August 17, 2016

A 90-year-old grain elevator at 31st and Market streets explodes on March 28, 1956 with the power of 1,100 pounds of dynamite, causing nearby Drexel students and faculty to believe it’s the dropping of an atomic bomb. One of the four surrounding buildings affected by the blast is Drexel's Student Union Building, which held classes for the Evening College at the time of the explosion. Of the 1,800 students and 78 faculty in the building at the time, at least 25 are injured and hospitalized. Other Drexel buildings face considerable damages as well, including blown-out windows and crumbling classrooms. The glass on the ceiling of Main Building’s Great Court rains down on bystanders and the chandelier is taken down for repairs in the aftermath, though it becomes lost and has never been found since.