The Texas City disaster records were created and / or maintained by survivor Robert M. Morris, of Texas City, TX. The reports, statements, images and notes describe the events of the April 16, 1947 when a French ship carrying fertilizer on Galveston Bay caught fire and exploded, causing disaster on shore at the nearby Monsanto styrene plant and other petroleum refineries, homes, warehouses, ships and buildings. At least 576 were killed and 4,000 injured, with the town being almost completely destroyed.
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Related material: Mansanto Chemical Company archives located at Washington University Libraries, St. Louis, Missouri. Finding aid for this material is on-line at http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/archives/guides/pdf/monsanto.pdf.
Permission to publish from the Texas City disaster records, 1947-2003, MS 529, must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.