Hartford Circus Fire: Onlookers watch the burning tent
DateJuly 6, 1944
MediumPhotography; gelatin silver print on paper
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineThe Newman S. Hungerford Museum Fund
Object number1988.134.3-I
DescriptionA crowd watches as a fire destroys the circus big top and smoke fills the sky. Circus wagons can be seen between the fire and the onlookers.
Label TextThe Hartford Circus Fire took place in Hartford, Connecticut, on the afternoon of July 6, 1944. The large tent housing the main performance area of the circus caught fire and burned at an incredibly rapid rate. The tent had been soaked with a mixture of gasoline and paraffin in order to waterproof it, and as a result once it started there was no stopping it. Several hundred people were injured, and 168 people were killed.
Status
Not on view
July 6, 1944
