Pemberton Mill Collapse

Background. The Pemberton Mill was a large textiles factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts, originally built in 1853. Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. The city's population abounded with skilled and unskilled workers from several countries as immigrants flooded into the United States in the mid-to-late 19th century.

Collapse. On January 10, 1860, at around 4:30 p.m., a section of the building suddenly collapsed, trapping several hundred workers underneath the rubble. Workers in nearby factories watched with horror as the Pemberton Mill buckled and then collapsed with a mighty crash shortly before 5:00 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon.

Aftermath. Of the hundreds crushed under the wreckage, an estimated 88 to 145 of them were killed instantly, and 166 were removed, albeit critically injured. The event has been called the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history and one of the worst industrial calamities in American history.