Royal Oak Explosion Recalls 1952 Blast

For one Royal Oak man, the explosion that demolished a Cooper Avenue house and killed a 58-year-old man Feb. 27 brings back memories of a similar disaster that leveled a Woodward Avenue sporting goods store, killing two people, 61 years ago. 

Kent Rathbun, 71, grew up on Banbury Road in Birmingham. He remembers having dinner with his family on Feb. 29, 1952, when “all of a sudden there was a massive explosion and boom,” he said.

“Dishes all fell off from our table. Pictures fell off the walls and some of my mother’s crystal fell over and broke,” Rathbun recalls.

Later that night, Rathbun, who was 10 years old at the time, went to Parm’s Sporting Goods with his father.

“It was literally a crater,” he said. “I believe it was at the site of Joe’s Army Navy store. And it’s so ironic that it’s right around the corner from the current explosion that happened on Cooper Avenue. Probably the two biggest explosions in Royal Oak’s history were within a block and a half of one another.”

1952 blast has many parallels  

The March 1, 1952, headline of the Daily Tribune read  ‘Explosion Kills 2, Wrecks RO Store.’

Claude Parmalee, 58, co-owner of Parm’s Sporting Goods store and Norman Friden, age 47, of Birmingham, a customer, were killed by the blast. The newspaper reported both men died within “seconds after rescuers dug them out of the debris-filled basement of the store.”

According to the Daily Tribune account of the Parm’s explosion, there are many similarities to last month’s blast.

Explosion Date

Feb. 29, 1952

Feb. 27, 2013

Location

Parm’s Sporting Goods on Woodward Avenue near Nakota

4232 Cooper Ave. (south of Nakota)

Fatalities

Claude Parmalee, 58

Norman Friden, 47

Daniel Malczynski, 58

Time

Arthur H. Lee, Royal Oak district manager of Consumers Power company, said the power company was notified shortly after 5 p.m. that gas was out in the area.

Debra Dodd, senior public information director for Consumers Energy confirmed the natural gas and electricity provider received a phone call at 4:55 p.m. of a possible explosion.

Possible Cause

Fire Marshal George Cook of Royal Oak and Consumers Power Company launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion the next morning. It was established that an excavating contractor tore up five to six feet of two-inch gas main late in the afternoon on the day of the explosion, according to Arthur H. Lee, Royal Oak district manager of Consumers Power company.

Consumers Energy and the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) and other regulatory agencies investigated the incident. The following day, preliminary testing determined that a gas service line to the house was damaged and was the possible cause of the explosion, according to Debra Dodd, senior public information director for Consumers Energy.

Reaction

Mrs. John Gibson, who lived at 4303 Cooper, across the alley at the rear of the store said, “It was like a bolt of lightening followed by a loud, sharp noise and a big black puff of smoke. And nothing.”

"It shook the houses in our neighborhood and we saw flames and part of a roof blown off in the sky," said Suzanne Manji.

Heroes

L.T. Mathews, of 4261 Cooper, was one of the first people to the scene. Mathews lived about 400 feet from the store and dropped into the wreckage and located Claude Parmalee buried in the rubble by his moans.

James Greenway of Royal Oak, was working at Joe's Army Navy when the incident occurred. Greenway said he heard a woman crying for help. He entered the unstable structure through a hole in the wall and located an elderly woman buried under the rubble.

Recovering from the explosion

Joe's Army Navy is up and operating after last month's explosion.

"We had a couple of windows pop and we're just waiting to get them fixed," store manager Ben Orr said Friday. "We're OK with the wait. We think the houses that lost windows should go first."

Orr was unaware there was a similar explosion in 1952. He's not worried though. 

As one employee put it, "If it happens again in 60 years, we probably won't still be working here."