The American Mind

Around 8:00 a.m. an explosion hit Milwaukee’s Menononee Valley industrial area:

A propane-fueled explosion in one of Milwaukee’s oldest businesses this morning injured dozens of Falk Corp. workers, destroyed one of the manufacturer’s buildings in the Menomonee Valley and shattered windows blocks away.

The frightened relatives of Falk workers rushed to Miller Park, where blast survivors assembled following the explosion that rattled much of the city and some of the suburbs shortly after 8 a.m.

“I’m going home and I hope that’s the case for the rest of my co-workers,” said Glenn Cahala, who works in a main office separate from the building destroyed in the explosion.

“I can’t think of what this means for some families, this time of year,” he said. “I can’t tell you how sad this is.”

Dozens of workers, many of them with cuts and bruises caused by flying glass and debris, arrived at area hospitals throughout the morning.

“There will be a significant number of injuries but there are no fatalities yet,” Milwaukee Fire Lt. Lawrence Jenkins said shortly before 9 a.m.

A dozen injured workers were taken to Froedtert Hospital about 9 a.m., another four workers with minor injuries arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital on the east side. Others were being taken to Sinai Samaritan Medical center downtown and St. Luke’s Medical Center, at 2900 W. Oklahoma Ave.

WTMJ radio reports fire fighters see two bodies in the rubble but are unable to reach them at this time.

The Falk Corporation has a long history of making gear drives. Avrum Lank informs us:

The Falk Corp., whose main production facility in the Menomonee Valley suffered a catastrophic fire Wednesday morning, is almost as old as the city that has hosted it for more than 100 years.

The business began as brewery in the valley in 1858, only 12 years after Milwaukee adopted its first city charter, and 10 after Wisconsin became the Union’s 30th state.

Unable to distinguish itself in a city awash in small beer makers, however, by 1899 it had transformed itself into a manufacturer of gears. That part of the business was started by Herman W. Falk as a machinery repair shop in 1892.

“Dozens Injured in Falk Explosion”

UPDATE: Patrick at Badger Blogger has local television coverage:

UPDATE II: Businesses north of the explosion were cleaning up broken windows while at the nearby casino the gamblers kept on plunking coins into the slot machines.

UPDATE III: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced three people died with a search of the site on-going.