On the morning of January 2, 1963, the deadliest workplace accident in the city occurred here when a gas main on First Street leaked natural gas through the soil and into the Home Packing Company plant, causing a massive explosion and the collapse of the building. Founded in 1907 as the Home Packing & Ice Company, the business grew from processing about 350 hogs a week in its early years to more than 10,000 hogs at its peak, and its Dependable brand of bacon, hams, bologna, and lard was shipped throughout the world and to every state in the Union. At about 7 o’clock that morning, seventeen men were killed and another 52 were injured, and the plant never reopened.