St. Clair County
Remnants Of The Past

 Tornado – April 1916

 

St. Clair County Courier
April 2005

St. Clair County Historical Society News
April 27, 1916 tornado blows through county

We live in Tornado Alley and once again it is the season for storms. Let us take a look back in history to 1916. The April 27 issue of the Lowry City Independent took two-thirds of the front page in coverage of the tornado that had struck the evening before.

Wednesday, April 26, was one of those sultry, blustery days with ugly clouds moving through and late in the afternoon worried eyes were watching the skies. Every household was on their own as there was no system or rapid communications for storm warnings.

The storm broke out in the Iola and Ft. Scott area, traveled through Bates County, hit Rockville, swept through Johnson City, Ohio, Hillsdale, German Valley, Lowry City, Landaker, Three Corners, then on east across the Osage River and through Valhalla. The twisting gales were accompanied by successive volleys of hailstones, some as large as a man’s fist. Torrential rains followed the hail.

Houses were blown to smithereens, barns were demolished and livestock maimed, killed or simply blown away. Stores, schools and churches were wrecked or moved off the foundation. People suffered cuts and broken bones. There were two deaths.

The deaths were Dr. C.P. Bowden and E.F. Hirni of Appleton City. They were caught in the storm between that place and Rockville and sought refuge in a farm house along the way. The house was blown to pieces and Dr. Bowden received injuries from which he died later.

John T. Jett, a farmer living on the Judge Walker farm a mile east of Lowry City was killed almost instantly. He was standing near the summer kitchen as he watched the movement of the storm. A sudden gust of wind blew the summer kitchen to pieces and the unfortunate man was hit in the head and neck by flying debris.

Churches and schools damaged were German Valley Church, Johnson City Church, Ohio Christian Church, Ohio School, Harmony Church, Pleasant Grove School, Landaker Church and Landaker School.

The bulk of the damage in Lowry City was the result of the hail with few buildings anywhere in town with windows on the west or north that were not broken. The area of North Ohio St. and Third St. in the business area bore the brunt of the storm. The northeast corner of the L.T. Armstrong building occupied by the Farmer’s State Bank, was broken off and the brick scattered in every direction.

A number of families in the Hillsdale-German Valley area suffered physical injuries. Arnold Hagman was hit by flying debris. Matt Richardson had an injured arm and for a time two of the children were missing. Late in the night the children were found under the debris of the house.

Slightly injured were Mrs. J.W. Bowlware, Bitha Cooper and Mrs. E. Hall.

With night falling, hampering rescue efforts and with the telephone and telegraph lines down, only meager reports of the storm could be known for several hours after it had wreaked its havoc.

Geneva Park Winter, now 99 years old, recalls this about the storm, “I was 10 years old. We lived up on Cooper Creek. We were putting the supper meal on the table when the storm struck. The wind was so bad that dad and brother, Orla had to hold the kitchen door shut. The hail broke the window panes and beat big holes in the roof and when the rain came the water came through and ruined our supper. The next day we went by team and wagon to help our neighbors. Everything was blown to pieces. When dad got to Deepwater to buy new window glass, everyone had sold all they had and we had to wait until a load of glass came by rail car”.

The Lowry City Independent’s coverage of the storm is a masterpiece of newspaper reporting. The entire text is available on microfilm at the St. Clair County Library.

 

Tornado Accompanied By Hail – Great Damage

 Lowry City Independent
27 April 1916

John T. Jett, Farmer Living Mile East Of Town Killed – Dr. Chas. Bowden, Appleton City, A Victim – German Valley, Hillsdale and Ohio Vicinities Almost Devastated.

A violent tornado, developing several miles west of this place and passing over Lowry City about six o’clock on Wednesday evening of last week, caused the death of at least two persons in this vicinity and resulted in injuries to many others. Property damages, especially in the vicinities of German Valley, Hillsdale and Ohio west and north of Lowry City are enormous. Telephone and telegraph communications were shot to pieces and only meager reports of the storm could be gotten for several hours after it had wrought its havoc. Old timers declare it to have been the most devastating storm of its kind they have ever witnessed, and it goes without saying that those of the aftermath have never seen nor do they ever want to see anything that approximates in any way such a disturbance of the elements.

For several minutes Wednesday evening the clouds in the west were low and threatening. A strong gale and a continual shifting of the ugly clouds attracted no little consternation between 5:30 and 6:00 o’clock. There was a calm of a few minutes duration and then the storm seemed to strike Lowry City in all its fury. A violent wind, twisting trees out by the roots, breaking limbs in many that were left in the ground, toppling over outbuildings, hurling shingles off many dwelling houses into the air, causing the very foundations of some of the most substantial buildings in the town to quiver sent even the braver contingent of the city’s population into storm cellars or caused them to close the openings of their homes as they endeavored to ward off the awfulness of the storm. Almost at the same moment the heavens belched forth a volley of the largest hailstones that have ever fallen in this locality. It was not a single volley but a succession of volleys, the whole lasting for several minutes. Large balls of ice, some as large as a man’s fist, fell from the direction on the north and west. Window panes on the north and some on the west of homes were completely demolished and the openings thus made in the strongest houses left a trail for the violent wind that was coming from the same direction. The alarm became all the greater in the fear that the twisting gale would suck so strongly into the  now half-opened houses that they would be blown completely away.

