“In an hour the four story factory was a blazing ruin. The adjoining business block building and seven houses were destroyed. The cries of persons pinned under the timbers in the ruins were heard nearly half a mile,” read The Paducah Sun on March 20, 1905. The Grover Shoe Factory’s boiler explosion was just one example in a long list of industrial malpractices as a product of the Industrial Revolution. Coupled with another factory boiler explosion in 1906, the Grover disaster brought about intense pressure for improved industrial safety. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.