List of disasters in Massachusetts by death toll
Appearance
This is a list of disasters that have occurred in Massachusetts organized by death toll.
Year[a] | Event | Type | Death toll | Location | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1918 | Spanish flu pandemic | Disease | 28,870 | Statewide | [1] |
2020 | COVID-19 pandemic | Disease | 20,872 | Statewide | [2] |
1693 | 1693 Boston yellow fever epidemic | Disease | 3,100+ | Boston | [3] |
1911 | 1911 Eastern North America heat wave | Heatwave | 1,110 | Statewide | [4] |
1633 | Massachusetts smallpox epidemic | Disease | 1,000 | Statewide | [5] |
1721 | 1721 Boston smallpox outbreak | Disease | 844 | Boston | [6] |
1677 | 1677–1678 Boston smallpox epidemic | Disease | 750–1,000 | Boston | [7] |
1942 | Cocoanut Grove fire | Fire | 492 | Boston | [8] |
1898 | Sinking of the Portland | Shipwreck | 193 to 245 | Gloucester | [9] |
1874 | Mill River Flood of 1874 | Flood | 139 | Williamsburg and Northampton | [10] |
1963 | Sinking of the USS Thresher | Submarine wreck | 129 | Cape Cod | [11] |
1884 | Sinking of the SS City of Columbus | Shipwreck | 103 | Martha's Vineyard | [12] |
1953 | 1953 Worcester tornado | Tornado | 94 | Worcester | [13] |
1973 | Delta Air Lines Flight 723 | Aviation accident | 89 | Boston | [14] |
1860 | Pemberton Mill collapse | Explosion and building collapse | 88 to 145 | Lawrence | [15][16] |
1938 | 1938 New England hurricane | Hurricane | 88 | Statewide | [17] |
1875 | Precious Blood Church fire | Fire | 78 | Holyoke | [18] |
1960 | Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 | Aviation accident | 62 | Boston | [19] |
1905 | Grover Shoe Factory disaster | Explosion and building collapse | 58 | Brockton | [20] |
1916 | Summer Street Bridge disaster | Streetcar accident | 46 | Boston | [21] |
1956 | Sinking of the SS Andrea Doria | Shipwreck | 46 | Nantucket | [22] |
1925 | Pickwick Club collapse | Building collapse | 44 | Boston | [23] |
1927 | Sinking of the USS S-4 | Shipwreck | 40 | Provincetown | [24] |
1887 | Forest Hills disaster | Bridge collapse | 38 | Boston | [25] |
1911 | Septic score throat outbreak | Disease | 38 | Boston | [26] |
1953 | USS Leyte explosion | Explosion | 36 | Boston | [27] |
1871 | Great Revere train wreck of 1871 | Railway accident | 30 | Revere | [28] |
1872 | Great Boston Fire of 1872 | Fire | 30 | Boston | [29] |
1913 | Arcadia Hotel fire | Fire | 28 | Boston | [30] |
1946 | Mount Tom B-17 crash | Aviation accident | 25 | Holyoke | [31] |
1874 | Granite Mill fire | Fire | 23 | Fall River | [32] |
1890 | 1890 Quincy train wreck | Railway accident | 23 | Quincy | [33] |
1958 | Northeast Airlines Flight 258 | Aviation accident | 23 | Nantucket | [34] |
1903 | United States Cartridge Company explosion | Explosion | 22 | Lowell | [35] |
1915 | St. John's School fire | Fire | 21 | Peabody | [36] |
1919 | Great Molasses Flood | Flood | 21 | Boston | [37] |
1928 | Preble Box Toe Company explosion | Explosion | 20 | Lynn | [38] |
1878 | Wollaston disaster | Railway accident | 19 | Quincy | [39] |
1908 | Great Chelsea fire of 1908 | Fire | 19 | Chelsea | [40] |
1945 | SS Silver Star Park and SS Mangore collision | Shipwreck | 19 | New Bedford | [41][42] |
1966 | 1966 Nantucket radar plane crash | Aviation Accident | 19 | Nantucket | [43] |
2012 | 2012–2013 flu season | Disease | 18 | Statewide | [44] |
1905 | Baker Bridge train wreck | Railway accident | 17 | Lincoln | [45] |
1910 | Morewood Lake Ice Company explosion | Explosion | 17 | Pittsfield | [46] |
1942 | Garnet Hill crash | Aviation accident | 17 | Peru | [47] |
1944 | Sinking of the USS YF-415 | Shipwreck | 17 | Hingham | [48] |
1804 | 1804 New England hurricane | Hurricane | 16 | Statewide | |
1965 | 1965 Nantucket radar plane crash | Aviation Accident | 16 | Nantucket | [49] |
1958 | Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash | Aviation Accident | 15 | Chicopee | [50] |
1967 | 1967 Nantucket radar picket plane crash | Aviation Accident | 15 | Nantucket | [51] |
1984 | Beverly rooming house fire | Arson | 15 | Beverly | [52] |
1893 | Chester train wreck | Bridge collapse | 14 | Chester | [53] |
1928 | Beacon Oil explosion | Explosion | 14 | Everett | [54] |
1867 | Hoosac Tunnel Central Shaft accident | Tunnel collapse | 13 | Florida | [55] |
1906 | Amsden Building collapse | Building collapse | 13 | Framingham | [56][57] |
1941 | Strand Theatre fire | Fire | 13 | Brockton | [58] |
1942 | Melvin Hall fire | Fire | 13 | Lynn | [59] |
1956 | Swampscott train wreck | Railway accident | 13 | Swampscott | [60] |
1966 | Everett train-truck crash | Railway accident | 13 | Everett | [61] |