The northwest corner of the top part of the L.T. Armstrong building occupied by the Farmers State Bank was broken off and the brick scattered in every direction. The large plate glass and double-strength panes on the north of this building as well as practically all the buildings on the east side of North Ohio St. and the row of buildings located on the south side of 3^rd St. suffered considerably more than any others. There were few buildings anywhere in the town with windows on the west or the north that escaped but the above-mentioned blocks seemed to have borne the blunt of the storm.

In all, the bulk of the damage wrought right in town was the direct result of the hail. The wind did a bad work west and east of town but the main current must have passed over the town or gone slightly around.

John T. Jett, a farmer living on the Judge Walker farm a mile east of Lowry City, was killed almost instantly. He was standing near the summer kitchen just east of the house as he watched the movement of the storm. His wife asked him repeatedly to come indoors but his apparent interest in the storm clouds caused him to pay no attention to her entreaties. A sudden gust of wind blew the summer kitchen to pieces and the unfortunate man was hit in the head and neck by the flying debris. Death came a few minutes later. Mr. Jett came to Lowry City about a year ago and purchased a farm near Johnson City. Before ever moving to the newly-bought place he traded the farm near Johnson City for the Walker place which was then occupied by A.M. Turpin. For about twenty days he and his youngest son lived in the old Neal house now owned by Mrs. Frank Kramm but upon the arrival of Mrs. Jett moved to the R.L. Pattison farm tow miles east of town where he lived until he could get possession of the farm he had gotten from the Turpins. It was not until last December that the family took possession of their new place so that death came before the unfortunate man had even made or attempted to make his first crop on the new place.

Dr. C.P. Bowden and E.F. Hirni of Appleton City were caught in the storm between that place and Rockville and sought refuge in a farm house along the way. The house was blown to pieces and Dr. Bowden received injuries from which he died early Thursday morning. Mr. Hirni was pretty badly injured but will recover.

The communities of German Valley, Hillsdale and Ohio north and west of this place were hard hit by the tornado from the standpoint of damage and destruction to property. The two barns on Add Benson’s place, a large implement shed and two wind-mills were blown to pieces and one cow killed. Half of W.I. Doty’s orchard trees were torn up by the roots right across the road, practically all the large maple trees broken down and considerable damage done to the roof of the house. The large barn on O.G. Duzan’s farm was demolished as was that belonging to Henry Dodson, who lives just north. Mr. Dodson also lost a large implement shed and one horse and one mule. The house occupied by Arnold Hagman was blown to smithereens and Mr. Hagman pretty badly injured. He was just on the point of entering the cellar under the house when the building was struck by the gale and pieces of the flying timber hit him in the back of the head and across the legs before the knee joints. He will suffer considerable pain with his head which had a gash four inches long cut by some of the debris. The rest of the family had remained in the house and were lifted with it a distance of several yards as it was destroyed. The peculiar part of this incident is that none of those who remained in the house were hurt. The German Valley church was blown down and wrecked and the school house bearing the same name half a mile east was torn literally to pieces. Chas. DeLozier, who lives on the Liggett farm just east of the school house had considerable damage done to his house and the top taken completely off of his barn. The German Valley parsonage, occupied by Rev. D. Neuenschwander, had the west wing destroyed but the main part of the dwelling located just below the path of the storm was saved. Both of the large barns belonging to John Klass were blown down and the roof of one of them carried clear over to the church a mile to the northeast. One of these was a rock barn and considered one of the safest in that section of the country. Ben Kobelt, living just south of the Klass farm, had his barn demolished while Chas. Stehwein, who lives to the west, lost both his barn and a mammoth shed that stood near by.

Getting a little nearer the Hillsdale community the devastation was equally as bad if not worse. L.E. Shaffner lost both his residence and large stock barn, as did both Matt Richardson and R. Rosebaugh living in the same vicinity. Mrs. Richardson sustained an injured arm but the other members of the family were unhurt. Two of the Richardson children were missing for several hours as a result of the destruction, and considerable feeling was had that both had been destroyed by the storm. Late in the night, however, both were accounted for, having been found under the debris of the dwelling house. The family of R. Rosebaugh, living on the G.W. DeLozier place, had a critical time of it. When the house was destroyed all four members of the family were badly hurt, including Mr. Rosebaugh, his two sons and an eighteen-year old daughter. The two boys were bruised up considerably while Mr. Rosebaugh was battered and beaten up pretty badly. The daughter had a very narrow escape and is not yet entirely out of danger according to Drs. Leo S. Wright and W.H. Dice of this city who were rushed to the scene about an hour after the storm and have been treating her daily ever since. Some way in the destruction of the house she suffered the breaking of the tibia bone below the knee, same breaking from the articulation of the foot and leg. The bone pushed its way through the stocking and shoe which were upon the foot, and extended into the ground when she was picked up by the doctors. Both physicians declare that the part of the tibia extending and exposed must have measured 3 ½ to 4 inches. As stated above she is being treated with due care and if blood poisoning does not set in may recover entirely.

