Out of Our Past: A look back at Richmond's 1968 explosion that killed 41 and injured 150

RICHMOND, Ind. — April 6, 1968, was just another busy Saturday afternoon for the city of Richmond until an explosion turned the downtown into a burning hellscape.

It was a warm and sunny spring day before the explosion, and residents were running errands in preparation for the Easter holiday the following weekend, according to Esther Kellner's description cited in her book "Death in a Sunny Street: The Civil Defense Story of the Richmond, Indiana disaster."

The downtown and stores on Main Street were "full of people and traffic was heavier than usual," Kellner wrote.

But 56 years ago, the hustle and bustle of downtown that Saturday quickly turned into the darkest day in the city's history when a double explosion and ensuing fire caused by a gas leak killed 41 people and injured more than 150 others, according to news accounts and subsequent reports and witnesses.

The scene was chaotic. More than a city block was completely leveled by the explosion, according to Palladium-Item reports filed April 7, 1968.

The explosion came two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.

"Despite the nationwide tensions, the citizens of Richmond united together to diminish the fires, rescue trapped adults and children, and locate the injured/deceased for emergency personnel," Visit Richmond, the Wayne County convention and tourism bureau, wrote in an online piece published in 2018.

A Palladium-Item editorial published two days after the explosion stated, "Nothing molds a community into a single spirit of compassionate helpfulness any more quickly than does a disaster of the kind which struck Richmond Saturday afternoon ... . The color of a person's skin, his position in life, or any of the other meaningless measuring sticks our society often applies, made no difference, whether it was a person helping, or a person being helped."

The help included everything from people rescuing those injured at the site to donating blood at the hospital, as well as providing spiritual help through prayer, the editorial noted.

More: Richmond explosions 50 years later

A Board of Inquiry was created to investigate the disaster, and on May 29, 1968, a blast report was made public detailing what happened, according to the Palladium-Item.

The report revealed that the cause of the initial explosion was not known, but that the source of it was in or near the Marting Arms building, a sporting goods store, at 601 E Main St., according to the Palladium-Item's publication of the report.

At the time, it was believed that there were no survivors who were in the store as it was the epicenter of the blast, but in recent years, Jack Bales, who was 18 at the time of the explosion, was the sole survivor from the store. He has shared his story publicly.

"The first blew in, from west to east," he said in a previous Palladium-Item story. "The second lifted the store, and I have no memory after that."

More: Jack Bales' story: Scars from 1968 explosions remain

Despite the initial cause never being confirmed, the Board of Inquiry report indicated that explosion might have been from a spark (of unknown origin) igniting natural gas from a leaking pipe.

A firing range was located in the basement of the store, and there's been a belief that a spark from a gunshot might have ignited it.

The cost of damage was estimated at over $10 million, according to the blast report, which would be about $90 million today, according to an online inflation calculator.

The following is the list of the victims who died that day:

Jonathan "John" D. Abraham, 15, of Richmond; Hays "Pete" Bennett, 41, of Richmond; Rev. J. Thomas "Tom" Boyce, 33, of Richmond; Violet Loraine Byrum, 43, of Richmond; Eunice Clevenger, 42, of Richmond; Nora Coffman, 59, of Richmond; Pamela "Jeanie" Davis, 18, of Richmond; J. Bruce Eckenrode, 60, of Centerville, Marguerite Eckenrode, 51, of Centerville; Roy L. Freyburger, 72, of Richmond; Jeffrey "Jeff" Douglas Gabbard, 7, of Richmond.

Laura Pearl Gabbard, 28, of Richmond, David Lee Gibbs, 18, of Cambridge City; Raymond Edward "Eddie" Gilmore, 24, of Richmond; Linnie Golda Gregg, 39, of New Paris, Ohio; Mary Louise Grove, 39, of Lewisburg, Ohio; Diane Johnson, 19, of Richmond; Kelly Kirkland, 8, of Cambridge City; Robin Kirkland, 11, of Cambridge City; Virginia C. Kirkland, 38, of Cambridge City; Anges Lefforge, 62, of Richmond; Debbie Louise Lunsford, 13, of Richmond; Donald L. Marting, 39, of Middleboro; Louise Marting, 36, of Middleboro; Shirley M. McLemore, 26, of Richmond; Ruth Ann Nelson, 28, of Greens Fork; Gregory "Greg" Harold Oler, 21, of Fountain City; Charles H. Otte, 59, of Centerville.

Lelah M. Otte, 61, of Centerville; Elaine K. Petitt, 14, of Richmond; Blaine Scott Reeves Sr., 25, of Richmond; Alvin F. Rice, 50, of Richmond; Mary Ella Roan, 50, of Richmond; Imogene Ross, 39, of Richmond; Joseph "Joe" I. Slattery, 64, of Richmond; Catherine Jean Smith, 44, of Richmond; Audrey Marilyn Teaford, 53, of Richmond; Thomas "Tom" Woodhurst Toler, 16, of Richmond; James M. "Jim" Trimble, 42, of Richmond; Evonda Kay, "Bonnie," Twine, 13, of Richmond; Rose D. Vigran, 72, of Richmond.

More: Monument honors victims of downtown Richmond explosions

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Out of Our Past Richmond Explosions 1968