The Green Hornet Street Car Disaster

by Craig Allen Cleve

As rush hour came to a close on the evening of May 25, 1950, one of Chicago’s new fast, colorful, streamlined streetcars—known as a Green Hornet—slammed into a gas truck at State Street and 62nd Place. The Hornet’s motorman allegedly failed to heed the warnings of a flagger attempting to route it around a flooded underpass, and the trolley, packed with commuters on their way home, barreled into eight thousand gallons of gasoline. The gas erupted into flames, poured onto State Street, and quickly engulfed the Hornet, shooting flames two hundred and fifty feet into the air. More than half of the passengers escaped the inferno through the rear window, but thirty-three others perished, trapped in front of the streetcar’s back door, which failed to stay open in the ensuing panic. It was Chicago’s worst traffic accident ever—and the worst two-vehicle traffic accident in U.S. history.

Unearthing a forgotten chapter in Chicago lore, The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster tells the riveting tale of this calamity. Combing through newspaper accounts as well as the Chicago Transit Authority’s official archives, Craig Cleve vividly brings to life this horrific catastrophe. Going beyond the historical record, he tracks down individuals who were present on that fateful day on State and 62nd: eyewitnesses, journalists, even survivors whose lives were forever changed by the accident. Weaving these sources together, Cleve reveals the remarkable combination of natural events, human error, and mechanical failure that led to the disaster, and this moving history recounts them—as well as the conflagration’s human drama—in gripping detail.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for fans of Seconds From Disaster and the like.

It would've been nice to have a contemporary map of the area of the accident, and even pre-disaster photos of the area (if there are any). With these sorts of books, I always feel like pictures, diagrams, maps and the like really help with understanding what happened and how. (There are some pictures, but they're mostly of the aftermath or news pictures from during the chaos.) Granted, this is also why I really should've ILLed a hard copy to read. E-books are great for some things, but not so much for when you want to flip back and forth between where you're reading in the book and the pictures/diagrams/etc that help it make sense.

As always with nonfiction, particularly disaster books, I can't verify the accuracy of the book. I can't think of anything that made me doubt it, though, which is good.

[Leslie Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be a model for how to write a disaster history book for the general public. It's wonderfully researched, very readable and consistently fascinating. I found myself wanting to slow down my reading to savor it, but then I couldn't put it down because I found it so fascinating. I give it five stars not just for how well it was researched but how well it was presented. One of the best disaster history books I've ever read.

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meticulously written and immensely detailed account of a tragedy that has been largely forgotten in the fabric of Chicago history. Amazing that even 70 years ago, bureaucratic nonsense ensured that no regulations with any bite were enforced and it was capitalism that killed the trolley service. Same as it ever was, I guess.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I remember hearing my parents talk about this disaster as they were in their 20's when this happened and actually knew people who had relatives killed in this tragedy. The only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars is that diagrams would have been very helpful. Since I didn't grow up in the streetcar era, it was difficult to picture all the details about the accident such as the 'turnaround'. But all in all, an excellent book detailing a very sad day in Chicago's history.

[Joshua Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating piece of Chicago history.