Title: Explosion in Villa Rica,Ga
Description: Elaine Bailey, a Southern writer from Ga has written Genealogy Quest -


TracIng Your Family Tree, and two poetry books, Buttermilk Clouds, and Pompadour and Pearls: A Patchwork of Poetry. Now she has researched and written an historical book, Explosion in Villa Rica. Elaine was poet laureate in 1991 and nominated for best poetry author in 1995 by Georgia Writers, Inc. She was published in West Georgia College’s Eclectic magazine. Elaine and her husband, John, live in Douglasville. She has two children, David Bailey and Sueann Smith, a son-in-law, Kevin, and two grandchildren, Gena and Jake.





Bailey, a local author from Douglasville, has written a book titled Explosion in Villa Rica about one of the greatest catastrophes in Georgia.  On December 5, 1957 there was a natural gas leak in the downtown business district that lead to a major explosion and fire that leveled half a block and resulted in the loss of twelve lives and in the injury of thirty-four others. "This was the 911 of the earlier generation. Many people in Georgia still remember today where they were when they heard about the explosion."





This 212 page book shows 57 black and white vintage photos many of which were taken at the time of the explosion. This story of "what happened" was put together from personal interviews of those who survived the explosion or took part in the rescue effort, many old newspaper articles, and over one-thousand pages of court documents from trials that followed the tragedy. 





From one interview with a man who was on the scene of the explosion, Elaine Bailey wrote, "When the explosion hit, I jerked around and stood there in shock watching the smoke boiling upward. I could not move... then I took off running. People were running to the fire and some were still running from the fire. I knew I had to go back..."





Bailey says, " I don't pretend to know everything that happened, but after more than a year of research this account will come as close to the actual events as anything will. This story needed to be told. History has a way of slipping away from us. In another generation, the memory of it would be lost. Many newcomers to Villa Rica know nothing of its history -- my children who live here did not."
Subjects: Villa Rica, Georgia
Places: Villa Rica, Georgia, Douglasville, Georgia
People: Elaine Bailey
Time periods: Explosion in Villa Rica