Our final stop is at Xenia City Hall, where near the flagpole you will find a Tornado Memorial Plaque. The name Xenia is practically synonymous with the 1974 tornado. Though the Super Outbreak produced 148 tornados–30 being considered F4 or F5 intensity–the most destructive tornado of all touched down in Xenia, OH. Like many other towns affected by the Super Outbreak, Xenia was compared to a warzone. Entirely unprepared, the city had no shelters and no sirens in place in the event of a tornado. Many were not alerted at all, though Gil Whitney, a local weatherman for WHIO-TV, is credited with saving the lives of many through his urgent warnings to find cover. The city of Xenia was absolutely devastated by the tornado that struck in 1974. More than 10,000 people reported homelessness in the aftermath of the tornado, while 2,600 homes were either completely destroyed or considered unlivable. In total, 32 people lost their lives to the tornado’s destruction. Two days later, a fire in a demolished furniture store took the lives of two National Guardsmen, bringing the total death toll to 34. Perhaps more than anything, however, the very heart of Xenia was changed forever by the events of April 3, 1974. Today, Xenians take tornadoes very seriously. Unlike in other semi-rural Midwestern towns, you will not find anyone on their front porch watching the clouds as the sirens blare. The emotional impact of the tornado issued far more damage than what was physically lost. The lesson Xenia learned that fateful April day is that death–and the weather–does not discriminate. Old and young, rich and poor, white or Black–no one was truly safe. “Respect the power of the storm,” is an adage that has been drilled into the minds of survivors’ children and grandchildren in the days and years to follow.
Despite the fear that still plagues many hearts and minds in the wake of a major storm, Xenia’s physical destruction built a community bond that was unexpected and revered by all who remember. Thousands of people, though still reeling from their own losses, came together to support each other. Complete strangers joined hands in prayer, while others shared tools or their dining room tables. The city was further encouraged by the arrival of Richard Nixon on April 8, 1974. “This town will come back,” he stated. “...The more it has suffered physically the stronger its spirit has become.” His words remain true to this day.
]]>The tornado that struck Brandenburg, KY on April 3, 1974 was unique and today, a memorial plaque stands outside First Baptist Church, which was destroyed by the tornado and later rebuilt, to remember the lives lost.
Kentucky, like its neighbors to the north–Indiana and Ohio–is no stranger to the occasional tornado, but the state had never seen a tornado quite like the one that struck Brandenburg, and has not seen one like it sense. In fact, it is the only F5 tornado to be recorded in Kentucky. The tornado began at an F3 intensity, but slowly began to grow in size and power as it approached the small Kentucky town. According to Thomas Grazulis, author of Significant Tornadoes, 1680-1991, “At Brandenburg, 128 homes were completely destroyed, many of them leveled and swept away. Thirty businesses were destroyed and the damage totaled over $10 million. There were 28 deaths in the Brandenburg area.” The tornado eventually crossed the state border, making its way into Harrison County, Indiana. In total, 270 people were injured, and 31 were killed by the tornado’s path.
One of the main reasons why so many people in Kentucky (both in Brandenburg and in nearby Louisville) were injured or killed by these tornadoes was due to a severe lack of preparations, both by residents and by local weather service staff. Unlike today, tornado sirens were few and far between (especially in rural areas), and many were unfamiliar with the concept of a tornado drill. In many interviews, people report hearing about the tornado moments before it was upon them, giving them little time to react or prepare themselves. Because of this, many improvements were implemented nationally immediately following the 1974 Super Outbreak in an attempt to prevent such massive loss from happening again. The National Weather Service (NWS) underwent several major changes, including new requirements for meteorologists. During the 1980s and 1990s, the NOAA Weather Radio was also expanded, and new technology allowed for the construction of more concise radars.
]]>Hanover College is often remembered as one of the many local casualties of the 1974 Super Outbreak, along with the IKE Power Plant, Clifty Falls State Park, the local schools, and many nearby homes and buildings. At 3:51pm on April 3, 1974, one of two F4 tornadoes beginning near Madison made its way onto Hanover’s campus, destroying more than 30 buildings and causing $10 million in damage. “The tornado looked like two clouds going in circles about 200 feet high. They were dark green,” recalls an anonymous student in an interview for The Hanoverian, Hanover College’s residential magazine.
