Published April 12, 2025
By Patrick McGinley
Quincy is situated at the eastern edge of what was referred to as “tornado alley,” but when there is wind damage, it is often had to determine if it was caused by a tornado or not. In recent memory, several tornadoes have been spotted, and some have touched down in Quincy or its environs. Sometimes described as small tornadoes, they have still caused damage. Many people remember the June 14, 1998 tornado which knocked out all the windows of Sheridan Swim Club on the south side of Quincy. Historically, there have been tornadoes that directly hit the main part of the city causing great damage and taking lives.
On June 14th, 1875, about 8:15 pm. a tornado came from the northwest and entered the city near Third and Chestnut. It caused great damage between College and Broadway as it headed towards the fairgrounds, then located at 30th and Maine. Many houses sustained damage, and the roof was blown off Jackson School at Eighth and College. Saint Mary Hospital had extensive roof damage, and five chimneys were toppled. One person was killed: John Menne went to his brickyard at Eighth and Elm to cover some of the bricks, and a heavy board blown by the wind struck him in the head, crushing his skull. Damage from this tornado was estimated to be $50,000.
On September 24, 1881, a tornado struck Quincy causing damage estimated at $100,000. The roofs of many buildings west of Washington Park were torn away, and the west side of the city was in ruins. In terms of loss of lives, this tornado was the worst, causing the deaths of four people: Lon Wilson, George Roland, Henry Workhouse, and Frank Smith. Rowland died at the Bonnet and Duffy Stove Foundry, and Workhouse was killed at the Joel Harris tobacco plant on North Front Street. Of Quincy buildings, the Comstock-Castle foundry at Front Street south of Delaware suffered the most damage.
A tornado hit Macon, Missouri, killing five people about 5:30 P.M. on October 12, 1902. It reached the southwest part of Quincy about 7 P.M. and continued east. The southern part of town sustained the most damage, but there were few injuries to the citizens of Quincy. The roof of the Comstock-Castle Stove foundry was blown off. Two smokestacks of the new electric light plant at Front and State were knocked down. The trees in the city suffered the most. South Park and Indian Mounds Park lost many trees, but hardest hit was Greenmount Cemetery near 24th and Harrison. Out of approximately five hundred trees, only a few remained standing. Most had been sheared off about six feet above ground level. The home of William Holtman, the caretaker of the cemetery, was badly damaged and had to be rebuilt. But far worse, the records of the cemetery were blown away and lost forever. The damage from this tornado was approximately $45,000.
Thursday, April 12, 1945, was a very sad day for the nation. News reached Quincy at 4:53 P.M. that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died. Little did the citizens of Quincy know that in a few hours they would be subjected to Quincy’s worst tornado on record. At 10:20 P.M. the tornado entered the city at Front and Jefferson heading northeast. The area between 3rd and 9th Streets, from Jersey to Vermont was the hardest hit. The west wall of Saint Peter Church at 8th and Maine was destroyed. The dome of the Adams County Courthouse at 5th and Vermont Streets was knocked off the building. The large imposing courthouse had been built in 1871. Twenty-five hundred square feet of roofing was ripped off, but most of the records were saved. More than twenty buildings sustained damage in the hard-hit area, especially Kline’s Department store. The back end of Turner Hall in the 900 block of Hampshire was blown out. The rear end of the A & P building at 10th and Broadway was badly wrecked, and the Von Burg Jewelry Store was a total loss.
Again, many trees were stripped of their leaves or even uprooted. The damage was estimated at approximately one million dollars. For the next two weeks, much of the downtown area was blocked off, and only people who obtained a pass from City Hall were allowed to enter the area. The area was secured by 175 state highway patrol officers and state militia. The crowd was so dense in the area the day after the tornado that the militia had to move them away from the falling rubble with bayonets. Nineteen people were injured, but fortunately no one died. One man who lived at 606 Hampshire was buried under the rubble for four hours before being rescued. A few people blamed the disturbance on just “FDR and God fighting over the power up there.”
Severe storms, tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes have always damaged our economy and disrupted lives. Tornadoes cannot be prevented, but advanced forecasting methods save lives. Today we have multiple ways to get storm information including, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, NOAA, the National Weather Service plus private entities such as AccuWeather, WeatherBug, and the Weather Company. The United States has an average of 10,000 thunder storms and 1,300 tornadoes per year.
The National Weather Service, NWS, first began as an idea in 1844 and in 1870, was established as the official weather service for the military. It became a civilian agency in 1891 under the Department of Agriculture, but they did not issue weather forecasts of impending storm or flood warnings to the public. The NWS release their first public “experimental” tornado forecast in 1952.
Patrick McGinley taught for the Quincy Public Schools and John Wood Community College. He received his Ph. D. from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and served on the Board of
Directors of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. He died in 2017.
Sources
Adam, David. “The Night FDR and God ‘Fought for Power.’” Quincy Herald-Whig. April 12, 2005.
Landrum, Carl. “Quincy’s October tornado in 1902.” Quincy Herald-Whig. March 10, 1991.
Landrum, Carl. “Tornado – like winds in 1902 cause major damage to southern part of Quincy.” Quincy Herald-Whig. August 14, 2002.
Landrum, Carl. “Tornadoes devastated city in 1875, 1945.” Quincy Herald-Whig. May 16, 1999.
“19 injured in tornado.” Quincy Herald-Whig. April 13, 1945.
“Ruins of August Hagerbaumer’s Barn.” Quincy Journal. October 14, 1902.
“Tornado caused million dollar loss in Quincy.” Quincy Herald-Whig. April 15, 1945.
