New York City · 1853New York Crystal PalaceA fireproof iron-and-glass hall burns to the ground in five years. How?An iron-and-glass palace for the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, behind the reservoir on 42nd Street. Destroyed by fire on 5 October 1858.
Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Same Story, Different City · Overland, Missouri, United States
National Personnel Records Center fire
The open question
Eighteen million records in four days. Is that bad luck, or a pattern?
On the record
Fire burned from 12 to 16 July 1973. It destroyed some 16 to 18 million U.S. military personnel files.
- Year
- 1973
- Kind
- Records lost
- The story told
- Fire burned from 12 to 16 July 1973.
- What came after
- It destroyed some 16 to 18 million U.S. military personnel files.
Sources
More from Same Story, Different City
New York City · 1853New York Crystal PalaceA fireproof iron-and-glass hall burns to the ground in five years. How?An iron-and-glass palace for the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, behind the reservoir on 42nd Street. Destroyed by fire on 5 October 1858.
Munich, Germany · 1854Glaspalast, MunichAnother glass palace, another fire. Why do they all end the same way?Built by MAN for the first German Industrial Exhibition, opened 15 July 1854. Destroyed by arson in 1931.
London, England · 18621862 International ExhibitionA building too big to keep, recycled into another palace. Who decided?A huge exhibition building in South Kensington. Parliament would not buy it; it was dismantled and the materials went into Alexandra Palace.
London, England · 1873Alexandra Palace fireSixteen days after opening. Then a bigger one in two years. Sound familiar?Opened 24 May 1873. Only 16 days later a fire destroyed it; it was rebuilt and reopened on 1 May 1875.