“The most unsettling experience were the roll calls,” another student, Kristen Gable, admits in a 50th anniversary memorial collection created by the Hanover College Archives. “They would call off the names of dorm residents who were not yet accounted for. Hearing each name, especially those of particularly close friends, made my heart sink and my imagination run wild.”
These two recollections are just a few of many similar stories told by former students of Hanover College, many of whom witnessed the tornado firsthand. Though the tornado that struck Hanover College was responsible for 190 injuries and 11 deaths, no one on campus was killed, although several were seriously injured. Despite the massive destruction, the community that grew around the tornadic event is looked back on somewhat fondly by those who experienced it. “There were a lot of people who showed great courage and compassion during this time. The feeling of community was enormous everywhere you went,” recalled former student James Struck. Former president John Horner seemed to agree, stating in his personal notes: “The tornado was also the most cohesive [event] in the life of the college. It brought more unity to the campus than one could ever imagine. The team spirit was genuine and long-lasting. Everyone ‘pulled together’ for the common good.”
]]>“A mud-covered dog sat forlornly, still chained to his doghouse–intact amid the wreckage–and a hog wandered aimlessly nearby,” recalls Maxine Cox in the Tri-County Banner, a paper local to the Knightstown area. “Pieces of plastic and bits of clothing hung limply from the fences. From high in a tree at the north end of town a piece of corrugated roofing wrapped around a bare branch assumed the attitude of a flag. And all around–such a scene of destruction as defies description. It could have been a battlefield.” A battlefield–and yet just moments before, it was the sleepy town of Kennard, Indiana, tucked between Indianapolis and New Castle. Although the F4 tornado destroyed more than 70% of the town, only 17 people were injured. A four day old baby, born prematurely to an injured woman, sadly passed away four days later.
Despite all that was lost on that fateful April day, many look back fondly on the man who saved the lives of hundreds: former Kennard elementary school principal, Don Newcomer. Janet Sparks, then in her second year of teaching fourth grade, recalls how they had only practiced a tornado drill once, the day before. At 3pm on April 3, 1974, Mr. Newcomer began running into each classroom in his building, instructing teachers to guide their students to the “safe space” that had been designated during the previous day’s drill. He then ran outside into the pouring rain and started pulling children and drivers off of buses, demanding that they find a safe place to crouch down and cover their heads. “Without the tornado drill, the strategical placement of the classes and the calm thinking of Mr. Newcomer, the outcome for Kennard students and staff on April 3, 1974, would have been much different,” says Sparks. Mr. Newcomer is a hometown hero both to his staff and the students who were present that day.
Although the Kennard Elementary School no longer stands, it once was located near the Kennard Friends Church off of Plum Street. The Kennard Friends Church was damaged during the tornado and was later rebuilt. The church's welcome sign remained unharmed, and local residents crafted this message: "Because Christ came: we shall live. Because National Guard, Red Cross, Salvation Army, Volunteer Corp came: Kennard shall rise again and live!"
]]>Since 1976, this modern take on a courthouse building, demonstrating several iconic features of 1970s architecture, has served as the White County Courthouse in Monticello, IN. Ted Shideler, a member of the Delaware County Historical Society Board and native Hoosier blogger, attributes the blocky, “fortified” architectural design to the fate of the previous building, which was completely demolished by the 1974 Super Outbreak. The three story building, newly designed by Longardern and Associates, cost the city $2.4 million to build. Many of the funds necessary for construction were acquired via federal aid, which assisted the city in rebuilding the majority of its downtown area. The 1976 building is unique in that it has two cornerstones: one to mark its own establishment, and one to commemorate the historic building it replaced.
Just one block away from the courthouse (head East on W. Broadway Street) is Tornado Memorial Park, a small area designated to remember the losses that were a result of the tornado–the loss of material goods, as well as the lives of eight residents, five of whom perished when a bus was thrown from a bridge over the Tippecanoe River. According to Thomas Grazulis, the tornado that struck Monticello was actually part of a family of three tornadoes. Luckily, the people of Monticello were warned ahead of time (something that was not true of many of the affected areas), leading many to seek shelter and saving many lives. The memorial also serves as the only physical memorial to the catastrophe in Indiana, making it doubly special both for who it represents, and that it is one of a kind. A donation from Wells Fargo and the local historical society, combined with the creative minds of Purdue University’s 2004 Landscape Architecture graduates, made this small memorial possible. The green fountain is one of the few surviving items from the original courthouse, and has found a new home here, in Memorial Park.
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