More Tornado-damaged Homes Then & Now

Clarmont Doane's house was on the left; at far right is the bungalow

I recently found online a terrific eyewitness account of the 1924 Lorain Tornado, as it was handed down in the Doane family of Lorain. It's called The Lorain Tornado of June 28, 1924 by Emily Grace Doane, as told to her daughter Jane Meitzke MacDuff. It's extremely well-written and really captures the fear and shock of what happened that day.

Of particular interest in the story is the fact that Clarmont Doane's house (which was destroyed by the tornado) was right down there by Victory Park at 5th and West Erie – the area that seems to always pop up on this blog.

The story also includes several interesting photos of the tornado damage, such as the one above. It shows the destruction of two homes – the Williams house as well as the Doane house to the right of it. Emily Grace Doane's story refers to the surviving house at the far right of the photo as "the bungalow" and marvels at how little damage it suffered.

Back here in the blog, I had mentioned these particular houses before. Local historian and archivist Dennis Lamont pointed out at that time that although two houses were destroyed at that location, three houses were rebuilt there.

Here's a slightly tighter "now" shot (below) of the same view shown above, showing the rebuilt Williams house, which partially obscures the two houses which replaced the Doane house.

The view is the south side of Fifth Street across from Victory Park

Here are the two homes that are crowded onto the former Doane property (below). The Doanes had sold the lot and built a new house on Parkview Avenue.

And here is a view of just the bungalow today (below). It's still a great looking house – and apparently tornado-proof.