TEXAS CITY, Texas — Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the Texas City Disaster, the deadliest industrial accident in our nation’s history.
The city hosted a service today at Memorial Park in Texas City honoring the survivors and nearly 600 lives lost.
Lynn Ellison, 81, was just six years old when the disaster occurred. He’s one of few survivors still alive.
"This blast was felt as far as 100 miles east and west of here, north and so forth,” explained Ellison.
On the morning of April 16th, 1947, a ship carrying ammonium nitrate exploded at the Texas City loading dock.
The blast set off a chain of fires and explosions, killing 581 people and injuring thousands.
Ellison said he was attending an all-segregated school on the other side of town when it happened
"It was so loud, the walls starting caving in, glass floors, windows everything started blowing away," he said.
He said looking back, it was a blessing. His home was just feet away from the explosion near the port.
"It was destroyed. If it had been at night, it would have killed every one of us where we slept in the back room," Ellison said.
He said amid the chaos, he was able to reunite with his family.
"There was an older woman across the street, she grabbed me and my brother along with all the other people running, fleeing, hiding people were looking for their kids, trying to look for their kids everything was in a turmoil," he said.
Ellison said he reunited with his mother and father, who were at work when the explosion occurred, at a reunification area in Camp Wallace.
Ellison later became one of Texas City’s longest-serving commissioners.
“I was elected as one of the first black officials in the city of Texas City,” he said.
Reflecting on the 75th anniversary, he said his love for Texas City has never changed
“This town did not lay down and die. It rebuilt the homes, the schools.”