Mill Street Gas Explosions

Mill Street Gas Explosions. . , At 6:30p.m. on Saturday, May 14, 1966 a natural gas explosion destroyed three buildings on Mill Street. The explosion leveled the two-story Ziebold Utilities Co. and the three story vacant building formerly occupied by the Monroe County Electric Co-Op. It badly damaged the two story building owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Horn, which housed the Children's Shoppe and an apartment occupied by them. , Thankfully, there were no deaths or serious injuries, even though several men were standing in front of the Ziebold building and in the alley between the two buildings preparing to begin work repairing a leak to the natural gas main that ran through the alley. , Gas from the leaking main had seeped into both buildings. The Ziebold building blew up first, the blast apparently set off by a furnace pilot light on an automatic electrical switch. A few minutes later, the electric co-op building blew up. , This explosion completely changed downtown Waterloo, with headlines of local newspaper. The Waterloo the reading, "Mill Street Will Never Again Be the Same." , Just 8 years later, on October 15, 1972, another gas explosion occurred on Mill Street, right next to the area of the 1966 explosion. This time, the explosion happened in the second floor apartment above the Petri Insurance building on Mill Street. The explosion blew out both the front and rear walls of the upper portion of the building. The apartment was occupied by Miss Katherine Kroll, who was severely burned and died. from her injuries the following morning. The explosion occurred when she attempted to light her stove. , Firemen quickly extinguished small blazes in the upper floor apartment and along with city gas employees checked the area for gas in other buildings. It was discovered that the Varsity Barber Shop in the building next to the Petri Building was also full of gas, and gas was detected in the rear alley as well. The building housing Welsch's Tavern was also filled with gas, including a residential apartment on the second floor. All of the gas leaks were quickly fixed to prevent any further explosions.