The same sweep that traveled the vicinities above mentioned had come from the Ohio and Johnson City communities, and, according the daily press, must have been the same storm that broke in the Iola and Ft. Scott, territory, traveling in through Bates County, hit Rockville, then swept through Johnson City, Ohio, Hillsdale, German Valley, Lowry City and passed to the east. At Johnson City, Jim Shoemaker lost two barns and a silo, the store buildings of Scott stout and Dee Zink were considerably wrecked, the church was blown down, a barn belonging to Chas. Willard was torn to pieces and Wm. Owens’ house was demolished. This is to say nothing of several minor pieces of property such as silos, etc. which were blown away or wrecked in some manner.

At Ohio the barn of Dr. W.E. Taylor was destroyed and three horses killed. The Christian church in that little town was literally torn to pieces and the school house moved off its foundation. John Knight’s home was blown away but no one injured. The old Boots house on the place now owned by Sam Ledbetter was destroyed but fortunately no one was living in the building. Both the house and barn on the farm of J.H. Walker were destroyed. The family of J.W. Bowlware, living on the place, escaped unhurt except Mrs. Bowlware who sustained slight injuries. The house and barn on Oscar Clayton’s place were torn to pieces and Mrs. Clayton and little son, also Mrs. Clayton’s sister, Miss Bitha Cooper, of this city, who was visiting the Clayton family, slightly injured. The house of “Dutch” Long was wrecked and the barn blown completely away as were the barns of Ad Johnson, Chauncey McCoy, Barret Biles, Chas. Blaine, Jno. Stevens, Jim McGathey and Billy Johnson. Jim Wishard lost not only his barn but had his home wrecked. Geo. Thurman’s house was destroyed as was the C.H. Bryant home now occupied by Ora E. Mabry. The Harmony church was moved off its foundation and the Pleasant Grove school house torn all to pieces.

The storm passed from the vicinity of Lowry City in an easterly direction and can be traced as far as Valhalla. The store belonging to Jas. T. Riddle at that place was pretty badly demolished, the entire front being torn out and all the windows in the west side of the building being broken. The porch was torn off of Mr. Riddle’s dwelling house and the ware room adjacent the store was moved off its foundation. Mrs. Amanda Wright’s barn was blown down while the house of Tatum Wright was blown from its foundation and carried about eight feet. It is claimed that everything in Mr. Wright’s home was broken or destroyed. The north shed of the barn on the S.O. Grimes place was torn down and the roof of the barn at the store likewise destroyed. According to Jas. T. Riddle, postmaster and merchant at Valhalla, the damage there will easily reach $500. Col. and Mrs. Ed E. Hall were quietly seated in their summer kitchen located a short distance from their house and the tornado lifted building off its foundation and moved it several feet. Mrs. Hall was pretty much bruised up and scared a lot worse, according to the Colonel who reported the storm to us at this office Friday. It also took the roof completely off Col. Hall’s main dwelling located only a short distance from the summer kitchen. The home of John D. Stoneking, who lives near the Hall place, was pretty badly wrecked, while the house on the Eld. W.P. Wright place was completely destroyed. Fortunately, no one was living in the Wright house at the time of the tornado. Hugh J. Bunch reports that the wind tore the top off the house on his river farm, the place now occupied by Harry T. Bunch, and further claims the devastation wrought in the timber down in that section was the worst he had ever seen. The barn on the T.G. Snyder place now occupied by Johnny Snyder, was destroyed, while the house on Jack Kincaid’s place now rented to the Boomershine family was split in two parts and the barn destroyed in its entirety. Claude Greenwell’s barn was torn down and his smoke house blown to pieces.

From various parties who were in town last Saturday we learn that there was considerable damage wrought by the tornado in the vicinities of Landaker and Three Corners. The Landaker school house was torn literally to pieces while the new union church bearing the same name and located a short distance north was moved off its foundation. Perry V. Thompson’s barn and all out-buildings were badly demolished and a fine mare belonging to Mr. Thompson suffered a broken leg. The Thompson residence was also badly shaken up, losing its flues, etc. J.M. Boyles’ porches were cleaned off the residence and his smoke blown over. Elmer Meacham’s barn and other buildings were destroyed, while Judge David Walker lost his large silo and several sheds located in the barnyard. The old Alex Walker place, one of the veritable land-marks of the country, was completely blown to smithereens, while the home of Mrs. Jennie Perkins was badly wrecked. Marvin Thompson and Mrs. Geo. Artz, each suffered the loss of part of their roofs, to say nothing of minor damages wrought to small out-buildings. The barn on the old Sparks place was destroyed as was the new barn on the place belonging to Doc Akers.