2014 Event One World Trade Center opens today, 13 years after terrorists destroyed the twin towers of the original World Trade Center; the tower is one of 5 to be built on the same site and, at 1,773 feet high, is now the tallest building in the United States 2014 Event Over 300 books related to Anne Frank are donated to Tokyo libraries by the embassy of Israel after a mass vandalism incident earlier this month that destroyed hundreds of the library system's existing copies; police are still investigating 2013 Event Syria's chemical weapons arsenal requires an eradication site; Belgium rejected being a candidate for the destruction, suggesting the stockpile should be destroyed close to Syria 2013 Event Major bushfires that have endangered lives and destroyed homes cause Barry O'Farrell, the Premier of Australia's New South Wales to declare a state of emergency 2012 Event The 52-foot iconic statue known as Big Tex, is destroyed by fire during the final days of the 2012 State Fair of Texas 2012 Event Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, the four thousand year-old ridge-top monastery in Bhutan catches fire and is destroyed; no relics were lost in the fire because the monastery was under renovation 2011 Event The Arab Gas Pipeline in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is destroyed in an explosion; the line supplies gas to Jordan and Israel 2011 Event NATO announces it destroyed three television distribution facilities in Tripoli, Libya 2011 Event Over 230,000 acres of land, including the town Fort Davis, are destroyed by wildfires in the state of Texas 2010 Event At least 54 homes are destroyed and 8 people are missing after wildfires hit Boulder County, Colorado 2003 Event Space Shuttle Columbia destroyed over Texas when returning to Earth, 7 crew members are killed 1994 Event Cruiser Achille Lauro destroyed by fire at Somalia, 4 die 1993 Event Historical Kapelbrug in Luzern, Switzerland, destroyed by fire 1993 Event Paramaribo Suriname TV studio destroyed by fire 1993 Event The Branch Davidian Compound near Waco, Texas, is destroyed in a fire after 51-day stand-off; 76 people die, including 24 British nationals and 20 children 1992 Event Part of Vienna Hofburg destroyed by fire 1988 Event 6.9 earthquake in Armenia, Spitak destroyed, 60,000 killed 1988 Event Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa destroyed by arson 1988 Event Utrecht conservatory destroyed by fire 1986 Event 800,000 books destroyed by fire in Los Angeles Central Library 1986 Event English Hampton Court palace destroyed by fire, 1 dead 1984 Event 12th minster of York destroyed in lightening storm 1983 Event Madison Hotel (Boston) destroyed by implosion 1977 Event Hotel Poland in Amsterdam destroyed by fire, 33 killed 1976 Event Zeiss planetarium in Hague destroyed by fire 1974 Event Symbionese Liberation Army destroyed in shoot-out, 6 killed 1973 Event Acting FBI director L Patrick Gray resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence in the Watergate scandal 1972 Event Passenger ship Queen Elizabeth destroyed by fire 1967 Death Ossip Zadkine, Zadkin, Russian sculptor (Destroyed City), dies at 77 1966 Event An IRA bomb destroyed Nelson's Column in Dublin 1963 Event Skopje, Yugoslavia, destroyed by earthquake, kills 1,000+ 1963 Event Cyclone hits Chittagong, Bangladesh; about 1 million houses destroyed 1962 Event Black church is destroyed by fire in Macon Georgia 1954 Event Scapino Ballet Studio in Amsterdam destroyed by fire 1953 Event Osip Zadkines monument to "The destroyed city" unveiled in Rotterdam 1945 Event Japanese city Toyama destroyed by B-29's 1944 Event Battle in Straits of Surigao: Japanese fleet destroyed 1944 Event Italian town of Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing 1943 Event Jewish ghetto of Riga Latvia is destroyed 1943 Event Uprising at Treblinka Concentration Camp (crematorium destroyed) 1942 Event 500 die in a fire that destroyed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston 1941 Event England's House of Commons and Holborn Theater destroyed in a blitz 1941 Event Battle of Beda Fomm: Italian 10th army destroyed 1940 Event 2nd battle of Narvik-8 German destroyers, destroyed 1939 Event