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| Orestes Torndao April 17, 1922 |
The Cyclone of 1922
By David Dwiggins
The winter had been enduring and folks of Orestes were happy to bid the snow and winds farewell. The grass was green, the
flowers had begun to blossom and temperatures were begin-ning to soothe the pain of months just gone by. The spring rains
were more than abundant and Pipe Creek and Lily Creek were full to the brim. Violent storms had pounded the county since April
13th and were not letting up.
April 17th arrived like a tiger in a rage. Another major storm hit about 1:00 a.m. and lasted until daybreak. Strong winds
accompanied with intense lightning, horrifying thunder, and torrent rains, pounded the county once again causing more power
outages and property damage. Who would have thought this ugly storm would be a preamble for the events to follow later that
eve-ning.
The Lippincott Glass Factory in Alexandria had a huge smoke stack blown down smashing the roof and a section of the roof
was torn off at the Banner Rock Products factory. Numerous storage sheds were toppled in Orestes and Alexandria as well as
reports of trees down and win-dows broken. Harrison Street was under water to the north and Pipe Creek was just inches below
the bridge on the south near the railroad. The fields were full of water and the creeks were now overflowing.
In Anderson White River was flooding Park Place much like it did during the record flood of 1913. Many residents were
forced from their homes. Milton Street and Athletic Park resembled a reservoir.
Tragedy also hit the Lapel community. A seventeen year old boy had been electrocuted a day earlier turning on an overhead
light in a storage shed that was flooded and his brother was also injured.
The afternoon was bright and sunny with no apparent sign of trouble ahead. The children were all in school and Orestes
was drying out from all the storms that had battered the county. Missouri and Illinois were once again receiving a super pounding
by tornadoes leaving death and destruction widespread and just behind it a blizzard raged in Nebraska. The contrast in weather
was providing perfect ingredients to breed strong killer storms.
The storms rolled into Indiana and mighty tornadoes belted Hedrick, Sloan, Brazil, Wil-liamsport and Brook continuing
on a direct path toward Tipton and Madison County.
The skies became very dark and the rain started to pour once more by late afternoon. A light colored funnel dipped down
from the clouds four miles east of Elwood and soon was black as coal from dirt and debris it collected. The tornado struck
first near Brannock School. The Ru-dolph Waymire Farm was the first hit. All of the buildings were demolished, trees were
uprooted and fence posts were snapped off at the ground like toothpicks. Alva Waymires farm was nearby and his smokehouse
was blown away. His touring car was also tossed through a garage wall and over a fence into the field. The beautiful Wise
home was destroyed and a tenant house was gone with no trace of evidence where it once stood. A barn at Ora Ebberts was left
in ruins and mi-raculously only a horse was killed.
The tornado was observed just south of Dundee close to the ground and moving at a high rate f speed. The cyclone gained
momentum and blasted Orestes shortly after 6:00 p.m. sparing very little. Charles Ludlows home was one of the first walloped
in Orestes. Charles was attempt-ing to hold the door and keep it from flying open but the winds cast him several hundred feet
onto the railroad tracks killing him instantly. Mrs. Ludlow held their two children in her arms as the twister tore their
home from its foundation smashing it and leaving her with only a sprained shoul-der. Miraculously the children were unharmed.
Glade Stewart was Ludlows neighbor across the street. He described the catastrophe. I heard a peculiar roaring, shrieking
noise and looked out just in time to see the tornado crash down upon the roof of the silo factory just west of my house. Shingles
and parts of the roof whirled into the air and fell in a hail about my house, and then portions of the building began to fall.
At the same time I noticed another twister coming up beside the first one and still another came through my backyard.
I looked for my barn and I saw a cow, a calf and my motorcycle standing there unhurt, but the barn was lying in kindling wood
on the east side of my house. The silo factory was a bunch of ruins. The silo factory was the site of the former Orestes Tile
and Brick and The Powell Tile Works that flourished during the gas boom days. Now they were gone.
A long time resident Myrtle Dunn described the tragic moments before the tornado hit near their home. Tom and I knew it
was a twister by the sounds. We got our things together and hur-ried to the storm cellar. I looked to the west and saw the
cyclone coming and it was big and black and at the top it had a twister dropping down on each side of the big one. I knew
it was going to be pretty bad.
