1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
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The 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado (great cyclone) was a historic
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
that caused severe damage to downtown
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...
, and surrounding areas on Wednesday, May 27, 1896 about 5:00 pm. One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this tornado was the most notable of a major tornado outbreak across the central United States which produced several other large, long-track, violent tornadoes and continued across the eastern United States the following day. The St. Louis tornado killed at least 255 people, injured over a thousand others, and caused more than $10 million in damage (equivalent to $ million in ) in about 20 minutes. More than 5,000 people were left homeless and lost all of their possessions. The hardest-hit areas of the city were the fashionable Lafayette Square and Compton Heights neighborhoods, as well as the poorer
Mill Creek Valley Mill Creek Valley was a historic neighborhood located in the central corridor between 20th Street and Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. European settlement began in the 18th century with mills established along ''La Petite Rivière'', ...
. It remains the third-deadliest tornado in United States history.


May 1896 tornado outbreak

While a storm had been predicted for the latter days in May, many disregarded the warning or felt that the city of St. Louis would not be affected. Weather forecasters at the time lacked technology sufficient to predict tornadoes (then commonly called "cyclones") of this magnitude, but they were able to predict strong storm systems in general. The day started quietly, with people going about their daily business; the weather in the morning did not indicate any severe weather event. The local weather bureau predicted thunderstorms but nothing more serious. Around noon, the clouds began to appear more ominous and the barometric pressure dropped, alarming those who knew this was an indication of a tornado. Into the afternoon, the skies continued to darken, but the Weather Bureau Observatory was not overly concerned. Many residents, however, fled to their homes, anticipating severe weather. At 4:30 PM local time, the temperature dropped rapidly and black and greenish clouds approached the city; near 5:00 PM, the sky reportedly became as dark as midnight. As the thunderstorm approached St. Louis, the western portion of the city was particularly affected. Winds were initially around , but they quickly increased to almost . The first significant tornado of the day formed near
Bellflower, Missouri Bellflower is a city in Montgomery County, Missouri, United States. The population was 325 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Bellflower has been in operation since 1887. The community was named for bellflowers near the original t ...
, and killed one person, a woman. Three students died and 16 were injured when the Dye School in Audrain County was struck around 6:15 PM. The same tornado killed one student and injured 19 others at the Bean Creek school a few minutes later. At 6:30 PM, two
supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...
thunderstorms produced two additional tornadoes. One decimated farms in New Minden, Hoyleton, Richview, and
Irvington, Illinois Irvington is a village in Washington County, Illinois, United States. The population was 659 at the 2010 census. History Irvington was named for Washington Irving. Geography According to the 2010 census, Irvington has a total area of , of which ...
. Twenty-seven more people died in the other Illinois tornadoes of this outbreak.


St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado

The tornado spawned from the other supercell touched down in
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, then one of the largest and most influential cities in the country. It was one of at least 18 tornadoes to occur on that day, and it quickly became the third-deadliest as well as the then-costliest tornado in United States history. At least 137 people died as the tornado traversed the core of the downtown area, leaving a continuous, swath of destroyed homes, schools, saloons, factories, mills, churches, parks, and railroad yards in its wake. A few of the destroyed homes were all but completely swept away. Numerous trees were downed at the Lafayette Park, and a barometer recorded a drop to at this location. The tornado then crossed the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and struck the
Eads Bridge The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is located on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, to the north, and t ...
, where a wooden plank was found driven through a wrought iron plate. Uncounted others may have died on boats on the river, which could have swept their bodies downriver where they could not be recorded in the official death toll. The tornado continued into
East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...
, where it was smaller, but more intense. Homes and buildings along the river were completely swept away and a quarter of the buildings there were damaged or destroyed. An additional 118 people were killed, 35 of whom were at the Vandalia railroad freight yards. By the end of the day, the confirmed death toll stood at 255, with some estimates above 400; more than 1,000 were injured. The tornado was later rated F4 on the Fujita scale. Following the cyclone's destruction, members of Light Battery "A" and the First Regiment were placed on volunteer duty. Within an hour of the tornado striking, 32 members were on duty with ambulances and hospital corps to assist in rescue operations and to help victims. The mayor asked that both commands remain on patrol duty on May 30. Members of the bicycle corps of Company "G" First Regiment assisted when railway service was inaccessible. Telephone and telegraph wires were destroyed and streets were impassable. Officers were summoned to duty by bicycle couriers, as this was the only means of communication. Enough damage was done to the city that there was some speculation that St. Louis might not be able to host the 1896 Republican National Convention in June, just three weeks later, but after a massive clean-up effort, the convention went ahead as planned.


