FREMONT - The community continues to remember a focal point of Fremont that succumb to a disaster 40 years ago from this Sunday.
Built in 1917, the six-story Pathfinder Hotel accommodated 115 rooms with a capacity of 360 people. Inside was a coffee shop, dining room, cocktail lounge, “The Top of The Hotel Ball Room” and meeting rooms. The structure also included Brown Drug Store, Louise Hruska Barber Shop and The Chamber of Commerce.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 10th, 1976 the front desk clerk on duty smelled odor of natural gas. As the odor continued to strengthen, the clerk attempted to contact the three local gas companies.
It was around 9 a.m. the hotel maintenance man located three service men from the gas companies who immediately determined that there was an explosive concentration of flammable gas in the basement and requested the hotel be evacuated.
At 9:32 a.m. the natural gas explosion killed 20 people, destroying the Pathfinder Hotel and six nearby buildings.
After a four-day search, 18 bodies were discovered and later two others lost the battle to their injuries, dying while in the hospital.
Friends of the Pathfinder Hotel Memorial Committee and Mainstreet of Fremont is putting on, A History and 40th Anniversary Memorial of The Hotel Pathfinder this Sunday, January 10th at 1 p.m. at the Fremont Area Art Association on 92 W. 6th St.
The event will unveil a monument on 6th and Broad St. that will display the names of the 20 people who lost their lives from the explosion.
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