The Urmstrom Grain Elevator was blown down and the Lake Erie and Western Railroad depot was picked up and slammed down
across the tracks from where it once stood. The building was a total loss. Most of the railroad poles were all broken off
and lying beside the tracks.
The Knights of Pythias Lodge Hall was a fairly new building and now the roof was gone. Luckily enough damage was not so
severe that it couldnt be repaired.
The cyclone continued eastward skipping over the towns pride, the big white oak tree that stood next to the Christian
Church parsonage and also missed the church. The tree and church was right in the path and was somehow missed. Only a few
shingles were missing from the church.
The tornado swung to the northeast missing the Baptist Church but dead in its path was the beautiful two-story Orestes
School that had just been built in 1898 during the gas boom. Luckily the storm hit after the students were out of school and
spared many lives and injuries. The build-ing now lay in ruins mortally wounded never to be rebuilt. The school was located
on Broadway where the present day Baptist Church parsonage is located.
The twister continued east on Broadway damaging the interurban tracks and service lines and straight ahead was the Orestes
Canning Company owned by Frank and Charles Davis. The canning business was completely flattened. The storm stayed on the ground
moving on a colli-sion course with Alexandria belting and blasting more homes in East Orestes. The homes of Kermit King, J.
Simonet, Charles Hughes, Ernest Goodman, Sant Mack, John Righter, Charles Walker, Herman Cartwright, James Boyce, David Messmore
and John Pence all lost homes in the tornado. Also Ralph King, Fred Shapel, Lawrence Shaw, Robert Helms, Riley Duke, Lowry
Lewis, Hugh Perry, Bert Porter, Virgil Zimmerman, Al Shields, O.M.Harris, Kit Goodwin, Carl Campbell, Peter Schwinn, Miles
Dickey, James Willard Dwiggins and Todd Moore sustained extensive damage. Most all homes had damages of some sort.
The storm came quickly and soon it was gone. Destruction was everywhere and there were lots of injured residents moving
to the street looking for help. First news of the tornado was re-ceived in Elwood when an unidentified person walked the distance
to inform that help was needed in Orestes. Intense darkness hampered rescue efforts and the downed power lines made the task
very unsafe. Uprooted trees and debris from homes and businesses lay in the streets and evacuation by ambulance was impossible.
Injured residents were taken to the north part of town where emergency vehicles could gain access and evacuate the victims.
Bessie Porters home was hit by the tornado and a post card that was lying on the table in the residence was carried to
Mt. Cory, Ohio. The card was picked up and by J. Kinstle and for-warded to the Orestes Postmaster.
A strange thing happened as well when the cyclone hit the farm of Clyde Vinson. The home was picked up and set down about
one hundred feet from where it originally stood. The dining table and furniture were damaged and most everything was rearranged
but the hanging oil lamp was still hanging suspended from the ceiling and continued to send out rays of light throughout the
night. A basket of eggs that was sitting in the dining room was not disturbed.
Alf Wilburn and his wife lived just east of Orestes at the intersection of County Road 200 West and 1150 North. His beautiful
brick home was smashed and he sustained severe injuries that he was never able to recover from. He was very disabled and died
in 1928. His wife was uninjured. East of Orestes farm homes and out-buildings were ripped and strewn throughout the countryside
and many farm animals were killed. Many of the useful windmills were also felled as their height provided no resistance to
the strong winds and gusts.
The tornado turned to the northeast from its present path and skidded north of Alexandria. The luck for Alexandria was
not the same for the Kelly Axe Factory owned by W.W. Wallick. The factory had been a fine business and all was ravaged. James
Finney and his wife were milking cows on their farm when the cyclone hit and were severely injured when the brick structure
they were in was crushed.
The course to the northeast included damage to the Starr School. The roof was blown off Mt. Pisgah Church and the Mt.
Pisgah School was totally wrecked. The Dagen schoolhouse that was unused was also flattened. Interurban traffic was shut down
between Alexandria and Sum-mitville but a freight train on the Big Four made the trip and was several hours late.
The home of Richard Goodman was leveled killing him and his housekeeper Millie Upde-graph. Her eleven year old daughter
Dora was seriously injured but her life was spared.
The path of the twister was narrow but the peculiar spiral movements somehow managed to stay on the ground for a greater
than normal distance. It had begun south of Dundee and had traveled on the ground to Wheeling, a small village southeast of
Mathews. In Wheeling a school, church and lodge hall were destroyed and many homes were damaged beyond repair.