1890 | Boston tenement fire | Fire | 12 | Boston | [62] |
1952 | Camp Edwards plane collision | Aviation accident | 12 | Mashpee | [63] |
1958 | Northeast Airlines Flight 285 | Aviation accident | 12 | New Bedford | [64] |
1886 | Deerfield railway accident | Railway accident | 11 | Deerfield | [65] |
1902 | Frank A. Palmer and Louise B. Crary collision | Shipwreck | 11 | Gloucester | [66] |
1913 | Lawrence bathhouse tragedy | Drowning | 11 | Lawrence | [67] |
1919 | Springfield Boys' Club Camp drownings | Drowning | 11 | East Otis | [68] |
1964 | January 1964 blizzard | Blizzard | 11 | Statewide | [69] |
1966 | Paramount Hotel explosion | Explosion | 11 | Boston | [70] |
1902 | Italian lodging house fire | Fire | 10 | Boston | [71] |
1944 | Mount Holyoke bomber crash | Aviation accident | 10 | South Hadley | [72] |
1973 | Worcester rooming house fire | Fire | 10 | Worcester | [73] |
See also
[edit]- List of accidents and disasters by death toll
- List of natural disasters by death toll
- List of disasters in the United States by death toll
Notes
[edit]- ^ For continuous multi-year events, the year in the year column represents the initial year of the event, unless otherwise noted.
References
[edit]- ^ Shea, Lois R. (November 1, 1998). "Sudden, swift, silent, and deadly 80 years ago, flu ravaged New England". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "COVID-19 Response Reporting". Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
- ^ "1693 — June 17 start, Yellow Fever, Boston, British fleet arrival from Martinique[1]—<10?". 17 June 1693. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- ^ Aldrich, Ian (March 24, 2010). "Natural Disasters: New England Numbers". Yankee Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "1633–34 — Smallpox Epidemic, New England Natives, Plymouth Colonists, MA –>1000". usdeadlyevents.com. January 1632. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ Kelly, M.D., Howard; Burrage, M.D., Walter (1920). American Medical Biographies. The Norman, Remington Company. p. 134. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
- ^ "1677–1678 — Smallpox Epidemic, Massachusetts Bay Colony, esp. Boston & vic. –750-1,000". usdeadlyevents. January 1676. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ Daniel J. Fleming, "The Cocoanut Grove Revisited: U.S. Navy Records Document How 492 Died in a Deadly Nightclub Fire 75 Years Ago." Prologue Magazine, Fall 2017, Vol. 49, No. 3
- ^ "Passenger and Crew Lost with the Steamship Portland". Maritime Heritage. Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ "Passenger and Crew Lost with the Steamship Portland". Maritime Heritage. Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
- ^ Duddu, Praveen (6 March 2014). "Peril in the depths – the world's worst submarine disasters". Navaltechnology.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ King, Irving H. (1996). The Coast Guard Expands, 1865–1915: New Roles, New Frontiers. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-55750-458-6.
- ^ "The 25 Deadliest U.S. Tornadoes". National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- ^ Burden, Leanne; Tuite, Lisa (2012-08-01). "Flight 723: Boston's worst plane crash in history". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
- ^ Date, Terry. "The walls trembled, then fell: Lessons from the Pemberton disaster". The Eagle Tribune. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ "THE FALL OF THE PEMBERTON MILL". The New York Times. April 18, 1886.
- ^ Scotti, R. A. "Sudden Sea — The Great Hurricane of 1938". Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2003. Archived from the original on January 2, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
- ^ Corbeil, Art (2000). "Fire at Precious Blood". HolyokeMass.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017.
- ^ Reints, Renae (October 5, 2017). "Throwback Thursday: The Worst Bird Strike in U.S. History". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "Fifty-eighth Brockton Victim Dead". The New York Times. April 16, 1905.
- ^ Moskowitz, Eric (October 29, 1916). "STREET CAR PLUNGE 46 DROWNED: 'WORST TRAGEDY IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY' (And the one Boston completely forgot)". Boston Globe. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ "PBS Online – Lost Liners – Comparison Chart". PBS.
- ^ "Disaster Probe Again Delayed". The Boston Daily Globe. July 10, 1925.
- ^ Hoppe, Jon (October 29, 2015). "Anatomy of a Tragedy: The Sinking of the USS S-4". U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "Bussey Bridge Disaster: Feature News Account". Boston Daily Globe. Jamaica Historical Society. March 15, 1887.
