1899 - Explosion

WOONSOCKET, R. I., May 7. - Not only were all the buildings connected with the Woonsocket Driving Park burned this afternoon, but fifty pounds of dynamite stored in one of the stables exploded and added considerably to the devastation, besides shaking up the country for miles around. At the time of the explosion A. C. Stacy, the supervisor of the park, was in an adjoining building twenty feet away, and only received a few bruises, although a similar structure the same distance away on the other side of the dynamite was completely demolished. The buildings destroyed were valued at $25,000. The small buildings first took fire from a brush fire in the vicinity, and the strong breeze caused it to spread before help could be summoned.