Untitled13 -The Hornet 10/26/79
Alarnm! Falls Power Plant Blows Up'.
With an explosion that (one assumes) could be heard for
several miles, a boiler explosion (aga_n, an assumption)
totally wrecked the power plant at the Bleachery complex
along Wappingers Creek, just below the stone bridge. One
can only make assumptions at this date, since the wreck
occurred some time before 1905, when the postcard from
which this picture was taken, was published. It is pres-
ently in the collection of Joseph A. Fries, who was kind
enough to lend it to us. Prior to seeing that card, we had
no knowledge that an explosion had ever occurred at the
plant, but it appears to have been one of the most severe
blasts ever to have occurred in Dutchess County. It prob-
ably happened at night, when no one was around to watch
the boiler pressure. The gaping hole in the upper right
hand corner was not caused by the explosion, but by the
removal, at some time oast, of the postage stamp affixed
to the card. Can anyone provide us with more information
concerning the explosion?