Remembering the Texas City explosion that killed hundreds [Video]

TEXAS CITY, Texas — April 16 is a day still remembered in Texas City – the day of an unimaginable disaster.

It happened during prosperous times for the growing oil, shipping and chemical industry in Galveston County in 1947. Texas City was a growing town of 16,000 where many of the residents worked at chemical and petroleum plants that had sprouted up along the ship channel during World War II.

In mid-April 1947, a French freighter, the Grand Camp, docked at Texas City to take on a heavy load of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. But as longshoremen loaded the ship on April 16, the smell of smoke filled the air.

A small fire had broken out deep inside the Grand Camp. The captain ordered that steam be used to smother the fire, which created a brightly colored smoke …