Engineering Tragedy: The Ashtabula Train Disaster

125 East Jefferson Street,Jefferson OH 44047

17 December, 2022

Description

The documentary will be shown at the Jefferson United Methodist Church at 1pm on Saturday December 17th with tours of the buildings that were filmed at the Jefferson Depot to follow with a Christmas Cookie Reception. The documentary features the history of the 1876 train disaster and the people involved in it. Railroad safety, engineering regulations and the Ashtabula General Hospital and other improvements resulted from the tragedy. Len and Patti Brown, co-director and producer of Beacon Productions, are pleased to announce the film will air on WQLN-TV, PBS at 8 p.m. Dec. 29, the 146th anniversary of the train and bridge disaster. The film will focus on that snowy night when a Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway train headed through Ashtabula during a blizzard and the bridge over the Ashtabula River collapsed under the weight. Dozens were killed in the collapse and even more when fire broke out, including famous hymn writer, Philip P. Bliss, who is buried in Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Ashtabula