The Texas City Disaster

Four years after the blast, the legal fight reached the Supreme Court. Dalehite v. United States was a test case for about 300 claims worth two hundred million dollars, because the ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been made under federal specifications. The trial judge called it a dangerous commodity and awarded damages, and the Fifth Circuit reversed. On June 8, 1953, the Supreme Court affirmed by 4 to 3, with two justices not taking part, holding that the Federal Tort Claims Act's discretionary-function exception shielded the government. Congress later settled more than 3,000 claims for $16.5 million.

What the plaque says

The Texas City Disaster On April 16, 1947, three ships--the "Grandcamp", the "High Flyer", and the "Wilson B. Keene"--were docked in the Texas City port. They were loaded with cargo, including ammonium nitrate fertilizer, bound for Europe to assist in the Post-World War II recovery effort. At 8:33 a. m. the Texas City fire department responded to a call for assistance with a fire on the "Grandcamp". As smoke billowed from the ship, spectators gathered to watch. The "Grandcamp" exploded at 9:12 a. m. with a tremendous force that was felt for miles around. A second explosion came at 1:10 a. m. on April 17, when the "High Flyer's" cargo caught fire, destroying the "Wilson B. Keene" as well. More than 550 people, including 27 firemen, were killed; Flying pieces of concrete, steel, and glass injured thousands more; Resulting fires took days to extinguish. Response to the disaster came immediately, with the American Red Cross coordinating relief efforts. Far-reaching effects of the Texas City disaster incuded the implementation of safety standards and revised emergency medical treatment procedures. Citizens determined to rebuild. By 1950 few physical reminders of the disaster remained, although the event retains a prominent place in state and national history. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Seaport Museum and the Elissa — 8.1 mi
  An iron barque launched in Aberdeen in 1877 that called at Galveston twice, ended up smuggling in the Adriatic, and was bought back from a Greek scrapyard to sail again from Pier 22.
• The Strand — 8.2 mi
  Five blocks of iron-front brick buildings near the harbor that were once called the Wall Street of the Southwest, emptied after 1900 and brought back by preservationists from the 1960s.
• Moody Mansion — 8.5 mi
  A four-story, 28,000-square-foot house on Broadway, finished in 1895, that W. L. Moody Jr. bought just after the 1900 storm and his family kept until Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 8.6 mi
  A brick Italianate house on Broadway, built with enslaved labor in 1859, whose lawn has held Galveston's Juneteenth commemoration of General Orders, No. 3 every year since 1979.

More markers nearby

• First Aero Squadron — 0.2 mi
• Texas City Dike — 0.2 mi
• Shoal Point and Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse — 0.5 mi
• William Jefferson Jones — 0.5 mi