The Pemberton Mill Disaster Explained

May 2024 ยท 1 minute read

After the collapse of Pemberton Mill, philanthropists were keen on providing relief for the citizens of Lawrence, giving the city $66,000. In today's money, that's worth $2,310,000, according to the Inflation Calculator. Meanwhile, many in the city wanted someone to blame, and they wanted to know how something like this could happen in the first place. Captain Charles Bigelow, the man who built the building, was deemed responsible for the collapse, and a jury found him guilty of shoddy infrastructure, according to the New England Historical Society.

Eventually, a new Pemberton Mill was constructed atop the rubble of the disaster and remained in operation as a textile plant until 1938. As of 2017, the mill was owned by data storage company Iron Mountain. Today, the disaster serves as a reminder to the citizens of Lawrence, Mass., what their forefathers endured as a result of faulty construction as they continue to make safer buildings in the future (via The Eagle-Tribune).

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9j3FtamthZMGpsYypnKaalafBsLqMpqClpF2ZtrSt0q2cq2WVrb2trcinnJ1n