Home Packing Company

Home Packing Company. . , On the morning of January 2, 1963, the deadliest workplace accident in the city occurred on this site., A massive explosion occurred when a gas main on First Street leaked natural gas through the soil and into the plant., The Home Packing Company, originally the Home Packing and Ice Company at its founding in 1907, was a global company., In its early years, it processed about 350 hogs a week and that gradually swelled to more than 10,000 hogs at its peak., The Dependable brand of bacon, hams, bologna and lard was shipped all over the world in addition to every state in the Union., At about 7 o’clock on that fateful morning, seventeen men died and another 52 were injured in the explosion that led to the collapse of the building., The plant never reopened., The seventeen men who died from injuries sustained in the blast on January 2, 1963, on this site: , Carl Bender, 48, Terre Haute . Jim Buttery, 18, Terre Haute . John Joseph Callahan, 23, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods . Henry James Cottrell, 37, Clinton . Larry Lee Crum, 20, Terre Haute . Joseph Davitto, 56, Universal . Darl Gene Garred, 21, Terre Haute . Jack Raymond Hayes, 30, Shirkleville . Wallace V. Hughes, 24, Terre Haute . Homer Isle, 57, West Terre Haute . John A. Joseph Sr., 59, Terre Haute . George David Kahl, 19, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods . Earnest B. Reed, 31, Paris, Illinois . William Howard Reners, 42, Clinton . Andrew A. Rupska, 45, Terre Haute . Donald W. Scott, 47, Terre Haute . James Trooper Jr., 33, Clinton