List of disasters in Massachusetts by death toll

Damage from the 1953 Worcester tornado Wreckage of Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 Aftermath of the Grover Shoe Factory disaster Streetcar involved in the Summer Street Bridge disaster being raised from the river Andrea Doria sinking Ruins of the Great Boston Fire of 1872 Wreckage of the Great Molasses Flood Great Chelsea fire of 1908

This is a list of disasters that have occurred in Massachusetts organized by death toll.

Year[a] | Event  | Type  | Death toll  | Location  | Sources

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|
|
|
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1918  | Spanish flu pandemic | Disease  | 28,870  | Statewide  | [1]
2020  | COVID-19 pandemic | Disease  | 20,872  | Statewide  | [2]
1693  | 1693 Boston yellow fever epidemic  | Disease  | 3,100+  | Boston | [3]
1911  | 1911 Eastern North America heat wave | Heatwave  | 1,110  | Statewide  | [4]
1633  | Massachusetts smallpox epidemic | Disease  | 1,000  | Statewide  | [5]
1721  | 1721 Boston smallpox outbreak | Disease  | 844  | Boston | [6]
1677  | 1677–1678 Boston smallpox epidemic  | Disease  | 750–1,000  | Boston | [7]
1942  | Cocoanut Grove fire | Fire  | 492  | Boston | [8]
1898  | Sinking of the Portland | Shipwreck  | 193 to 245  | Gloucester | [9]
1874  | Mill River Flood of 1874 | Flood  | 139  | Williamsburg and Northampton | [10]
1963  | Sinking of the USS Thresher | Submarine wreck  | 129  | Cape Cod | [11]
1884  | Sinking of the SS City of Columbus | Shipwreck  | 103  | Martha's Vineyard | [12]
1953  | 1953 Worcester tornado | Tornado  | 94  | Worcester | [13]
1973  | Delta Air Lines Flight 723 | Aviation accident  | 89  | Boston | [14]
1860  | Pemberton Mill collapse | Explosion and building collapse  | 88 to 145  | Lawrence | [15][16]
1938  | 1938 New England hurricane | Hurricane  | 88  | Statewide  | [17]
1875  | Precious Blood Church fire | Fire  | 78  | Holyoke | [18]
1960  | Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 | Aviation accident  | 62  | Boston | [19]
1905  | Grover Shoe Factory disaster | Explosion and building collapse  | 58  | Brockton | [20]
1916  | Summer Street Bridge disaster | Streetcar accident  | 46  | Boston | [21]
1956  | Sinking of the SS Andrea Doria | Shipwreck  | 46  | Nantucket | [22]
1925  | Pickwick Club collapse | Building collapse  | 44  | Boston | [23]
1927  | Sinking of the USS S-4 | Shipwreck  | 40  | Provincetown | [24]
1887  | Forest Hills disaster | Bridge collapse  | 38  | Boston | [25]
1911  | Septic score throat outbreak  | Disease  | 38  | Boston | [26]
1853  | USS Leyte explosion | Explosion  | 36  | Boston | [27]
1871  | Great Revere train wreck of 1871 | Railway accident  | 30  | Revere | [28]
1872  | Great Boston Fire of 1872 | Fire  | 30  | Boston | [29]
1913  | Arcadia Hotel fire | Fire  | 28  | Boston | [30]
1946  | Mount Tom B-17 crash | Aviation accident  | 25  | Holyoke | [31]
1874  | Granite Mill fire | Fire  | 23  | Fall River | [32]