In a sense the area was spared. Five schools were in the path and three were destroyed. Luckily the students were not
in the schools at the time. Amazingly Alexandria had been missed as well. Orestes looked very desolate and many wondered if
the community would be rebuilt.
Much needed help and relief came quickly from organizations in Alexandria, Elwood, Summitville and Anderson. Doc Custer,
Dan Young, Charles Welborn and Don Garner, responsi-ble Orestes residents, were appointed to report worthy cases of need to
the area relief fund committees. The National Chapter of the American Red Cross, Madison County Red Cross and chapters from
Elwood and Alexandria were instrumental in bringing prompt relief. The Alexandria Times Tribune, Elwood Kiwanis, Alexandria
American Legion Post and the Elks in Alexandria also aided in relief efforts. Much of the funds came from door to door canvassing.
Hundreds of sightseers came to witness first hand the effects of the storm the first days fol-lowing the catastrophe.
An automobile loaded with folks stopped at the Brannock School to ob-serve the damage in that area. The schoolhouse was intact
but wrecks of farm buildings could be seen in all directions. Two young lads sat on the steps of the school. I see our old
schoolhouse didnt blow away. Naw, replied one boy disgustedly, only one window pane smashed.
A donation box was fastened to a post at the intersection of the business streets in Orestes and most sightseers donated
willingly to assist storm victims. Later in the week there were thou-sands coming from all directions snarling and hampering
relief efforts. Some residents had to put up signs to discourage trespassing.
William Cunningham, a Monroe Township Trustee, decided that there were too many pupils at Orestes to undertake a transfer
of students and that a new larger school would be completed by September 1923. Mr. Cunningham explained that records kept
on each student were lost in the debris and it would be in order to promote the lower grades on their work up to the end of
the prior week. The eighth grade students had already been examined and those that passed were graduated.
The roof was repaired on the Knights of Pythias Lodge Hall and school was resumed up-stairs until the new school could
be built. The students attended school in the Lodge Hall all of the 1922-1923 school year. They resumed their studies a bit
late in the fall of 1923 in the new, very attractive school building that is still used today.
The storms had ravaged the Midwest killing at least sixty and injuring over three hundred. Property damage was in the
millions of dollars with hundreds left homeless.
Twenty-five perished in Indiana and four of those were residents in Orestes and northern Madison County. Madison County
had never been so devastated by a storm before that time or since.
Agony and grief was ever prevalent in Orestes. The sorrowful residents shared the pain in the loss of family, neighbors
and friends. Splintered lumber and debris was scattered in the fields and streets and blankets and clothing were hanging in
trees and utility wires. Broken glass, tree limbs, shingles and furniture cluttered the streets. Family photographs and all
sorts of personal items were also lying in the streets wet and wrinkled showing the weariness that everyone shared. The once
happy and peaceful town lay in ruins, much of it never to be repaired or rebuilt.
Clarence Dellinger, a resident of Orestes, perhaps put the tragedy in proper perspective. It will be a long time before
Orestes recovers from the effects of the tragic storm. Many families are absolutely destitute. Our people are mostly an industrious
working class and have very little to go on. In a case of this kind they are hard put. But the relief coming in has stimulated
the people no little, and every cent contributed will be a Godsend to the poor and needy.
The folks of Orestes were indeed very grateful to have received the wonderful gifts from their neighbors in nearby towns.
These days the streets of Orestes are quiet and peaceful and life goes on with only a few remnants of the calamity. The
present Orestes School has the date 1923 on the front of it, the date construction was complete. The City Hall has been since
torn down but it also had the date 1923 on it for the same reason. Orestes had always been a simple place and taking photographs
was not a priority for family existence, but families brought out the cameras to document the wreckage. Most every family
that had relatives living in Orestes during the event has tornado damage pictures in the family photo albums these days. Local
farmers can still turn the soil in the spring and see pieces of slate that once were the chalk boards at the Orestes School.
For several days following the terrible misfortune in Orestes, this distasteful advertisement was run in the Alexandria
Times Tribune by Virgil S. Day hoping to capture a bit of treasure as he preyed upon the community.
Have You Any
Tornado Insurance?
It covers all damages from
Wind Storms of any nature
Dont delay, let us write your
Policy today
Virgil S. Day
Phone 255 117 N. Harrison St
Alexandria, Indiana
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