Steel plants were dumping pollution like oil into Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River for decades by the time a fateful train passed in 1969.
A stray spark jumped into the river and suddenly, it was burning. The fire was localized to the industrial district.
Firefighters were quickly dispatched on river boats to put out the fire which was starting to reach the train tracks above.
Cleveland’s mayor, Carl Stokes, held a press conference on the charred train trestle over the river. But this did little to bring any attention to the accident.
It wasn’t until Time Magazine ran a story a month later – which used the wrong photos from a much larger fire. That sparked national attention.
Something needed to be done – so mayor Stokes reached out to his brother and U.S. Representative Louis Stokes.
The two of them pushed for stricter pollution laws both federally and statewide – with Carl Stokes testifying before Congress.
The incident started a sea of change in how Americans viewed pollution and environmental protection.
Because of the Cuyahoga fire and the Stokes brothers’ efforts, a slew of water pollution acts were passed which resulted in the founding of the Environmental Protection Act in 1970 and the Clean Water Act in 1972.
