On July 13, 1951, the Black Friday Flood poured millions of gallons of toxic stew through neighborhoods and into the heart of the region’s industrial area.
The flood 75 years ago was a major turning point. Thousands of residents lost their homes, their jobs, and almost all their possessions. The city lost much of its most iconic industry.
Not many signs of the catastrophe remain, but careful observers can still find a high-water mark in the old Livestock Exchange Building, the tallest edifice in what used to be the Central Industrial District and is now known as the West Bottoms…