1890  | 1890 Quincy train wreck | Railway accident  | 23  | Quincy | [33]
1958  | Northeast Airlines Flight 258 | Aviation accident  | 23  | Nantucket | [34]
1903  | United States Cartridge Company explosion | Explosion  | 22  | Lowell | [35]
1915  | St. John's School fire | Fire  | 21  | Peabody | [36]
1919  | Great Molasses Flood | Flood  | 21  | Boston | [37]
1928  | Preble Box Toe Company explosion | Explosion  | 20  | Lynn | [38]
1878  | Wollaston disaster | Railway accident  | 19  | Quincy | [39]
1908  | Great Chelsea fire of 1908 | Fire  | 19  | Chelsea | [40]
1945  | SS Silver Star Park and SS Mangore collision  | Shipwreck  | 19  | New Bedford | [41][42]
1966  | 1966 Nantucket radar plane crash  | Aviation Accident  | 19  | Nantucket | [43]
2012  | 2012–2013 flu season | Disease  | 18  | Statewide  | [44]
1905  | Baker Bridge train wreck | Railway accident  | 17  | Lincoln | [45]
1910  | Morewood Lake Ice Company explosion | Explosion  | 17  | Pittsfield | [46]
1942  | Garnet Hill crash  | Aviation accident  | 17  | Peru | [47]
1944  | Sinking of the USS YF-415 | Shipwreck  | 17  | Hingham | [48]
1804  | 1804 New England hurricane | Hurricane  | 16  | Statewide  |
1965  | 1965 Nantucket radar plane crash  | Aviation Accident  | 16  | Nantucket | [49]
1958  | Westover Air Force Base KC-135 crash | Aviation Accident  | 15  | Chicopee | [50]
1967  | 1967 Nantucket radar picket plane crash  | Aviation Accident  | 15  | Nantucket | [51]
1984  | Beverly rooming house fire | Arson  | 15  | Beverly | [52]
1893  | Chester train wreck | Bridge collapse  | 14  | Chester | [53]
1928  | Beacon Oil explosion | Explosion  | 14  | Everett | [54]
1867  | Hoosac Tunnel Central Shaft accident | Tunnel collapse  | 13  | Florida | [55]
1906  | Amsden Building collapse | Building collapse  | 13  | Framingham | [56][57]
1941  | Strand Theatre fire | Fire  | 13  | Brockton | [58]
1942  | Melvin Hall fire  | Fire  | 13  | Lynn | [59]
1956  | Swampscott train wreck | Railway accident  | 13  | Swampscott | [60]
1966  | Everett train-truck crash | Railway accident  | 13  | Everett | [61]
1890  | Boston tenement fire  | Fire  | 12  | Boston | [62]
1952  | Camp Edwards plane collision  | Aviation accident  | 12  | Mashpee | [63]
1958  | Northeast Airlines Flight 285 | Aviation accident  | 12  | New Bedford | [64]
1886  | Deerfield railway accident | Railway accident  | 11  | Deerfield | [65]
1902  | Frank A. Palmer and Louise B. Crary collision | Shipwreck  | 11  | Gloucester | [66]
1913  | Lawrence bathhouse tragedy | Drowning  | 11  | Lawrence | [67]
1919  | Springfield Boys' Club Camp drownings  | Drowning  | 11  | East Otis | [68]
1964  | January 1964 blizzard  | Blizzard  | 11  | Statewide  | [69]
1966  | Paramount Hotel explosion | Explosion  | 11  | Boston | [70]
1902  | Italian lodging house fire  | Fire  | 10  | Boston | [71]
1944  | Mount Holyoke bomber crash  | Aviation accident  | 10  | South Hadley | [72]
1973  | Worcester rooming house fire  | Fire  | 10  | Worcester | [73]

