged toward Hammond, Indiana. He drifted to sleep, and his train bore down on the idle Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus Train. Soon after, the sleeping engineer's locomotive plowed into the circus train. In the subsequent wreckage and blaze, more than two hundred circus performers were injured and eighty-six were killed, most of whom were interred in a mass grave in the Showmen's Rest section of Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery. Join local historian Richard Lytle as he recounts, in the fullest retelling to date, the details of this tragedy and its role in the overall evolution and demise of a unique entertainment industry.

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster.

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster. Protected by volunteers since 1811, residents have faced block-burning conflagrations like the Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945, which consumed sixty-seven buildings in the Mahanoy City Business District, and commercial airplane crashes like United Flight 624 near Ashland, with no survivors. The Red Church propane truck explosion near Orwigsburg caused twelve fatalities, and the Reading Railroad passenger train collision with a gasoline truck in Port Carbon sparked death and destruction, as well as a frantic search for burning money.

Telling these stories with the help of rare and many never-before-seen images, authors and veteran firefighters Michael R. Glore and Michael J. Kitsock revisit some of the region’s most harrowing catastrophes.

The Deadliest Twister in U.S. History

The weather forecast for much of the Midwest on March 18, 1925, predicted “Wind and rain.” This prediction was right, but lethally inadequate. Around 1 p.m., a tornado touched down near Ellington, Missouri, and charged relentlessly for three and a half hours across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The destructive storm left schools and workplaces leveled, over 600 dead and 1,600 injured in its two-hundred-nineteen-mile wake—earning it the name, the Great American Tornado. A nation united, doctors and nurses rushed aboard express trains. The Red Cross orchestrated an enduring six-month relief campaign, and people contributed funds and condolences from around the world. Amidst the staggering ruin, volunteers, the Red Cross, and ordinary heroes like Isaac Levy spearheaded awe-inspiring recovery efforts that rivaled the powerful storm.