On the afternoon of 6 September 1889, the quiet hamlet of Oosterweel simply ceased to exist. Louis Corvilain's gunpowder and cartridge factory, which once stood somewhere very close to where you are now, detonated with such ferocious force that the entire neighborhood was wiped off the map in an instant.
The blast tore roofs from houses, shattered windows across the city center, and even rattled the stained glass of the Cathedral of Our Lady. More than 10 hectares of harbor land and woodland burned. The explosion was so loud that people heard it dozens of kilometers away, in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Ninety-five people were killed, the vast majority of them young women who worked in the factory. Dozens more were severely injured.
After the disaster, the area descended into a kind of grim scavenging, with locals trading unexploded cartridges across the neighborhood. Corvilain himself was eventually convicted of negligence and sentenced to five years in prison. The victims were laid to rest at Schoonselhof cemetery, where a monument still honors them today.
Sources. Story: Ontploffing in de fabriek van Corvilain – SOS Antwerpen'] Photos: E.A. Tilly, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
