T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion
Residents evacuating after the explosions
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| Time | 7:36 PM EDT |
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| Date | October 4, 1918 to October 6, 1918 |
| Location | Sayreville, New Jersey |
| Coordinates | 40°27′29″N 74°16′28″W / 40.458095°N 74.274326°WCoordinates: 40°27′29″N 74°16′28″W / 40.458095°N 74.274326°W |
| Also known as | Morgan Munitions Depot explosion |
| Cause | Worker error or (speculative) German sabotage |
| Participants | US Coast Guard, US Army |
| Outcome | Plant abandoned following Armistice |
| Deaths | ~100 |
| Non-fatal injuries | 100+ |
| Missing | ~18 |
| Property damage | Complete destruction of plant ($18 million in 1918); major damage to 300+ buildings in Sayreville, South Amboy, and Perth Amboy, NJ; broken windows for 25 miles (40 km) around |
The T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion, sometimes called the Morgan Munitions Depot explosion or similar titles, began at 7:36 p.m. on October 4, 1918, at a World War I ammunition plant in the Morgan area of Sayreville in Middlesex County, New Jersey. The initial explosion, generally believed to be accidental, triggered a fire and subsequent series of explosions that continued for three days, totaling roughly 6 kilotons, killing roughly 100 people and injuring hundreds more. The facility, one of the largest in the world at the time, was destroyed along with more than 300 surrounding buildings, forcing the evacuation and reconstruction of Sayreville and neighboring South Amboy. Nearly a century later, explosive debris continues to surface regularly across a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) radius.
T. A. Gillespie Company, founded by Thomas Andrew Gillespie (1852–1926), was operating as a subsidiary of the American Shell Company, loading artillery shells for overseas military action during World War I. After the war, the company was renamed Gillespie Motor Company in 1919, merged to form Gillespie-Eden Corporation in 1920, and disappeared sometime after 1923.
Damage to the plant was estimated to be US$18 million and the US Government paid $300,000 in insurance to area residents, respectively equal to approximately $300 million and $5 million in 2012 dollars. According to a 1919 government report, the explosion destroyed enough ammunition to supply the Western Front for six months, estimated at 12 million pounds (6 kilotons) of high explosives. (The plant had started production just three months earlier, and the war itself ended just one month after the explosion.) While hundreds of detonations were spread over three days, the totality of the event ranked as one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions in history. Some of the strongest individual blasts, from exploding railcars of ammunition, broke windows as far away as Manhattan and Asbury Park, more than 25 miles (40 km) distant.
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