Thanksgiving Day Disaster facts for kids

The Thanksgiving Day Disaster happened on November 29, 1900. It was during a big college football game. The game was between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinal. This game is also called The Big Game. Many people wanted to watch for free. They climbed onto the roof of a glass factory. The roof broke, and people fell onto a hot furnace. Twenty-three people died. More than a hundred people were hurt. This was the worst accident at a sports event in U.S. history.

The Big Game: A Yearly Tradition

Since 1892, the University of California and Stanford University football teams have played each year. This special game is called The Big Game. It usually happens in late November or early December. From 1892 to 1900, the game was held at Recreation Park stadium. This stadium was in San Francisco. It was in a busy industrial area. After the 1900 game, the teams started playing at each other's schools.

A Warning Sign: 1897 Game Incident

Something similar almost happened at the 1897 Big Game. Part of a crowded seating area broke. Luckily, no one died that day. But a 10-year-old boy had to go to the hospital. This showed that safety was a concern.

The Day of the Disaster

On the day of the 1900 game, a new factory had just opened. It was called San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works. It was right across the street from the stadium. Only one furnace was working that day. Other furnaces were not set to start until later. This furnace was very large. It was 30 feet by 60 feet. It held 15 tons of melted glass. The glass was super hot, about 3000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Game Begins

The football game started at 2:30 p.m. About 19,000 fans were inside the stadium. Thousands more were watching from the street. Many people did not want to pay the $1 ticket price. So, between 500 and 1000 people climbed onto the factory's roof. They wanted to watch the game for free. Factory workers tried to call the police. They wanted the police to make the crowd leave. But the police told them to talk to the game's lieutenant. The officers at the stadium would not let the factory workers in.

The Roof Collapses

About 20 minutes after the game started, the roof broke. It could not hold the weight of so many people. Hundreds of people fell four stories down. They landed on the factory floor. Many people, between 60 and 100, fell right onto the hot furnace. The surface of the furnace was about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Factory workers quickly tried to help. They used metal poles to pull people away from the hot furnace.

Despite this terrible event, the football game kept going. Stanford ended up winning the game.

Aftermath and Legacy

On the day of the disaster, 13 people died. Nine more people died in the hospital in the days after. Three years later, a 28-year-old man also died from his injuries. This brought the total number of deaths to 23. All the victims were male. Most of them were children.

News Reports and Public Reaction

Many American newspapers wrote about the accident. It was often on the front page. But the sports sections mostly talked about the game itself. The San Francisco Chronicle called the game "the closest and most exciting game" ever. Student newspapers at both universities also did not focus much on the disaster. The San Francisco Call called it "perhaps the most horrifying accident" in San Francisco.

Remembering the Event

Today, there is no big memorial for the disaster. Only a cross at one 12-year-old boy's grave marks the event. The place where the factory stood is now a UCSF building.