English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire 1938 Event Utrecht Central Station destroyed by fire 1938 Event Jews injured and property destroyed in Przemyal Poland 1936 Event London's Crystal Palace (built 1851), destroyed by fire 1933 Event 2 billion board feet of lumber destroyed in Tillamook Oregon fire 1931 Event Crystal Palace in Hyde Park London destroyed by fire 1931 Event Grasshoppers in Iowa, Nebr and SD destroyed thousands of acres of crops 1918 Event Cloquet Minnesota and 25 other communities destroyed by forest fire, 559 die 1914 Event Dinant Belgium destroyed by German bombs 1913 Event Dayton, Ohio almost destroyed when Scioto, Miami, and Muskingum River reach flood stage simultaneously 1907 Event Sutro's ornate Cliff House in San Francisco destroyed by fire 1904 Event Much of Toronto destroyed by fire 1904 Event Baltimore catches fire (1500 buildings destroyed in 80 blocks) 1901 Event Fire destroyed 1,700 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida 1896 Event Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku Japan 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured, with 13,000 houses destroyed 1894 Event Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm 1894 Event Great fire in Shanghai; over 1,000 buildings destroyed 1894 Event Columbus World's fair in Chicago destroyed by fire 1892 Event Oil City and Titusville Penn, destroyed by oil tank explosion; 130 die 1890 Birthday Ossip Zadkine, Russian/French sculptor, Destroyed City 1890 Event Amsterdam Theater destroyed by fire 1883 Event Shocks triggered by volcano Epomeo (Isle of Ischia, Italy) destroyed 1,200 houses at Casamicciola killing 2,000 1881 Event Vienna's Ring Theater destroyed by fire, kills between 640-850 1874 Event Barracks on Alcatraz Island destroyed in fire 1864 Event Most of Calcutta destroyed by cyclone (approx 60,000 die) 1862 Event General B. Butler orders William Mumford hanged after he removed and destroyed U.S. flag on display over New Orleans Mint 1862 Event Much of Enschede Netherlands destroyed by fire 1860 Event Comanche, Iowa completely destroyed by 1 of a series of tornadoes 1856 Event Covent Garden Opera House destroyed in a fire 1854 Event San Salvador destroyed by earthquake 1851 Event Most of San Francisco destroyed by fire; 30 die 1850 Event Rangoon Burma, destroyed by fire 1850 Event Mormon Temple in Nauvoo, Illinois destroyed by tornado 1845 Event Fire in Quebec Canada, 1,500 houses destroyed 1835 Event Concepcion, Chile destroyed by earthquake; 5,000 die 1830 Event Edwin Budding of England signs an agreement for manufacture of his invention, lawn mower. Saturdays are destroyed forever 1828 Event More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar 1816 Event Teatro San Carlo in Naples destroyed by fire 1808 Event Covent Garden Theatre Royal destroyed by fire 1798 Event Federal St. Theater, Boston, becomes 1st in U.S. destroyed by fire 1788 Event Fire destroyed 856 buildings in New Orleans Louisiana 1772 Event Amsterdam theater destroyed by fire, 18 killed 1764 Event Winthrop Telescope, is destroyed in a Harvard fire 1752 Event 3rd great fire in Moscow in 2 weeks; 1/3 of city destroyed 1752 Event Moscow houses and churchs destroyed by fire 1708 Event Haverhill, Mass destroyed by French and Indians 1687 Event Acropolis in Athens attacked by Venetian army trying to eject Turks Parthenon destroyed in war between Turks and Venetians 1672 Event Joan Blaeus publishers destroyed by fire in Amsterdam 1666 Event St. Paul's in London destroyed by fire 1666 Event Great London Fire begins in Pudding Lane. 80% of London is destroyed 1639 Event Virginia is 1st colony to order surplus crops (tobacco) destroyed 1634 Event Beach Island in North sea destroyed by a heavy storm flood 1588 Event Spanish Armada heavily destroyed in storm at Coruna 1568 Event Abdij Church in Middelburg destroyed by fire 1558 Event Westmunster Church in Middelburg destroyed by heavy storm 1535 Event Bloemkamp Abbey (Oldeklooster) attacked and destroyed 1291 Event Akko reconquered after 200 years by French crusaders, and destroyed 1061 Event Halley's Comet sparks English monk to predict country'll be destroyed 642 Event Arabs conquer Alexandria, library destroyed 70 Event Tower of Antonia destroyed by Romans
