Places near me Random place
All the United States West Virginia St Marys Willow Island Disaster Memorial

Willow Island Disaster Memorial

A memorial honoring those who perished in one of the worst construction disasters in U.S. history.

St Marys, West Virginia

rbt45769 profile photo
Added By
Robert Titus
This memorial was dedicated in 2000.   rbt45769 / Atlas Obscura User
This is the cooling tower where the tragedy occurred in 1978.   rbt45769 / Atlas Obscura User
The view of the cooling tower months after the collapse.   New York Times Magazine photographer, December 3, 1978.
The Willow Island station is a short distance from the memorial.   rbt45769 / Atlas Obscura User
A high school student helped organize the construction of the memorial.   rbt45769 / Atlas Obscura User
The memorial is shaped like a cooling towers.   rbt45769 / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

This Place Is a Stub

Help improve this place with additional information or photos.

Make an Edit

About

On April 27, 1978, at 10 a.m., a concrete pour into one of the towers at Pleasants Power Station ended in disaster. The crane hoisting buckets of concrete fell toward the inside of the tower. The concrete that had been poured during the previous day began to collapse and unravel. As the concrete fell, the scaffolding supporting the workers fell into the center of the tower. Fifty-one workers were killed in the accident. The incident has been considered one of the worst construction disasters in the nation's history.

Places

Discover your next amazing Atlas Place.

Get more unusual and extraordinary places each week with the Atlas Obscura Places newsletter.

Your newsletter subscriptions with us are subject to Atlas Obscura's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Know Before You Go

The memorial is 18 miles north of Parkersburg, West Virginia on State Route 2. It's five miles south of Saint Marys, West Virginia also on State Route 2. It is open year-round, free of charge. A picnic table and benches are also on site.

Community Contributors

rbt45769 profile photo

Added By

rbt45769

Published

September 17, 2019

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos

Related Tags

Memorials

Nearby Places

Explore the Destination Guide

Related Places

  • TWA 529 Marker

    Willowbrook, Illinois

    TWA Flight 529 Memorial

    A memorial for the victims of a plane crash that, at the time, was the deadliest plane disaster in American history.

  • Trail marker

    Rochester, Indiana

    First Death Marker on the Trail of Death

    In 1838, 859 Potawatomi Indians were forcibly removed from their village to begin a grueling march to Kansas. This location marks the first death.

  • ‘Deep Silent Gaze’

    Limassol, Cyprus

    ‘Deep Silent Gaze’

    A children's mosaic in Limassol using deep-sea creature patterns to honor young lives lost across several genocides, including Cyprus’s own 1974 wounds.

  • Prospect Park subway station entrance.

    Brooklyn, New York

    Site of the Malbone Street Wreck

    An out-of-service tunnel and nearby remembrances recall the location of a deadly train crash in the New York City subway.

  • Phone booth, follow the brick road!

    Madison, Wisconsin

    The Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth

    Pick up the receiver of this ordinary-looking phone booth and more than ten hours of voices, music, laughter and memories from the past come unexpectedly back through the line.

  • America's Response Monument-De Oppresso Liber

    New York, New York

    America’s Response Monument

    It memorializes America’s initial military response to the terrorist attacks on our country on September 11, 2001.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member

Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member