## See also[edit]

* List of accidents and disasters by death toll
* List of natural disasters by death toll
* List of disasters in the United States by death toll

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ For continuous multi-year events, the year in the year column represents the initial year of the event, unless otherwise noted.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Shea, Lois R. (November 1, 1998). "Sudden, swift, silent, and deadly 80 years ago, flu ravaged New England". The Boston Globe.
2. ^ "COVID-19 Response Reporting". Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
3. ^ "1693 — June 17 start, Yellow Fever, Boston, British fleet arrival from Martinique[1]—<10?". 17 June 1693. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
4. ^ Aldrich, Ian (March 24, 2010). "Natural Disasters: New England Numbers". Yankee Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
5. ^ "1633–34 — Smallpox Epidemic, New England Natives, Plymouth Colonists, MA –>1000". usdeadlyevents.com. January 1632. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
6. ^ Kelly, M.D., Howard; Burrage, M.D., Walter (1920). American Medical Biographies. The Norman, Remington Company. p. 134. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
7. ^ "1677–1678 — Smallpox Epidemic, Massachusetts Bay Colony, esp. Boston & vic. –750-1,000". usdeadlyevents. January 1676. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
8. ^ Daniel J. Fleming, "The Cocoanut Grove Revisited: U.S. Navy Records Document How 492 Died in a Deadly Nightclub Fire 75 Years Ago." Prologue Magazine, Fall 2017, Vol. 49, No. 3
9. ^ "Passenger and Crew Lost with the Steamship Portland". Maritime Heritage. Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
10. ^ "Passenger and Crew Lost with the Steamship Portland". Maritime Heritage. Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
11. ^ Duddu, Praveen (6 March 2014). "Peril in the depths – the world's worst submarine disasters". Navaltechnology.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
12. ^ King, Irving H. (1996). The Coast Guard Expands, 1865–1915: New Roles, New Frontiers. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland. ISBN 978-1-55750-458-6.
13. ^ "The 25 Deadliest U.S. Tornadoes". National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
14. ^ Burden, Leanne; Tuite, Lisa (2012-08-01). "Flight 723: Boston's worst plane crash in history". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
15. ^ Date, Terry. "The walls trembled, then fell: Lessons from the Pemberton disaster". The Eagle Tribune. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
16. ^ "THE FALL OF THE PEMBERTON MILL". The New York Times. April 18, 1886.
17. ^ Scotti, R. A. "Sudden Sea — The Great Hurricane of 1938". Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2003. Archived from the original on January 2, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
18. ^ Corbeil, Art (2000). "Fire at Precious Blood". HolyokeMass.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017.
19. ^ Reints, Renae (October 5, 2017). "Throwback Thursday: The Worst Bird Strike in U.S. History". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
20. ^ "Fifty-eighth Brockton Victim Dead". The New York Times. April 16, 1905.
21. ^ Moskowitz, Eric (October 29, 1916). "STREET CAR PLUNGE 46 DROWNED: 'WORST TRAGEDY IN THE HISTORY OF THE CITY' (And the one Boston completely forgot)". Boston Globe. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
22. ^ "PBS Online – Lost Liners – Comparison Chart". PBS.
23. ^ "Disaster Probe Again Delayed". The Boston Daily Globe. July 10, 1925.
24. ^ Hoppe, Jon (October 29, 2015). "Anatomy of a Tragedy: The Sinking of the USS S-4". U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
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26. ^ Vaughan, Victor C. (1922). Respiratory infections. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby Company. p. 124. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
27. ^ "Sabotage Hunted in Carrier Blast; Toll Rises to 36 Dead and 40 Hurt". The New York Times. October 18, 1953.
28. ^ The New York Herald August 30, 1871 page 10 lists 30 fatalities
29. ^ "The Great Boston Fire of 1872 – New England Historical Society". www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com. March 9, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
30. ^ "Record Toll in Fire Victims" (PDF). The Boston Daily Globe. December 4, 1913. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
