On Halloween night, 1963, during a "Holiday on Ice" skating exhibition at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, a propane gas explosion killed 74 people and injured nearly 400.
It was just after 11 p.m. and the skaters were finishing a medley called "Mardi Gras." No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.
As the skaters began gliding into a pinwheel formation for the finale the gas came in contact with an electric popcorn machine. When the gas ignited, a blast of orange flame shot 40 feet up through the south side seats, catapulting people and chairs though the air. Concrete chunks and body parts rained down.
Fifty-four people were killed on the scene and another 20 later died of their injuries.
Rescuers used the nearby cattle barn as a temporary hospital and the coroner's office set up a temporary morgue on the ice floor. The dead were placed on plywood and lined up on the ice according to gender and age. Family members who came to identify loved ones had to register at the administration building before being led to the Coliseum.
A Marion County grand jury indicted the state fire marshal, the Indianapolis fire chief, the general manager and the concessions manager of the Coliseum, as well as officers of the company that supplied the gas. But there was only one conviction, the president of the gas supplier, and that verdict was later overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court. According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, victims and survivors ultimately received about $4.6 million in settlements.
In 1991, the Coliseum acquired a sponsorship and was renamed Pepsi Coliseum, however that sponsorship was not renewed in 2012.
In Oct. 2012, a $63 million renovation to the coliseum began. Construction of an adjoining 20,000-square-foot arena should be completed by 2014.
The new arena will allow the State Fair to hold events like public skating, youth hockey games and horse shows at the same time a concert or a circus is going on in the Coliseum. Inside the Coliseum, fair officials plan to build double-tiered seating that will increase the building's seating capacity to 9,000 from the current 8,000.
Thursday 16 January 2014
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/
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