An Ordinary Day

March 20, 2025, marked the 120^th anniversary of the catastrophic steam boiler explosion at the R.B. Grover Shoe Factory. However, it began as an ordinary day for the employees at the plant and the citizens of Brockton, Massachusetts.

While the disaster at the Grover plant is not widely known, I was first drawn to the calamity as the subject for my novel when I saw the side-by-side images of the massive factory before and after the explosion and subsequent fire—nothing remained but the smokestack. The image begged the question, how did anyone survive?

Remarkably, of the 360 people estimated to be inside the building or in nearby homes and businesses, only 58 people perished. Truly a miracle, considering firefighters had only twelve minutes to assist those fleeing the wreckage before the fire spread too wide and the flames burned too hot, forcing the shift from a rescue operation to fire containment.

Located in the predominantly Swedish neighborhood of Campello, the factory produced the highly popular Emerson shoe, widely considered to be stylish and affordable. With business booming, Grover added a fourth floor to his large factory that covered half a city block on the corner of Main and Calmar Streets. At the time of the expansion, a new steam boiler was purchased to heat the factory and power the machinery.

However, on the day of the explosion, the older boiler was online, while the newer one underwent routine maintenance following heavy use during the winter months. At 7:50 a.m., the boiler overheated, triggering a blast that thrust the massive tank through the roof, knocking out the factory’s water tower, which collapsed onto the building. All four floors in the left rear corner of the plant pancaked onto one another, trapping employees. Burning coals from the boiler soared over the factory, igniting severed gas lines. Flames feeding on wood flooring treated with linseed oil were fanned by the oxygen that flashed throughout the burning wreckage when the building’s three hundred windows burst. Roughly fifteen minutes later, a second explosion occurred when a storage shed housing a highly combustible solvent used in shoe polish caught fire.

In creating my fictional work surrounding these tragic events, I took a few small liberties with history. Located across the street from the Grover Factory, St. Margaret’s church was a checkpoint where survivors could be accounted for. The church, however, was not a triage location as I portrayed it in the story. Many of the small businesses and homeowners in the neighborhood, unaffected by the blast, opened their homes to help the wounded.

I also moved the time of the city council meeting, declaring Thursday, March 23^rd a city-wide day of mourning and establishing the Brockton Relief Fund, from Tuesday evening to Tuesday afternoon to quicken the story’s pace.

Although a handful of women worked in the newspaper industry by 1905, most periodicals would not hire female reporters. I would be remiss not to mention the accomplishments of Sallie Joy White, the first female staff writer for The Boston Post (1870). Sallie, along with five other women, formed the New England Women’s Press Association in 1885 to enhance professionalism and further their careers in a male-dominated profession.

All scenes regarding the arson investigation were purely fictional. No such events occurred around the time of the Grover Disaster, and arson was never considered as a possible cause of the fire. Nine days after the explosion and a thorough inspection by the Hartford Steam Boiler and Inspection Company, Robbins Grover was cleared of any wrongdoing. The culprit, a crack in one of the boiler’s riveted lap joints—something that had not been detected in any of the boiler’s routine maintenance inspections. Grover declared bankruptcy and his remaining assets were distributed among his creditors. Despite financial ruin, Robbins Grover spent the remainder of his life raising money to aid the victims.

The Grover catastrophe remains the second-largest boiler disaster in American history, surpassed only by the explosion on the steamship Sultana in 1865, in which 500 returning Union soldiers were killed. In the aftermath of the horrific events in Brockton, and a similar tragedy in Lynn the following year, Massachusetts passed “An Act Relating to the Operation and Inspection of Steam Boilers” in 1907. This legislation introduced the most stringent safety guidelines for the use of steam boilers in the nation and led to the passage of a national boiler safety code.

Recounted throughout this work are the stories of real people who put the welfare of others above their own. Among them, the priest from St. Margaret’s who rushed into the burning building, and in conjunction with other passersby, lifted heavy floor joists freeing trapped workers and leading them to safety. Father James O’Rourke then returned to the inferno seven more times before receiving serious injuries himself. Workers from the nearby Churchill & Alden Shoe Company left their workstations and aided in the rescue of their fellow union members. Or, the heroism of trapped employees, like George E. Smith, who, realizing his survival unlikely, selflessly worked to free three of his co-workers before burning to death in the fire. Mr. Smith left behind a widow and three young daughters. The Smith children were three of the fifty-five dependents who lost a parent in the disaster. It should also be noted here that Dora Clark, Ray Cole, and Wallace Ambercrombie, all mentioned in the novel, were three of the fifty-eight souls lost that day.

Of all those who assisted in the rescue mission, none were more fearless than the men of the Campello fire station. Situated on the same block as the R. B. Grover factory, these firefighters were first on the scene. Without the benefit of modern firefighting respirators, these men charged into the flames and successfully guided dozens of disoriented and injured victims to safety. One firefighter, a man only cited by the name of Moore, dismantled an iron gate with nothing but an axe, saving three employees from certain death. Fireman Moore’s courage and dedication inspired my hero, Leo Eriksson.

The good residents of Brockton and the surrounding communities didn’t easily forget the survivors or the families of the victims. Within hours of the disaster, Mayor Keith received an unsolicited $1,000 donation from the United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston to be directed toward aiding victims and their families. That gift would equal about $35,864.20 today. Subscriptions to the fund came from shoe workers’ unions both in and outside Massachusetts, shoe factory workers in Brockton and surrounding areas, local newspapers, as well as individual donations from the citizens of Brockton. Even Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the Pittsburgh steel magnate known for his magnanimous philanthropy, donated $10,000. By the end, the Brockton Relief Fund distributed more than $105,000 in cash to aid the sufferers from the disaster and their dependents. Although that may seem like a pittance, its 2025 equivalent is a whopping $3,765,741.48, a testament to the compassion and generosity of the donors.

Under the guidance of Mayor Keith and the city council, a city-wide day of mourning occurred on March 23^rd. Services were held throughout Brockton, followed by an extensive processional. Among the participants was the Liberty Band of Campello playing a funeral dirge. A young boy proceeded the band carrying David Rockwell’s clarinet draped in black crepe. The cortege made its way through the packed streets of Brockton to Melrose Cemetery. Here the city would erect a memorial to those who perished. All thirty-six unidentified dead are interred beneath the monument.

The legacy of the Grover disaster was more than the adoption of stricter safety codes, it was the triumph of the human spirit, the countless acts of bravery, and the benevolence of strangers toward their neighbors. It’s the story of a city that came together in great sorrow, despite class, religious, or political differences, to share in common grief, to heal their mutual wounds, and to provide for those in need of assistance.

“There was no creed, no color line, no hostility of capital and labor;
the common strifes of men were forgotten, and all were brought
closer together in the beautiful harmony of the universal brotherhood.

Sorrow, the great leveller, the great arbiter, had done its work.”
~The Brockton Times, March 24, 1905

Perhaps that is the greatest legacy of the disaster—their choice to focus on those things they shared in common rather than that which divided them.

A lesson well-suited for today.

To view other images related to the disaster and/or inspiration for the The Undercover Heiress of Brockton, please visit the novel’s Pinterest Board.