The Good Old Days: Burg Oil Tank Big Boom in 1908

It's always interesting to remember the heavy-duty industrial past in Williamsburg and the accidents that sometimes came along with it. A reader sent along a link to this 1908 New York Times story about a huge oil tank explosion at N. 13 and Kent that "resembled an earthquake...shaking houses for several blocks around" and "creating terror among the occupants." This is not to be confused with the 1880 Big Bang. It's unknown what kind of underground leaks of oil incidents like these at what were then the Astral Oil Works and Standard Oil might have caused.