Tragedy can strike anywhere. Every city has its accidents, but many of them are long forgotten by now. Of course, sometimes those accidents are deadly events. For those of us living in Kansas City in the early 80s, this is one that struck a chord with all who experienced it and left far too many people without friends or family.

The Hyatt in Kansas City has been around for longer than I can remember. Construction began in 1978, with a few hiccups. Despite a roof collapse during construction, they kept on building with seemingly no problems. Later on, construction issues with the walkways resulted in a quick change in design. They didn’t think much of it, but the beams in place were now barely able to hold the heavy walkways, much less people on them. Yet The Hyatt opened in 1980 without realizing just how flawed the difference in design was.

On July 17, 1981, tragedy struck The Hyatt.
Dr. Lee Lowery, Jr., P.E./Wikimedia Commons
The redesigned walkways couldn't hold the weight of the structures and the people on them, giving out and crashing to the ground. The cross beam holding the rods on the 4th floor (pictured above) buckled under the weight of the walkway and those who stood on it.
Both of these walkways suspended above the ground floor - the same ones previously changed to accommodate construction - collapsed, falling directly onto a tea dance below.
Dr. Lee Lowery, Jr., P.E./Wikimedia Commons
The second and fourth floor walkways (pictured above) weren't that far from the ground, but the walkways themselves each weighed about 64,000 pounds.

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Debris littered the floor afterwards, showing just how much material fell on the visitors below.
Dr. Lee Lowery, Jr., P.E./Wikimedia Commons
The collapse killed an astonishing 114 people and injured 216.
It was the deadliest structure collapse in U.S. History up until the collapse of the World Trade Center towers two decades later.
Dr. Lee Lowery, Jr., P.E./Wikimedia Commons
This mishap changed engineering all over the world and served as a warning to always ensure the safety of a structure before opening it to the public.

This video by YouTuber Álvaro Vicente highlights the structure issues and news coverage of the incident.

This tragedy drove engineers across the world to ensure something like this would never happen again. Do you remember this event in 1981? We can only hope history never repeats itself from incidents like these.

If you’re interested in reading about other Kansas City history, you should check out these little known facts about our city.

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