The 1966 Hercules Explosion - AMA History
Image Courtesy of The Joplin Globe. https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/explosions-at-hercules-plant-rocked-carthage-area-50-years-ago-today/article_490d96d2-4982-11e6-93e6-13457703bcf6.html.
The company asked Tim Huff, Gene Spears, and Earl Higgins to tell stories of the company’s history in an interview. The trio is full of interesting facts, such as Allgeier Martin used to have offices in Victoria, Texas and Chanute, Kansas back in the 1960s.
Earl shared the story of our company’s beginnings: The founders of our company went to school in Rolla and worked Summer Internships at Frank Horton and Company. When they graduated, they started Allgeier, Martin and Associates.
With a bit of laughter, Gene and Earl recall they made $500 a month at $1.10 an hour as their starting wage.
The year was 1966. The building shook beneath Gene Spears. He turned to the woman sitting next to him and asked, “Did you feel that?” She had. When Gene went outside, he saw a mushroom cloud to the East. The Hercules manufacturing plant had exploded. About 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Bill Crabtree goes to Gene excited, “Come with me!” Gene asks, “What are we going to do?” Bill replied, “We’re going to fly over that and see what we can see!” “You don’t want to fly over that…” Gene remarked hesitantly. Bill reassured, “As long as we stay above 3,000 feet we’ll be fine.”
Gene, knowing Bill had been an Air Force pilot, took his word for it. Later Gene and Bill were in the air flying for Carthage. For a while when Gene looked out he couldn’t see anything. Then they banked and the shadows revealed a crater. Through a huge wooded area surrounding a giant hole in the ground, Bill and Gene were able to see where the magazine and powder had overheated and exploded. There were nine explosions in total, lasting until the next morning. Sherry Neely Hayden, daughter to a Hercules plant worker at the time, was only five years old. 50 years after the accident, Sherry told Joplin Globe Reporter, Carol Stark, “If you lived in Carthage, you remember where you were that day when the explosions started.”
Stark, Carol. “Explosions at Hercules Plant Rocked Carthage Area 50 Years Ago Today.” The Joplin Globe, 14 July 2016, https://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/explosions-at-hercules-plant-rocked-carthage-area-50-years-ago-today/article_490d96d2-4982-11e6-93e6-13457703bcf6.html.
