Page 12 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 59 Spring 2026

PERS ON AL MEM ORIES
PERSONAL MEMORIES

OF THE BACKES FIREWORKS EXPLOSIONS

A Blast Past!
FOLLOW UP TO A Blas t P as t!
from
by Bobbie Borne the
After reading “A Blast from the Past”
in the winter issue of the Wallingford
Magazine about the former Backes
family fireworks company in Wall-
ingford, residents reached out with
their own stories and memories.
People living in Wallingford today
especially remember the Backes ex-
plosion that occurred in 1952 at the
plant on Ward Street Extension.

SUSAN BROSNAN, A
WALLINGFORD NATIVE
WROTE THE FOLLOWING . . .
“Just wanted to say how much I
enjoyed the article on Backes Fire-
works. I remember well the 1952
explosion. My mom and I ran out
of our house on Long Hill Road. She
thought our furnace had exploded,
while Mrs. Silver next door said we
should go to our basement because
she thought it was the Atom Bomb! “I remember the day Backes blew up. Another local memory involved a
There is a crack in my living room I was in Whittlesey Avenue School, young boy returning home from
ceiling to mark that occasion. On a and we were just dismissed for the school. As he began to enjoy his
happier note, your story brought day. My friend Karen Barnes lived after-school snack, the blast from
back fond memories of my dad on South Elm Street next door to Backes erupted into black clouds
coming home with a box of Fourth the Valentines. She was normally a and shattered windows as he and his
of July fireworks, sparklers, Chinese happy-go-lucky kid, elfin in size. I re- mother took shelter under the kitch-
fireworks, Roman candles and caps. member hearing the explosion and en table.

We had our own wooden shoot seeing the black clouds in the sky;
which was propped against the tele- but the thing I remember most was I’m sure there are other Wallingford
phone pole. Ed Gannon, next door, Karen struggling with our teacher folks who remember where they
(president of a local bank) had the who was holding her back. We had were and what they were doing
same. Relatives would line up their already crossed Whittlesey, heading when they experienced one of the
chairs on the front lawn for our own up the hill by the then Zion Lutheran Backes explosions. Not having grown
private and legal show. There was Church. Poor Karen was screaming up in Wallingford myself, I missed
only cow pasture across the street in and crying, but the teacher held her most of the excitement. However in
those days! We could also view the off, refusing to let her go check on 1986 a big fire ripped through what
Town fireworks display at the old air- her house and family. It was pretty was left of the Backes operation on
port from our home. Thank you for disconcerting. But I finally just head- Ward Street Extension, the coup de
reviving these memories!” ed for home. Luckily, Karen’s house grace that finished off Backes for
remained safe. Kind of scary! Such a good. I witnessed the smoke and
FROM MY NEIGHBOR vivid personal memory of an historic flames from my house only a couple
BARBARA LATHROP, Wallingford event!” blocks away from the conflagration.
ANOTHER WALLINGFORD
NATIVE. . .

12 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - SPRING 2026