Cocoanut Grove Fire occurs.

Some 492 people are killed in the nightclub breaks at 17 Piedmont Street. It is the worst tragedy in Boston history and second-worst nightclub fire in U.S. history (after one in Chicago in 1903), An eyewitness later claims it started when 16- year-old busboy Stanley Tomaszewski lit a match so he could see to screw in a light bulb loosened by a customer to darken a booth, but the subsequent investigation casts doubt on that account. Once the fire does break out, some 1,000 people (double the club’s capacity) attempt to escape, only to find many of the building’s exits were locked. Club owner Barney Welansky is convicted of involuntary manslaughter on April 10, 1943, and the the tragedy prompts improvements to city and national fire and building codes and leads to improved treatment for burn and smoke inhalation victims. A plaque memorializing the event is installed in 1993,* and Shawmut Avenue Extension is renamed Cocoanut Grove Lane on November 30, 2013.