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| Vintage postcard showing Lakeview Blvd (the curved road) and US Route 6 at the bottom |
I remember first hearing about it when I was pretty young (and being afraid of tornadoes for a long time afterwards). My parents probably first made me aware of it at the time of the 1965 Palm Sunday tornadoes – which means the infamous Lorain tornado had only happened 40 years earlier. And now it's 100 years. Sigh.
It would be pretty difficult to find anyone alive who remembers living through it. My father was almost three years old in 1924, but he had no recollection of it at all. Fortunately, he and most of his relatives all lived near Highland Park (now Central Park).
Below you can see the tattered remains of the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald of Monday, June 30, 1924.
The Chronicle-Telegram from the same date (below) weathered the storm a little better.
On the one-year anniversary, the Lorain Journal marveled at the comeback the city had made in the past year since the tragedy.
As was the 50th anniversary in 1974, played out against the backdrop of a Downtown once again torn up – this time by Urban Renewal.
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The Lorain Tornado of 1924 had been a favorite topic on this blog over the past 15 years, with many "Then & Now" postcard/photo treatments, as well as front pages from other cities reporting the disaster. Click here to visit those past posts. When you scroll to the bottom, be sure to click on the 'Older Posts' link at the bottom right so that you don't miss any.
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Here's a final look back, written by Connie Davis for the Chronicle-Telegram of June 27, 2000.
Is there a final death toll for those who died in the 1924 Lorain Tornado in the City of Lorain? Also, is there a listing of names of those who died that is readable? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteExploring:
ReplyDeleteI don't know about a *final* death toll, but the Lorain County Coroner's records, as compiled by the Clerk of Courts, lists 55 by name along with some indication of their race and (general) place of birth. There is no address or age information.
The data might not be 100% accurate, but it's something.
I see your blog has an email address. I can send you images of those pages, if you'd like.
Don
My grandparents lived on West 27th between Oakdale and Lexington, and I asked my Grandmother once what she remembered of it. She said she was walking one of my aunts in a carriage towards Central Park when the sky suddenly got very dark and windy, so she decided to turn for home. Said she never heard a thing until later when the neighbors started talking. Grandpa was at work at US Steel, and they weren't even aware anything had happened until they got released for the day.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a big corporation for you at US Steel.Gotta keep production moving,to hell with making sure people are safe.Sounds just like Ford Motor Co.
DeleteMy mom and dad where in it . My grand parents were also.Gran parents were in the Johnstown flood as were many folks who came to lorain to work from Pa. Retire in 1948 with 50 years at the plant and get 1.00 a month for each year.Folks didn't complain.Hard life hard times.
ReplyDelete