Mississauga 'Hot Box' Project
The “HOT BOX”
project
Memories of November 10th
1979,
The Train Derailment and the
Evacuation in Mississauga
November 2009 will be the 30th
Anniversary of this historic event. They wish to connect Mississauga by sharing the
people’s memories of the train derailment and evacuation. The “Hot Box” project
will connect to the community by exhibiting the stories, drawings and objects
that are burnt in the memories of the people of the city of Mississauga.
Amalgamation and the creation of the City
of Mississauga was not an easy process, nor was
it welcomed by many residents of the former town and villages of Toronto
Township. The new City, in many ways was
disconnected and difficult to manage as a single entity. In 1968 the villages of
Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale, Lakeview, Lorne Park,
Malton, and Meadowvale
Village were joined to create the Town of Mississauga. In 1969
planning began on a new centre for the emerging town, which culminated in the
opening of Square One in 1973. In 1974, the Towns of Port Credit and
Streetsville amalgamated with the Town of Mississauga to form the City of Mississauga. But, to many,
this “thing” called Mississauga was artificial, forced, and
difficult to accept. There was no common basis, or melding, that brought
residents, planners and city officials together as a single entity. That changed
in 1979, perhaps the true birth year of the City. Our City received a baptism of
sorts, and the City that emerged was quite
different.
On the evening of Saturday, November 10, 1979, Canadian
Pacific freight train #54 was carrying 106 rail cars from Sarnia to Toronto on a weekly scheduled run. Thirty-eight
cars were carrying cargo designated as hazardous, including liquid styrene,
caustic soda, liquid petroleum products, and liquid chlorine. At approximately
11:53pm, as the train
crossed Burnhamthorpe
Road, an axel bearing failed and one rail car lost a
pair of wheels. The train continued until, at approximately 11:56pm at the Mavis Road crossing,
24 rail cars derailed. The immediate and massive explosion caused by ruptures in
butane and propane-carrying rail cars, was seen more than 100 kilometres away.
Several subsequent explosions, one of which hurled a 90-ton tanker car filled
with liquid propane more than 675 meters away from the derailment site, followed
the first explosion within minutes.
The initial cause of the derailment was a
“hot box” – or a journal box that connects the moving axle of the wheel to the
car above. As the train reached Mississauga, the “hot box” failed, and the
33rd car, which carried liquid toluene, lost its axel and a set of
wheels. When the dangling undercarriage of the damaged car left the rail tracks,
23 other cars followed it. The resulting evacuation of more than 240,000
residents took place with little panic or injury and no loss of life. Dubbed the
“Mississauga Miracle”, the evacuation was the largest peacetime evacuation in
North American history, and may only have been eclipsed by the evacuation of
New Orleans in
2005. 226,000 residents of the young City of
Mississauga were asked to voluntarily leave
their homes. Additional residents in neighboring Etobicoke and Oakville also had to be
evacuated. Once a home was evacuated a large “X” was marked on the driveway.
People opened their arms to the evacuees. Grandparents, sisters, brothers,
mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles and friends welcomed them. Schools, Hospitals,
the Red Cross, Police, Firemen and Square One aided the
displaced.
November 2009 will be the 30th
anniversary of the “Mississauga Miracle”. They wish to connect with residents of
Mississauga
today by collecting memories of the derailment. They invite people to submit their
memories, stories, pictures or objects to connect with the community. People are
invited to enter their memories into a “Hot Box”. Submissions are being requested
through Myspace, Facebook, Websites and a mailing address is also available. The
entries will later be displayed in a gallery exhibit. Before arriving at the
gallery several “Hot Boxes” will travel throughout the city and just beyond its
borders, and will be available at many locations. Students will also be invited
to participate by journaling and interviewing their parents, relatives or
neighbors. This adds an educational “History of Mississauga” aspect to the
project and will make new connective memories for the youth of Mississauga.
The “Hot Box” is symbolic not only of the
train derailment itself, but also the home, the hearth, and the fire: as in the
“Log Cabin” quilting pattern. The “Log Cabin” pattern’s main focal point is the
“Red Square” representing the home’s hearth.
The hearth then is the center of the home, and the fire is the heart of the
home. On November 10th 1979 the homes and lives of Mississauga residents were
in danger. It was in this time of fear that the residents of Mississauga bonded
together. This is a conceptual art project designed to celebrate and to connect
the living community of Mississauga today with
its early baptism by fire – the train derailment, and to celebrate the
collective bond that brought Mississauga, and Mississaugans,
together.
How to submit your
entry
Visit “Hot Box”
Mississauga on
Myspace or Facebook
e-mail; hotbox24@live.ca
Submission mailing
address;
Heritage Mississauga
C/O Hot
Box
1921 Dundas Street
West
Mississauga Ontario L5K
1R2
Call for
Submissions
The “Hot Box” project is a community art project
currently accepting submissions for a 2009 exhibition. Please forward memories
of the Mississauga train derailment and evacuation
November 1979. We ask that you be honest in your submission. All media are
accepted. Please included contact information on a separate piece of paper. By
submitting you are releasing all rights to your entry. Mailed entries will not
be returned. Mail your entry to; Heritage Mississauga c/o Hot Box, 1921
Dundas Street West,
Mississauga Ontario L5K
1R2 or email us at hotbox24@live.ca first deadline: June 10,
2008
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