By E. L. Ewen
The batch of storms and tornadoes that ripped and ravaged through the Midwest and specifically, St. Louis, Missouri, in May of 1896, changed not only the landscape of the area, but the communities and overall growth within those communities as well. Deaths, injuries, and poverty of people of all ages in the area affected how St. Louis and other Midwestern towns grew up out of the rubble well after the storms came through. In retrospect, these storms were categorized as The 1896 St. Louis – East St. Louis Tornadoes and from first-hand documents of that time, we will discover and analyze the way the storm was warned about prior to the occurrence, what happened during the storm, and how the area of St. Louis changed after the storm blew through.
It would be difficult to discuss the United States during the late 1890’s without making it clear that during this time, much reform and change was happening in the country. This period, also known as The Progressive Era, was characterized by advancement and ‘progression’ into the future. According to a January 1890 issue of the Chicago Tribune, “exceedingly irregular weather, (as well as a few other factors such as panic within the railway system) had a direct and important bearing on the volume of trade in its different departments, on the prices paid for property, and the profits realized by merchants and manufacturers,”[1] this shows just how influential disasters were at the time. While this was a time of progression, the idea of moving forward and reforming was still a very new idea nationwide. Not all aspects of life were as “with the times,” so to speak. People were very much concerned with change and the hope of tomorrow and seemed oblivious to the notion of a disaster, natural or man-made; people thought they were immune to something like this, especially in larger cities across the Midwest and especially in St. Louis. With the growth of heavy industry and transportation, St. Louis, Missouri became the fourth largest city in the United States by the latter part of the 1890’s. Industry such as cotton compressing, brewing, flour milling, tobacco processing, slaughtering, and machining, dominated the economy at the time. Other industry included the making of city parks, bricks, and paint. With the completed construction of Union Station, and Eads Bridge in 1894 and 1874, respectively, the city of St. Louis continued to grow. St. Louis had already been connected to the west, but now it had a connection to the east, across the Mississippi River.
The magnitude of destruction of the tornadoes on May 27 and 28, 1896 were something that no one had experienced at that time in terms of numbers of fatalities and the distance the storm surge traveled. Not to mention the rarity of a storm of this magnitude in a major metropolitan area at the time. Considered to be the deadliest tornado outbreak sequence in American history, and the third largest batch of tornadoes of all time, these storms touched down from Texas to Pennsylvania and produced at least over seven, F4 and F5 tornadoes that killed anywhere from 250 to the upwards of 400 hundred people, based on different reports, and injured more than 1,200 in St. Louis alone.[2]
Prior to the 1890’s, there was little advancement in terms of forecasting weather for informational purposes to the public. From 1840 to the beginning of the twentieth century, volunteers were the ones that were observing and recording data from different areas across the country and submitting their findings to the Smithsonian Institute, “By 1860, 500 stations were furnishing daily telegraphic weather reports to the Washington Evening Star, and as the network grew, other existing systems were gradually absorbed, including several state weather services,”[3] information was being gathered, but not on a level of any sort of prior education. Along with that, because there were so many different people collecting information that really had nothing to base their findings on except prior knowledge or experience, much of the information was untimely and at times, inaccurate. For example, according to one article, the Weather Bureau (what would later be called The National Weather Service) announced on the morning of the 28th that they had warned St. Louis of impending tornadoes at 10 o’clock the morning before, “As soon as the morning map was made up it was discovered that tornado or cyclonic conditions were forming in the very heart of the region,”[4] the article goes on to tell the reader of some indications of tornadoes and cyclones, how they are formed and how they generally seem to react, although at this time, because they were just beginning to be studied, it was hard to make accurate generalizations. As the bulk of the damage was done in St. Louis between May 27th and May 28th, The Missouri Yearbook of Agriculture recreates for us, the magnitude of destruction in terms of dollars and percentages, “More than 90 percent of the property loss of the past eight years occurred on these 23 days. More than half of it (property loss) – over 12 million of dollars – is chargeable to a half hour’s destruction in St. Louis, Mo. and East St. Louis, Ill. On May, 27th last.”[5] This continues to show how massive these cyclones were and why, ultimately, they were considered the main cause of the disaster of this time.
