Editing Ostend (section)

===19th century===
On 19 September 1826, the local [[artillery magazine]] exploded. At least 20 people were killed and a further 200 injured. The affluent quarter of d'Hargras was levelled and scarcely a building in the city escaped damage. Disease followed the devastation leading to further deaths.<ref>''The Explosion at Ostend'', [[The Manchester Guardian and British Volunteer]], 30 September 1826</ref>

The harbour of Ostend continued to expand because the harbour dock, as well as the traffic connections with the hinterland, were improved. In 1838, a railway connection with [[Brussels]] was constructed. {{Citation needed|date=August 2017}} Ostend became a transit harbour to England in 1846 when the first ferry sailed to [[Dover]]. {{Citation needed|date=August 2017}}  An October 1854 meeting of American envoys led to the [[Ostend Manifesto]].<ref>[[David M. Potter|Potter, David M.]] and [[Don E. Fehrenbacher|Fehrenbacher, Don M.]] (1976), ''The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861'', reprint, n.d., New York: Harper Torchbooks, Ch.8, "The Ebb Tide of Manifest Destiny," p. 190.  {{ISBN|0-06-131929-5}} .</ref>   Important for the image of the town was the attention it started to receive from the Belgian kings [[Leopold I of Belgium|Leopold I]] and [[Leopold II of Belgium|Leopold II]]. Both monarchs liked to spend their holidays in Ostend. Important monuments and villas were built to please the Royal Family, including the [[Hippodrome Wellington]] horse racing track and the [[Royal Galleries of Ostend|Royal Galleries]]. The rest of aristocratic Belgium followed and soon Ostend became known as "the queen of the Belgian sea-side resorts".{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 1866, Ostend was the venue for a crucial meeting of exiled Spanish Liberals and Republicans which laid the framework, the [[Pact of Ostend]], for a major uprising in their country, {{citation needed|date=August 2017}} culminating in Spain's [[Glorious Revolution (Spain)|Glorious Revolution]] two years later.