The Ashtabula Bridge disaster of December 1876 brought about change for not only the town, but also in railroad procedures and legislative duty. The worst train accident in the United States in the 19th century deserves to be remembered.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.