Long-term impact

The May 27, 1896, St. Louis
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
was the most devastating known in the
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up to that time. Approximately 12,000 buildings were seriously damaged, valued in excess of $10 million. In the wake of highly sensationalized local, national, and international news coverage of the St. Louis tornado, over 140,000 sightseers flocked to inspect the damaged areas. The cyclone permanently altered the course of residential, commercial, and industrial development in the most heavily damaged areas of the city. Political reverberations came in the 1897 city elections, when middle-class reform candidates were decisively defeated by a coalition supported largely by the German vote in heavily impacted neighborhoods.Joseph Rogers, "Retreat from Reform: St. Louis Politics in the Wake of the 1896 Tornado" ''Missouri Historical Review'' (2011) v 106#1 pp 32–47.


In perspective


St. Louis tornado history

It is somewhat rare for the core of a large city to be hit directly by a tornado (due to their relatively small area and the relative lack of large cities in the highest tornado threat region)—especially a large and intense tornado—yet several other tornadoes have tracked through the City of St. Louis during its history. Several of these tornadoes were also very deadly and destructive. Tornadoes have hit St. Louis in 1871 (9 killed); 1890 (4 killed); 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured); 1927 (72-79+ killed, 550+ injured); and
1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
(21 killed, 345 injured). This makes St. Louis the most tornado-afflicted urban area in the U.S. Additionally, the
Greater St. Louis Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...
area is the scene of even more historically destructive and deadly tornadoes.
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
is the metropolitan area with the most frequent significant tornadoes.


1896 tornado season

In what was apparently an intense
tornado outbreak sequence A tornado outbreak sequence, or tornado outbreak day sequence, sometimes referred to as an extended tornado outbreak, is a period of continuous or nearly continuous high tornado activity consisting of a series of tornado outbreaks over multiple days ...
, other major tornado outbreaks occurred on May 15, May 17, and May 24–25, with other smaller outbreaks during the month as well. The middle to end of May was extremely active but sparse records preclude knowing much detail.
Tom Grazulis Thomas P. Grazulis (born August 17, 1942) is an American meteorologist who has written extensively about tornadoes and is head of ''The Tornado Project''. Biography Early career Thomas Grazulis grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts and first c ...
has stated that the week of May 24–28 was "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in US history". The 1896 tornado season has the distinction of being one of the deadliest in United States history. There were at least 40 killer tornadoes between April 11 and November 26, including this one, which was the only one to kill more than 100 people in two separate cities.


See also

*
List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks These are some notable tornadoes, tornado outbreaks, and tornado outbreak sequences that have occurred in North America. #''The listing is U.S.-centric, with greater and more consistent information available for U.S. tornadoes. Some North Americ ...
*
List of tornadoes striking downtown areas of large cities This article is a list of tornadoes that have impacted the central business district (downtown or city center) of a large city (that is, one having at least 50,000 people, not counting suburbs or outlying communities, at the time of the storm). I ...
*
List of tornado-related deaths at schools These are all known tornadoes resulting in student deaths at primary and secondary schools in the United States from 1865 to 2015. For the deadliest tornado incidents, only fires/explosions and bombings have killed more students. List * August ...


References

*


Further reading

* Ciampoli, Judith. "The St. Louis Tornado of 1896: Mad Pranks of the Storm King." ''Gateway Heritage: The Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society'' (1982) 2#4 pp 24–31. * Curzon, Julian. ''The great cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896. Being a full history of the most terrifying and destructive tornado in the history of the world, with numerous thrilling and pathetic incidents and personal experiences of those who were in the track of the storm. Also an account of the wonderful manifestations of sympathy for the afflicted in all parts of the world'' (1897
online free
also Reprinted 1997 Southern Illinois University Press, . * Dains, Mary K. "The St. Louis Tornado of 1896." ''Missouri Historical Review'' (1972) 66#3 pp 431–445. * * Rogers, Joseph. "Retreat from Reform: St. Louis Politics in the Wake of the 1896 Tornado" ''Missouri Historical Review'' (2011) v 106#1 pp 32–47. *


External links


Tornado of 1896 Digital Collection, St. Louis Public Library
(Tornado Project)

( National Weather Service St. Louis)
Great Cyclone at St. Louis, May 27, 1896
(NOAA


The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
( St. Louis Public Library)
Look Back: Massive tornado, landmark buildings help shape fast-growing 1890s
an

an

(''
St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-De ...
'')
The 1896 Tornado!
(Illinois Genealogy Trails History and Genealogy)

(US Genealogy Network)
St. Louis, Missouri Tornado May 1896
at GenDisasters.com *
Tornado of 1896 Photograph Collection
finding aid at th
St. Louis Public LibrarySt. Louis Public Service Company: 1896 Tornado Recollections
finding aid at th
St. Louis Public LibraryTornado of 1896 Publications
finding aid at th
St. Louis Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:1896-05-27 St. Louis - East St. Louis tornado F4 tornadoes by date St. Louis – East St. Louis,1896-05-27 Tornadoes of 1896 Tornadoes in Missouri Tornadoes in Illinois 19th century in St. Louis History of St. Clair County, Illinois St Louis – East St Louis Tornado, 1896 St. Louis – East St. Louis tornado