- ^ Vaughan, Victor C. (1922). Respiratory infections. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Company. p. 124. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Sabotage Hunted in Carrier Blast; Toll Rises to 36 Dead and 40 Hurt". The New York Times. October 18, 1953.
- ^ The New York Herald August 30, 1871 page 10 lists 30 fatalities
- ^ "The Great Boston Fire of 1872 – New England Historical Society". www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com. March 9, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
- ^ "Record Toll in Fire Victims" (PDF). The Boston Daily Globe. December 4, 1913. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
- ^ "25 Bodies Found in Bomber Crash". The New York Times. July 11, 1946.
- ^ "23 Killed---26 Wounded". The Pilot. September 26, 1874. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners (1890). Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 1890. pp. 113–135. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ Walsh, Robert (August 17, 1958). "Air Safety Probe Demanded for N.E.: Nantucket Crash Toll Rises to 23; 11 Survive". The Boston Daily Globe.
- ^ "Makes 22 Lives Lost". The Boston Daily Globe. September 25, 1903.
- ^ BURKE, ALAN (October 27, 2015). "Suffer the little children: Remembering the 21 who died in the St. John's fire 100 years ago". Salem News. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
- ^ Sohn, Emily (January 15, 2019). "Why the Great Molasses Flood Was So Deadly". The History Channel. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
- ^ "John Coleman Dies, 20th in Lynn Blast". The Boston Daily Globe. November 25, 1928.
- ^ Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners Volume 11, Part 1880. 1880. pp. 186–187. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Great Chelsea Fire of 1908". Celebrate Boston. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ^ "19 Dead, 3 Missing in Ship Collision". The New York Times. April 14, 1945.
- ^ Barry, William R.; Chisholm, Doug; Parsons, Beth (2005). Age Shall Not Weary Them: Saskatchewan Remembers Its War Dead. People Places Pub.
- ^ "19 Lost in Crash of Radar Plane". The Boston Globe. November 12, 1966.
- ^ "Boston declares flu emergency; 18 dead statewide from outbreak". The Berkshire Eagle. January 9, 2013.
- ^ "Rear-End Collision Brings Deaths to 17". The Boston Daily Globe. November 27, 1905.
- ^ "17th Victim of Explosion". The Boston Daily Globe. December 30, 1910.
- ^ "17 Die in Army Plane Crash". The Boston Globe. August 17, 1942.
- ^ "USS YF-415". Northern Atlantic Dive Expeditions. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ "9 Airmen Perish in Plane Ditching". The New York Times. July 13, 1965.
- ^ "Jet Tanker Crashes; 15 Killed". The Boston Daily Globe. June 27, 1958.
- ^ Jenner, Edward (April 26, 1967). "Plane Crash Off Nantucket Kills 15--1 Survivor". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "July Fire in Beverly Claims 15th Victim". The Boston Globe. August 8, 1984.
- ^ "List of Dead Numbers 14". The Boston Daily Globe. September 4, 1893.
- ^ "Ask Beacon Plant Permit Be Revoked". The Boston Daily Globe. March 13, 1928.
- ^ "The Hoosac Tunnel Disaster of 1867". New England Historical Society. 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
- ^ "Only One is Now Missing". The Boston Daily Globe. July 26, 1906.
- ^ "Chester Nicholson Dead". The Boston Daily Globe. November 14, 1908.
- ^ "Herlihy's Death 13th From Brockton Fire". The Boston Daily Globe. March 13, 1941.
- ^ Monahan, James (January 21, 1942). "Probe Ordered of Lynn Blaze Which Killed 13". The Boston Daily Globe.
- ^ Linscott, Seymour (February 29, 1956). "Probe 13-Death Wreck: B & M Blames Dead Budd Liner Engineer". The Boston Daily Globe.
- ^ "Everett Rail Crash Claims 13th Victim". The Boston Daily Globe. February 6, 1967.
- ^ "Victims of a Death Trap". The New York Times. February 3, 1890.
- ^ "Planes Crash Aloft; 12 in Air Force Die". The New York Times. April 10, 1952.
- ^ "12th Crash Victim Dies". The New York Times. September 25, 1957.
- ^ Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners (1887). Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 1887. pp. 64–68. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ "11 Dead, 10 Saved". The Boston Daily Globe. December 23, 1902.
- ^ Volger, Mark E. (June 30, 2013). "The day 'many happy homes were made silent and sorrowful'". The Eagle-Tribune. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ "Eleven Boys Are Drowned At One Picnic". The Boston Globe. July 26, 1919. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "New England Digs Out, Counts 31 Dead, Millions Spent". The Boston Daily Globe. January 15, 1964.
- ^ Turner, R. L. (May 20, 1966). "Gas Leak Blamed For Hub Blast". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "Fire Kills Ten Italians in Boston". The New York Times. January 30, 1902.
- ^ "New England Digs Out, Counts 31 Dead, Millions Spent". The Boston Daily Globe. January 15, 1964.
- ^ "10th victim found from Worcester guest house fire". The Boston Globe. July 16, 1973.