As a follow up, when I was reading about the horrifying details of the Halifax tragedy, I was wondering when the fear of large destructive explosions entered the public's mind? Would it have been right after the invention of dynamite or was the WWI a catalyst in those kinds of scares and fascinations?
Side question: What was the Halifax explosion? I've literally ever heard of it before.
Large destructive explosions predate dynamite. Example: in 1654, the Dutch city of Delft was struck by what is known as The Delft Thunderclap, an accidental explosion of about 40 tonnes of black powder stored in an old convent. It wrecked about a quarter of the city and likely killed over 100 people, including the artist Carel Fabritius, who may have taught Vermeer.
Haligonian here: the Halifax explosion also set the precedent of how nuclear weapons would be detonated since the explosion happened above water the shockwave was able to achieve an arc. This helped inspire the USA to detonate nuclear bombs above ground, which they put in action in tests and at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.