Hi Folks: Here is an article about my talk I will be giving in Kinsman. I only made one change to it. The article originally said 92 people died, but it was actually 97 that died.
Len Brown
By REBECCA NIEMINEN SLOAN
news@vindy.com
On
a frigid night in 1876, two locomotives hauling 11 railcars with 159
passengers plunged into the Ashtabula River when the bridge carrying
them collapsed.
The wooden cars caught fire, and 97 people died.
It was a scene of horrific carnage and chaos as thieves robbed the deceased, and rescuers struggled to save the injured.
The accident, which occurred due to faulty bridge construction, was the worst bridge collapse of the era.
“It
was ‘The Titanic’ of the 19th century,” said Len Brown, a film director
who owns Beacon Productions in Canton. “It had a profound effect on the
history of engineering and changed how bridges were built.”
Brown is producing a documentary about the tragedy that eventually will air on PBS.
The
Kinsman Historical Society has invited Brown to speak about the
disaster and the forthcoming documentary at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at
Kinsman’s Presbyterian Church.
During the event, Brown will share a detailed account of the tragedy and show film clips.
“This story really has so many chilling and fascinating twists,” Brown said.
For
example, Amasa Stone, the designer of the bridge and an industrial
giant of the time, eventually committed suicide, and the railroad’s
engineer, Charles Collins, who deemed the bridge potentially unsafe, was
murdered. Famous hymn-writer Philip Bliss and his wife also were killed
in the accident.
Brown said the disaster has all the makings of a Hollywood movie, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up being one someday.
For now, though, Brown is happy to see his PBS documentary taking shape.
“We
have a fantastic crew,” Brown said. “Cinematographer Dave Ross, who won
an Emmy for his work on ‘The Amazing Race,’ and line producer Debbie
Marsh Stratis, who worked on the film ‘The Titanic,’ just to name a
few.”
The crew also includes cinematic film-music composer Justin
Durban, who has composed music for films such as Disney/Pixar’s “Brave”
and “How To Train Your Dragon.”
Brown’s
wife, Patti, co-owner of Beacon Productions, wrote the script for the
documentary based on 10 years of research done by local historians and
the late Dr. Thomas Corts.
The documentary will cost about
$800,000, which is a small amount, Brown said, in comparison with other
two-hour documentaries that cost $1 million or more. Grants have been
procured from various sources.
Production likely will begin Aug. 1
after all funding has been secured. Production will continue for 32
weeks with an expected release date in March 2014 and broadcast in May
or June 2014.
Filming will take place in Ashtabula, Ohio Village
in Columbus, Century Village in Burton and Strasburg Railroad in
Pennsylvania.
“All of the actors we’ve hired are from Northeast
Ohio,” Brown said. “We are not using people from Hollywood. We wanted to
give locals the opportunity.”
Brown said he believes that when the documentary airs, it will help boost tourism in Ashtabula County.
“People
will want to come and see for themselves where this tragedy occurred,”
he said. “Studies show that tourism can increase 20 percent in a
featured area in the months after a documentary airs.”
Visitors to
Ashtabula can still find remnants of the infamous accident. Ashtabula
General Hospital was built because of the disaster, and many of the dead
were buried in Ashtabula’s Chestnut Grove Cemetery. Artifacts from the
accident are on display at The Hubbard House Museum in Ashtabula.
The ravine where the disaster took place now has a new bridge across it.
Charlotte
Meloni of the Kinsman Historical Society said, “The Historical Society
is overjoyed to have Mr. Brown come to Kinsman and speak on the
‘Ashtabula Horror,’ as the tragedy has been called. Phillip P. Bliss,
the famous hymn composer for nationally known evanglist D. L. Moody, had
lived in Kinsman from 1844-47 and perished in the disaster.”
For more details, contact Donna Carmichael at 330-876-7866 or Meloni at 330-876-9702.
For information,about the documentary, visit www.engineeringtragedy.com
Here is a photo of Monty and you can read about him in the team section of the website here: