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On 11/29/1900, the football teams of Stanford University and the University of California met in the 10th annual Big Game, this year held at the Recreation Grounds at 16th Street and Folsom Street; the event had become wildly popular, an estimated 19,000 turned out for this match, supposedly the largest crowd west of the Mississippi to witness a sports event up to that time. Approximately 300 who couldn't afford tickets or couldn't gain admittance forced their way onto the premises of the neighboring San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works, on the northeast corner of 7th and Townsend, and made their way, via ladders, onto the factory's corrugated metal roof. From this vantage point, the game could be viewed. Just after kick-off, however, the added weight caused the factory's structural members to buckle, causing the spectators to drop onto girders, the top of a white-hot, 60-foot x 30-foot furnace, and concrete floor 35 feet below. Twenty-two people, mostly teenagers, perished in the disaster, with more than 85 injured.

At the time of the 1900 football game accident, the San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works was in the process of adding a new building to its plant. The addition was about a week away from being operational when the accident occurred.

PCAD id: 19279