On the 27th of October, 1948, a thick smog descended on the town of Donora in Pennsylvania,
plunging the community into a state of semi-darkness.
The smog would remain stubbornly in place for several days… and when it did eventually
lift it would leave residents with a range of health problems that would plague them
for weeks, months, and years.
It would not be until much later that the Donora smog was recognised as one of the worst
air pollution disasters in the history of the United States.
The town of Donora was incorporated in 1901 – its unique name a portmanteau of some
of the key figures who helped to create it.
Andrew Mellon, a prominent banker, provided funding for the development of the new community.
His wife’s name was Nora, and so this became part of the town’s name.
Businessman and philanthropist William H Donner contributed by founding the Union Steel Company,
one of the main industries that would bring money into Donora in its early years.
Part of his name was also used to create the name Donora.
In its early years, Donora was a thriving industrial town.
The steel mill provided jobs for thousands of residents, and enriched the local community.
Donora also had a fine educational system, and it was a point of pride for the town that
many successful doctors, lawyers and other professionals started life there.
It later adopted the slogan, “The Home of Champions” because of the number of athletes
and sporting professionals that called Donora home.
By 1948 the population of the town had grown to around 14,000.
The steel mill, now operated by United States Steel, had expanded to include a zinc works.
Over the decades there had been some complaints about the pollution produced by these facilities.
Several landowners had attempted to sue over damage to their livestock, property, or health
as a result of pollutants expelled by the mills.
In most cases these lawsuits had been unsuccessful.
US Steel was a wealthy and powerful company, meaning that any proceedings against them
would be long and expensive… and most Donora locals, being employed by the mills, would
be unsympathetic to anyone attempting legal action.
This situation changed on the 27th of October, 1948, when the town of Donora experienced
an unusual weather condition: a temperature inversion.
Normally, air is warmer closer to the surface of the Earth, cooling as it rises.
When this condition is inverted – for example, by a warm mass of air moving in over a cold
mass of air – cold air can become trapped close to the ground.
Smog, fog, smoke and other emissions tend to become trapped along with it.
This was what happened in Donora – with the effect exacerbated by the fact that the
town sits in a natural valley.
A mass of warm air trapped the output of the mills and factories – as well as the output
of domestic fires and automobiles – directly over the town.
Residents experienced this first as a dense fog.
The presence of some fog in the town was not considered unusual.
The smoke stacks of the mills did not extend above the surrounding hills, and it was common
for some light smog to accumulate in the mornings – though this would usually disperse by
the time the sun had fully risen.
To most residents, the persistent fog seen on the 27th of October was just an extension
of a weather condition that they were very accustomed to.
As such, life in Donora continued as normal.
The annual Halloween parade went ahead on the 29th of October, with local children marching
down the high street in handmade costumes – costumes which most people who turned
out to see the parade were only able to view in silhouette.
The Donora Dragons played a high school football game against their rivals as scheduled, despite
barely being able to see the length of the pitch.
Residents went about town with handkerchiefs clamped over their noses and mouths to protect
themselves against the sickly-sweet smell of the smog.
The assistant to the Chief of the Fire Department later recalled driving with his head out of
the window of his car, steering by scraping the wheels of his vehicle against the curb,
as it was impossible to actually see the edges of the road.
By the night of the 29th of October, a rash of health problems began to arise.
The smog, as well as being difficult to see through, also contained a number of dangerous
substances expelled by the mills.
Sulfuric acid, nitrogen dioxide and fluorine – all dangerous to human health when concentrated
– would normally disperse into the atmosphere.
Now these chemicals infused the fog, and entered the lungs of the town’s population.
Elderly people and those with conditions such as asthma experienced severe shortness of
breath.
Pets and houseplants died in great numbers.
Residents experienced nausea, respiratory difficulty and dizziness, and hundreds of
calls were placed to the eight doctors who served the town.
These doctors began making house calls to do what they could for those afflicted.
It was difficult work – due to the lack of visibility ambulances had to be lead by
an individual on foot bearing a flashlight.
At the same time the fire department went drove from door to door, providing oxygen
for those who were struggling to breathe.
They quickly depleted their supply of oxygen and borrowed more from surrounding communities,
only to use that up in turn.
To preserve the limited supply for those who most needed it, some firefighters made the
decision not to use any on themselves, instead relying on a shot of whiskey every time they
returned to the firehouse.
On the 31st of October the mayor met with officials from the mills, and requested that
they be shut down to avoid adding to the noxious fog.
They were.
That night, however, rain fell – bringing an end to the temperature inversion and allowing
the toxic smog to dissipate.
The mills resumed most operations the following morning, although the zinc works remained
closed for a full week.
While the mills returned to normal operations, the health of the townspeople was permanently
changed.
Approximately 26 people passed away during the smog, and 50 more died in the months that
followed.
Funeral homes in the small community ran out of caskets to accommodate those who had passed.
More than a third of the population suffered some form of illness as a result of the smog,
with the injuries to their lungs being likened to those sustained by people who had survived
poison gas warfare.
In the days following the smog, many questions were asked.
Private investigators working on behalf of the town found themselves asked to leave,
allegedly at gunpoint.
This hostile atmosphere lead to calls for a government investigation.
This did eventually take place, and came to the conclusion that the high death toll had
been the result of many factors.
Pollutants from the mills could not be considered the sole cause, when pollutants from domestic
furnaces and automobiles might also have contributed to the smog.
Residents were displeased with this finding.
They noted that other towns had experienced a similar weather condition, but had not experienced
the same sharp increase in mortality.
The difference, they alleged, was the specific pollutants produced by the mills.
Despite this, US Steel did not admit responsibility, and settled all civil claims against it out
of court.
The smog had a lasting effect on the community of Donora, leading to a fall in house prices,
a drop in population, and the eventual closure of the mills themselves in the 1960s.
The smog did, however, have another more positive effect.
It was one of the first widely-reported incidents of American citizens suffering death and injury
as a result of exposure to unclean air.
It lead to a political push for regulation to ensure cleaner air, which eventually lead
to the Clean Air Act of 1963 – a law that limits air pollution nationwide, and in doing
so likely saves or prolongs countless lives.
Today, Donora is a much smaller community.
Though the mills have closed it continues to be prosperous, with an industrial park
standing on the one-time site of the steel plants.
The town is also home to a small museum dedicated to the Donora Smog, and the effect it had
on environmental legislation within the US.
The slogan of the museum is, quite simply, “clean air started here.”