The Cocoanut Grove was a popular restaurant or supper club in Boston during the early 1900s. People went to the Grove to celebrate for various reasons. On the night of November 28, 1942, the Boston College football team planned to celebrate a win that night, but they ended up losing. Even though the team went home for the night, the club previously decorated for the celebration and left the decorations up after the loss. When flames surged through the club, many of these decorations put out toxic fumes that killed more people than the flames. At the end of the fire, 492 people died, while over a hundred more were injured. Estimations claim that nearly a thousand people were at the club that night. When the fire began in the basement, Melody Lounge, people panicked and raced for the doors. The doors opened inward and in the rush of people it closed. Because the people panicked, no one could reopen the door. In the main area, the door was a revolving door that also jammed due to the amount of people trying to escape. Many of the employees escaped through exits that the owner did not have properly labeled.

The city held the owner responsible for the tragedy even though he was not present that night and it is still unclear how the fire started. Because the owner did not have a safe environment, a Grand Jury convicted him for manslaughter. One potential cause of the fire was electrical problems. The owner used a man that was not a licensed electrician to do the wiring. Other outcomes of the fire included changes in the building codes. The revolving door was outlawed and stricter rules for emergency exit doors were enforced by the city. Organizations also worked on fireproofing textiles used in furniture and decorations. Because of the horrible tragedy, doctors found the use of penicillin for infections in burn victims beneficial and later became a common practice. Unfortunately, it is usually through tragedy that change occurs. 

By: Jessica McKenzie 

Credits and Sources:

Boston Fire Historical Society. “The Story of the Cocoanut Grove Fire.” Boston Fire Historical Society. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://bostonfirehistory.org/the-story-of-the-cocoanut-grove-fire/

O’Connor, Thomas H. Boston: A to Z. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.

Schorow, Stephania. New England Remembers: The Cocoanut Grove Fire. Carlisle, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2005. Accessed September 14, 2016. https://books.google.com/books?id=kHjJK5ux7VIC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=Cocoanut+grove+fire&source=bl&ots=iPA6nPvAp5&sig=wep3_ZXJhN_8jeJgFLqcKCs4BtM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNxJCLlPnOAhXG5iYKHeycAgE4MhDoAQhaMAk#v=onepage&q=Cocoanut%20grove%20fire&f=false

The Cocoanut Grove Coalition. “The Fire.” The Cocoanut Grove Coalition. Accessed September 14, 2016. http://www.cocoanutgrovefire.org/home/fire