I pulled out these 2 photos from our archives yesterday as I was on duty at the SHGV.These are more photos donated to us by the City of Verdun police department and are dated may 29th 1958. Unfortunately there are no comments on the photos. It is apparent that it was gas explosion and the only one I am aware of is the one in LaSalle wich caused close to 30 deaths. Can someone enligthen us on this.
Guy
16 comments:
On March 1st it will in fact, but the 45th anniversary of this tragedy. I was quite young, in grade school in fact, but remember it very clearly. The explosion happened in the early morning, sometime around 8:15 a.m., so I was preparing for school, when news of the explosion hit the radio. An entire block of apartment buildings at the corner of Bergevin and Jean-Milot had gone up in a huge blast! The death toll of 28 consisted most of woman and children, since most men had already left for work by that time. By 8:25 a.m. firemen were on the scene move the debris and find survivors. Almost at the same time, sailors from Dollard naval base arrived to help. Within a short time over a thousand people had arrived to help.
After the disaster, a fund was set up to help the survivors and $125,000 was raised, a huge sum at that time!
An investigation revealed that the explosion had been caused by a leak in a 6” natural gas pipe under Clement street.
Hi Guy
The Lasalle explosion 1965.
And Guy with all our crooks and cracks and corruption and I'm sure someone will add to this list -it's still my home and there is no place like home. Hope this video will help you. Have a great day.Pauline Garneau
Pauline,
My photos are dated 1958 and you say the LaSalle explosion was in 1965. Is anybody aware of an explosion in Verdun in 1958 ?
Guy
Natural gas explosion
We have posted many times about the March 1 st Explosion in Ville Lasalle.....& posted pictures too,....we also have at some point posted about an explosion in Verdun,however I am quite certain that we didn't have pics about it.....I will look for evidence of this explosion .......
Guy, I believe this is the explosion which took place in a duplex on the Southwest corner of Bannantyne & Allard and was caused by a gas leak. I believe 1 person was killed. I vivdly remember being at afternoon recess in the school yard at St. Thomas More and hearing the huge rumble from the blast. The story was that the blast was ignited when a postman rang the doorbell and a spark resulted. I don't know if this is true or not.
Rgds
Ron
I remember reading that too Ron,.I think your right a postman rang the bell & the place blew up, I also seem to think I read that there was one man inside who they later claimed to have wanted to knock himself off,hence the gas deal.....?I am not sure if that was true or not........................... HF&RV
Aunty Em,....is that you ?...............lol
I hadn't seen this video of the Lasalle Explosion ,it's amazing what becomes available on youtube,these days. We have covered this story several times over the years,along with pics I posted way back when,but I had never seen the video......thanks for sharing . HF&RV
There was a gas explosion at a property on Bannatyne. I thought it was in 57 because I'm sure we saw the smoke from our classroom facing west. The story we heard was that someone ringing the doorbell ignited the gas.
Wayne Brien
An article in the Gazette about this blast …
The Montreal Gazette
29 MAY 1958.
Blast in Verdun
"Suicide Attempt".
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z0swAAAAIBAJ&sjid=b6gFAAAAIBAJ&hl=fr&pg=5001%2C5315648
JMH
Good job JMH,.I searched through all the Gazette papers for 1958,but I was lazy and scanned quickly over the headlines,thinking surely an explosion would garner front page coverage,however there were several days in a row that degaulle got the more top spot,than this blast.I never read past the headlines...so it just goes to show if I'm going to do something ,do it right.....and you sir obviously had the patience to do it right....... Cheers ! HF&RV - Les
I lived not too far from the Bannantyne explosion and it was an attempted suicide. Definitely newsworthy as Verdunites were not used to anything like this happening.
Sherill
Now that we have a date, I will check in the Messager and Guardian at my next visit to Verdun as the explosion is surely mentioned.
Guy.
Wow
Just found this site.. Interesting.
It was my grandfather's office that was blown up. On the corner Beurling and Allard, on the south west side. It was a duplex. There was an office on the lower flat with a tenant up above. The individual above commited suicide by opening the gas. It was the postman who set it off with the door bell. The individual in the upper flat was killed. My father who worked below was thrown under his desk and was dug out 4 hours later.
I`m glad he made it ....I would`n`t be here...
Part of Verdun history.
Michael Loiseau
Wow
Just found this site.. Interesting.
It was my grandfather's office that was blown up. On the corner Beurling and Allard, on the south west side. It was a duplex. There was an office on the lower flat with a tenant up above. The individual above commited suicide by opening the gas. It was the postman who set it off with the door bell. The individual in the upper flat was killed. My father who worked below was thrown under his desk and was dug out 4 hours later.
I`m glad he made it ....I would`n`t be here...
Part of Verdun history.
Michael Loiseau
Glad your Dad suevived Michael, and glad you surfed by and shared that information first hand for us.......Cheers !
I may in the near future start again postin ohere on a more steady basis,or if I find a decent venue to host a new group. For now feel free to sift through all the stories that are here. I brought them all over here from a now defunct network called Multiply (formerly MSN group) Some of the photos do not show up, but I most likely still have them stored somewhere & will at some point get around to reposting the photos that go with the stories. thanks -LesF
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