31. ^ "25 Bodies Found in Bomber Crash". The New York Times. July 11, 1946.
32. ^ "23 Killed
26 Wounded". The Pilot. September 26, 1874. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
33. ^ Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners (1890). Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 1890. pp. 113–135. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
34. ^ Walsh, Robert (August 17, 1958). "Air Safety Probe Demanded for N.E.: Nantucket Crash Toll Rises to 23; 11 Survive". The Boston Daily Globe.
35. ^ "Makes 22 Lives Lost". The Boston Daily Globe. September 25, 1903.
36. ^ BURKE, ALAN (October 27, 2015). "Suffer the little children: Remembering the 21 who died in the St. John's fire 100 years ago". Salem News. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
37. ^ Sohn, Emily (January 15, 2019). "Why the Great Molasses Flood Was So Deadly". The History Channel. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
38. ^ "John Coleman Dies, 20th in Lynn Blast". The Boston Daily Globe. November 25, 1928.
39. ^ Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners Volume 11, Part 1880. 1880. pp. 186–187. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
40. ^ "Great Chelsea Fire of 1908". Celebrate Boston. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
41. ^ "19 Dead, 3 Missing in Ship Collision". The New York Times. April 14, 1945.
42. ^ Barry, William R.; Chisholm, Doug; Parsons, Beth (2005). Age Shall Not Weary Them: Saskatchewan Remembers Its War Dead. People Places Pub.
43. ^ "19 Lost in Crash of Radar Plane". The Boston Globe. November 12, 1966.
44. ^ "Boston declares flu emergency; 18 dead statewide from outbreak". The Berkshire Eagle. January 9, 2013.
45. ^ "Rear-End Collision Brings Deaths to 17". The Boston Daily Globe. November 27, 1905.
46. ^ "17th Victim of Explosion". The Boston Daily Globe. December 30, 1910.
47. ^ "17 Die in Army Plane Crash". The Boston Globe. August 17, 1942.
48. ^ "USS YF-415". Northern Atlantic Dive Expeditions. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
49. ^ "9 Airmen Perish in Plane Ditching". The New York Times. July 13, 1965.
50. ^ "Jet Tanker Crashes; 15 Killed". The Boston Daily Globe. June 27, 1958.
51. ^ Jenner, Edward (April 26, 1967). "Plane Crash Off Nantucket Kills 15--1 Survivor". The Boston Globe.
52. ^ "July Fire in Beverly Claims 15th Victim". The Boston Globe. August 8, 1984.
53. ^ "List of Dead Numbers 14". The Boston Daily Globe. September 4, 1893.
54. ^ "Ask Beacon Plant Permit Be Revoked". The Boston Daily Globe. March 13, 1928.
55. ^ "The Hoosac Tunnel Disaster of 1867". New England Historical Society. 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2019-06-14.
56. ^ "Only One is Now Missing". The Boston Daily Globe. July 26, 1906.
57. ^ "Chester Nicholson Dead". The Boston Daily Globe. November 14, 1908.
58. ^ "Herlihy's Death 13th From Brockton Fire". The Boston Daily Globe. March 13, 1941.
59. ^ Monahan, James (January 21, 1942). "Probe Ordered of Lynn Blaze Which Killed 13". The Boston Daily Globe.
60. ^ Linscott, Seymour (February 29, 1956). "Probe 13-Death Wreck: B & M Blames Dead Budd Liner Engineer". The Boston Daily Globe.
61. ^ "Everett Rail Crash Claims 13th Victim". The Boston Daily Globe. February 6, 1967.
62. ^ "Victims of a Death Trap". The New York Times. February 3, 1890.
63. ^ "Planes Crash Aloft; 12 in Air Force Die". The New York Times. April 10, 1952.
64. ^ "12th Crash Victim Dies". The New York Times. September 25, 1957.
65. ^ Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners (1887). Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners 1887. pp. 64–68. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
66. ^ "11 Dead, 10 Saved". The Boston Daily Globe. December 23, 1902.
67. ^ Volger, Mark E. (June 30, 2013). "The day 'many happy homes were made silent and sorrowful'". The Eagle-Tribune. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
68. ^ "Eleven Boys Are Drowned At One Picnic". The Boston Globe. July 26, 1919. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
69. ^ "New England Digs Out, Counts 31 Dead, Millions Spent". The Boston Daily Globe. January 15, 1964.
70. ^ Turner, R. L. (May 20, 1966). "Gas Leak Blamed For Hub Blast". The Boston Globe.
71. ^ "Fire Kills Ten Italians in Boston". The New York Times. January 30, 1902.
72. ^ "New England Digs Out, Counts 31 Dead, Millions Spent". The Boston Daily Globe. January 15, 1964.
73. ^ "10th victim found from Worcester guest house fire". The Boston Globe. July 16, 1973.