At 1:47 in the afternoon on April 6, 1968, a spark triggered an explosion of natural gas under the Marting Amrs store at the corner of Sixth and Main streets in downtown Richmond, Ind. The gas had leaked from one or more faulty gas lines and accumulated under the store. The explosion triggered a secondary explosion of gunpowder inside the store. Together, the explosions claimed the lives of 41 people, injured nearly 150, destroyed more than 120 buildings, and changed the face of downtown Richmond and the lives of nearly everyone in the closely knit community forever.
Of course, print publications and newspaper reports covered the devastation, but the story has never been comprehensively captured in one place – until now. Rob Quigg, of the Richmond Baking Co. family, has announced a documentary film project on the 1968 event called “1:47.” As the film's executive producer, Quigg says “not only does the story of the explosion need to be told in full detail, it also needs to be told in a medium most accessible to the next generation, and that medium is film.”
To create the film, Quigg called on the talents of Jean Harper, assistant professor of English at IU East and author of Rose City , a memoir about work in Richmond's greenhouses. Harper has done research and interviews for the film and is writing the screenplay. Through her archival research and interviews with survivors and relatives of those killed, Harper says she discovered many layers to the story of the tragic explosion. “It turns out that the gas lines in Richmond had gone unrepaired for years and years and were rusted like crazy,” she says, “but everyone took an approach of benign neglect or turning a blind eye.”
The horrific explosion also brought about an unexpected good, Harper says. “It happened two days after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed,” she says. “So across the country, there were all kinds of explosions, riots, looting. But in Richmond, the explosion brought black and white people together. They came together to rescue the injured and recover the dead.”
Like Quigg, Harper believes the whole story of the Richmond explosion needs to be revealed, to honor what happened and bring a sense of closure to the city's residents. “There were lots of lawsuits and a long court case, so everything was legally settled,” Harper says. “But what lingers now is a scar in Richmond. There are still people who vividly remember what happened.” She cites one example of her interview with a man who was 17 at the time of the blasts. “He was in the arms store when it blew up, standing next to his best friend, who was killed, but he survived,” she says. “I also interviewed a shoemaker who had the boots of that best friend who was killed. All these stories intersect, and they are fascinating.”
Jim Krause, clinical assistant professor of telecommunications at IU Bloomington and director of TableTop Productions, is the videographer for the “1:47” project. The film will premier in Richmond with a gala community commemoration in April 2008 to honor the 40 th anniversary of the explosion. Following the premier, the documentary will be made available to local schools and will be released through other outlets, including public broadcasting and film festivals.