According to an October, 1927 issue of The New York Times, after further research had been done in retrospect to the storm, the path the tornado from 1896, “destroyed or wrecked 8,500 buildings and the loss was more than $10,000,000.”[6]
Although a booming city at the time of the tornado, St. Louis came together in a time of need after the storm came through, “The work of relief and restoration goes on today in the midst of rain. Contributions of money, clothing, provisions, and other necessities are coming in liberally, and all destitute are being cared for. The losses caused indirectly by the tornado are just beginning to reveal themselves, and will be nearly as cruel as the immediate effects. Because the tornado ruined many mills and factories a large number of men will be out of employment for weeks and months. How many men have been deprived of an opportunity to earn a livelihood cannot be stated with accuracy, but it certainly runs into hundreds in excess of the number employed to repair the damage.”[7]
According to the same article run by The Los Angeles Times, similar situations were occurring in Seneca, Missouri, which was in the direct path of the storm as well but on the opposite side of the state as St. Louis, “Every day reveals great distress among the people here as the result of the cloudburst, and immediate aid is imperative. At first all were engaged in recovering lost bodies, but attention is now being given to clearing away the wreckage and establishing homes. This task becomes formidable, and is retarded by the entire demolition of many houses. Scores of residents have lost all their efforts,”[8] this shows the extent to which people were in desperation, but also that this was a time for people to come together because that was really all that they had at that time, was each other. St. Louis’ “sister city” showed its support of the damaged metropolis and offered to aid the relief efforts after the storm, as well, “I think the people of Chicago would respond readily to any call for assistance that might be asked or required,”[9] this was Mayor of Chicago, George Bell Swift’s response to the people of Chicago’s call of action to aid the sister city. Even in these trying times there was a patriotic bond between towns and cities across the nation, willing to help those in need.
On a physical level, the city of St. Louis, because of its size, outside support, and political influence, grew back to almost normal size shortly after the culmination of the storms, although once prominent areas were not settled as commonly as they were before the tornadoes. In June of 1896, not even one month after the tornadoes touched down in the city, the Republican National Convention was held in St. Louis, which brought new life back into the city. With it being an election year, this was a huge opportunity for cleanup processes to begin in order to make the city look somewhat presentable after the tornadoes ripped through the heart of the city. Surprisingly, the damage to the city was not the talk of the town, nor were the politics, the main issue at the time was where to house the Negro men who were politicians as well, as Judge Long, National Committeeman from Florida said in an article published by the Chicago Daily Tribune, “The committeeman of each State is responsible is responsible for the accommodations of his delegation. It is his duty to secure quarters for all the delegates and alternates. Everybody knows that at a Republican convention fully one half of the delegates are colored men,”[10] Judge Long was clearly not going to waste and of his time or energy worrying about the comfort of the colored delegates.
Not only did the convention play a part in the rebooting of St. Louis, in 1904, just eight years after the tornadoes, the city was back in swing as it hosted both the 1904 World’s Fair and the 1904 Summer Olympics. In today’s day in age, eight years seems like a lengthy time to reconstruct a major metropolis like St. Louis, but even though the city was still heavily populated, and funds weren’t a huge issue on account of out-of-state aid, all of the industry needed to remake the city was destroyed in the tornadoes. Nonetheless, 1904 proved to be an exceptionally good year for St. Louis, all things considered. Unfortunately, the hype of the Olympics and World’s Fair cost the city afterwards, “owing to the abnormal level that was reached by the earnings of the United Railroads of St. Louis during the World’s Fair period of 1904, those for the year 1905, by comparison, show up unfavorably,” this was just a minor set back at the time in the success of the city since then, as today, it is still a large city in the United States though maybe not quite as influential as it was prior to the St. Louis – East St. Louis tornadoes.
Many factors played into the preface of The 1896 St. Louis – East St. Louis Tornado, which was why it was such a landmark event in American history. While these storms ravaged all across the continental United States, the media did not publicize the awesome destruction they created like they did in St. Louis. This was mainly because, at the time, St. Louis was such a pivotal hub in American industry, economy, politics, and agriculture. These tornadoes brought out imperfections in society at the time and because of that, shaped the city, state, and country for years to come.
[1] “The Commerce of 1890: Trade and Manufactures of Chicago in the Last Year.” Chicago Daily Tribune 17 (1891).
[2] The Tornado Project. “Tornadoes in the Past.” Last modified 1999. http://www.tornadoproject.com/past/pastts95.htm
[3] NOAA. “Public Affairs Office.” Last modified April 13, 2013.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pa/history/timeline.php. NOAA’s National Weather Service. “Evolution of the National Weather Service.” Accessed February 17, 2014.
[4] “Tells of the Tornado: Weather Bureau Predicts Its Coming Hours Beforehand,” Chicago Daily Tribune 18 (May 29, 1896).
[5] “The Missouri Yearbook of Agriculture: Annual Report, Volume 29,” Missouri State Board of Agriculture
[7] “The St. Louis Tornado,” The New York Times 18 (October 1, 1927). Accessed February 25, 2014.
[8] “Rain on the Ruins: St. Louis Cyclone Relief work underway,” Los Angeles Times 15 (June 3, 1896). Accessed February 25, 2014.
[9] “To Help A Sister City: Chicago Will Assist in St. Louis In Its Distress,” Chicago Daily Tribune 1 (May 28, 1896). Accessed February 26, 2014.
[10] “Rush to St. Louis: Politicians Begin to Gather for the Convention,” Chicago Daily Tribune 1 (June 10, 1896). Accessed March 1, 2014.
