Explosion at Essex Station

Built in 1887, of Saginaw Michigan fieldstone, 
the station still stands in majestic beauty
where its tower and windows once watched 
down the arrow straight MCRR rails.

On the 10th day of August in 1907 
its strength would rise to the test,
the station at Essex would go down in history 
as much more than just a regular port of call.

Five thousand pounds of nitro, 
in a boxcar, Amherstburg bound,
sat waiting that day in the yard, 
destined for dredging the Detroit River channel.

The sheriff must have thought that trouble 
had rolled into town on the train
when shots rang out like gunfire 
in that quiet Ontario town.

Drips of explosive, so badly packed, 
leaked onto the hard steel rails
and yard  workers rushed in a panic 
to make safe their perilous cargo.

But when the car was struck by others 
as the train was made up for its trip
the blast blew a hole in the ground, 
twenty feet wide and twelve feet deep.

The station took the hit with great damage, 
buildings around it as well;
a railroad spike shot more than four blocks, 
was found stuck in a wooden fence.

The blast rumbled like an earthquake 
through that southern Ontario land
and nearly twenty miles away, 
the cities of Detroit and Windsor both shook

Two railway workers lost their lives that day,  
but the station’s stone walls stood firm.
Inside, not a single passenger perished 
where they waited to board the next train.




june 2003