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ARTICLES PERTAINING TO CYCLONES, TORNADOES, FIRES, AND OTHER DISASTERS IN ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY, MISSOURI.
(Stay Tuned...Under Construction)

 

WEATHER-RELATED DISASTERS

"ANNIVERSARY" CYCLONE near Farmington (April 13, 1912)
--- Article #1 - Published in BONNE TERRE STAR, Fri. April 19, 1912.

CYCLONE AT FLAT RIVER (May 30, 1917)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, June 1, 1917.

DEVASTING CYCLONE KILLS OVER 1,000 - ANNAPOLIS WIPED OUT (1925)
--- Article #1 - Published in BONNE TERRE REGISTER, Frid. March 20, 1925.

TORNADO NEAR FARMINGTON (March 18, 1952)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, March 21, 1952.

DEVASTATING TORNADO WHICH STRUCK DESLOGE/CANTWELL (May 21, 1957)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, May 24, 1957.
--- Article #2 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, May 31, 1957.
--- Article #3 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, May 31, 1957.
--- VIEW PHOTO GALLERY OF DESTRUCTION

Reporter Recounts His Tornado Stories (By Leroy Sigman, 2006)

TORNADO NEAR FARMINGTON (December 18, 1957)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Friday, December 20, 1957.

TORNADO DAMAGE REPORTED IN COUNTY (Feb. 1960)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 1960.

TORNADOES RIP THROUGH AREA; SIX KILLED (June 1969)
--- Article #1 - Published in LEAD BELT NEWS, Wed., June 25, 1969.  

FLOOD AT BONNE TERRE (October 9, 1914)
--- Article #1 - Published in THE BONNE TERRE STAR, Fri. Oct. 16, 1914.


FIRE-RELATED DISASTERS

CASUALTY BY FIRE AT BISMARCK (1870)

F. I. TETLEY REAL ESTATE & LUMBER CO. DESTROYED BY FIRE (1905)

BISMARCK NEARLY DESTROYED BY FIRE (1901)
----- Article #1 - Published by THE IRON COUNTY REGISTER, Thurs. March 21, 1901,
        reprinted from article in St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
----- Article #2 - Published by THE DAILY JOURNAL, June 29, 1993. 

ELVINS IS VISITED BY $200,000 FIRE (April 1909)

STORE, SALOON AND DEPOT DESTROYED BY FIRE IN ELVINS (1914)
----- Article #1 -  Published by the BONNE TERRE REGISTER, June 23, 1914.

$4,000 FIRE AT ELVINS - Published by the LEAD BELT NEWS, Dec. 17, 1915.

BONNE TERRE HAS DISASTROUS FIRE (Dec. 3, 1916)
----- Article #1 - Published by the Bonne Terre Star, Friday, Dec. 8, 1916.

FIRE DESTROYS BISMARCK FLOUR MILL, LEAD BELT NEWS, Aug. 5, 1921  

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH FLAT RIVER BUSINESS SECTION (1924)
----- Article #1 - Published by the LEAD BELT NEWS, Jan. 11, 1924.

FIRE DESTROYS FIVE BUILDINGS ON NORTH END OF BISMARCK
----- Article #1 - Published by the LEAD BELT NEWS, Feb. 21, 1930.

FIRE AT KIRSCHMAN MILLINERY, ELVINS, MISSOURI (1937) 

MRS. JASTER AND SON DIE IN BONNE TERRE FIRE (1938)

THANKSGIVING DAY FIRE RAVAGES WOOLWORTH AND SCOTT STORES (1946)
----- Article #1 - Published by the Lead Belt News, Friday, Nov. 29, 1946

FARMINGTON PUBLISHER JESS STEWART AND SON DIE IN FIRE (1967)

RAGING FIRE CLAIMS PYRAMID LUMBER COMPANY (1968)

MISCELLANEOUS

THE ST. LOUIS CYCLONE OF 1896 - Ranked as one of the top 10 deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.  Four hundred killed and twelve hundred injured is the record of the cyclone which struck St. Louis and its suburb, East St. Louis, on the afternoon of Wednesday May 27th, 1896. During the same fateful half hour or less thousands of families were rendered homeless and property was destroyed to the extent of fifty millions, or nearly so. It was the most disastrous storm of modern times, and the destruction it worked was far more appalling than that of the Charleston earthquake, generally quoted as the most terrible disaster of the generation.  Block after block of residence property for miles in succession was blown to the ground. Houses were demolished down to the foundations. Others were left with but fragments of wall, or with fractions of the floor of the first story remaining.

Hundreds of miles of electric wires and thousands of telephone aud telegraph poles were dashed to the ground, adding not only to the damage and wreckage, but increasing to an alarming extent the danger to life. Trees of half a century's growth were uprooted and hurled a distance of several blocks. Heavy iron fences were twisted as though they were composed of a sheet of tin. Masonry at the approach of one of tile most substantial bridges ever constructed was blown away, steamboats were dashed across the river, broken in half and the fragments hurled high up onto the opposite banks. There was nothing either on land or afloat strong enough to resist the pitiless fury of the awful wind, which attained a velocity of eighty miles an hour and brought havoc, ruin and death along with it. 

The Weather Bureau had predicted local thunder storms, and during the afternoon there was an ominous darkness over the city and its suburbs. Few people, however had any fear of a cyclone or a tornado. A quarter of a century had elapsed since St. Louis bad experienced any serious trouble from the fury of the elements and the impression had become general that the city was so sheltered as to make it safe against cyclones or tornadoes. The falsity of the hope, which was so largely father to the thought, was demonstrated all but a few minutes. 

On the morning of Wednesday St. Louis awoke free from apprehension of coming ill, and its people were speedily engaged in their daily avocations. By evening many of these were dead others seriously injured, others bereft of relations and friends, and others absolutely impoverished, with everything they possessed scattered to the four winds of heaven. It was shortly before five o'clock when the cyclone struck the city. St. Louis Mo., was the first to receive its force as it  came at a speed never before attained. The highest and the lower portions of the city felt the force of the tornado the most. Entering from the southwest it attacked first the Compton Heights district, a thickly populated section, with a large number of very costly mansions. Then it made its way down what is known as the Mill Creek Valley to the river, tearing down  in its course whole rows of smaller dwelling houses, many of them occupied by more than one family, and ruining thousands as at went. When it struck the Mississippi river it cleared the harbor of the steamboats and other craft, dashing them wildly across to the Illinois shore, breaking them into pieces and drowning several unfortunates who were aboard. Even the Eads Bridge itself failed to entirely resist the force of the terrific storm. This bridge has been frequently spoken of as belong unnecessarily massive and heavy. It has resisted flood after flood, and was in every one's opinion absolutely indestructable. But the wind tore away some three hundred feet of the eastern approach, blew over freight trains which were standing on the tracks, and then, entering East St. Louis, Ill.  It came near blowing that town out of existence. Most of the residence houses were of frame construction, offering little or no resistance to the fury of the wind. The central portion of the city, including several very fine brick and stone business buildings, was razed to the ground, and along the low ground north of the Eads Bridge. 

[Note:  Many relatives of  St. Francois County residents were most probably among the injured and killed. If anyone knows of any St. Francois County residents who were killed and/or injured in this storm, please e-mail me.  Thank you to Rollin E. Becker for bringing this disaster to our attention.  For further information, visit the following web sites:

--- Link #1
--- Link #2
--- Link #3

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