Smith Distributing Company, 1954, on the southeast corner of US 42 and Center Street.

At 3:15 p.m. on Christmas Day, 1959, the building above very literally blew up.  17 people were hospitalized, 31 homes were ruined and one man, Jack Smith, died.

After the explosion	Neighborhood houses damaged.

 

Home of Gilbert Hill; rebuilt as one-story home

 

This home was 150  feet from the blast.	Gilbert Hill home,  east of the blast	This is Jack Smith's car, and all  that was left of the building.

 

Additional damage scenes

 

The Mayor of Warsaw, Poland, sent his sympathy

 

Exterior and Interior of the home of Mrs. Pearl Brown

 

Warsaw Furniture Factory	The Otto Scudder home rebuilt as a one-story house	Home of Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Craig, E. Main

The author of these pages was sitting in Glencoe at the moment of the blast, and can personally testify that the blast could be felt across the county.   But then, reports of the explosion also came in from Elsmere, Carrollton and Williamstown, so Glencoe's not such a stretch.  The Kentucky Post & Time-Star's story is here, a few random notes are here, and the obituary of Jack Smith, who died in the explosion, is here.

 

The Gallatin County News coverage of the explosion is in their issues of January 7 and 14, 1960, and you can find those issues, and all the other issues since 1947, at this site.