Tornadoes have certainly been in the news lately. Many tornadoes touched down and caused the loss of life and damage to property this past weekend all over the country. We in Perry County heard the sirens warning us of a tornado approaching that was forecast to be very dangerous. Just up the road from Altenburg, the city of Perryville sustained quite a bit of damage, probably most notably to Perryville High School. Another funnel cloud was headed right toward Altenburg, but as you can see on the map below, that tornado skipped over the top of us, and we were spared. The Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum is located in the white oval shown on this map.
Today marks the 100th anniversary of what was the deadliest tornado in American history. It was named the Tri-State Tornado because it inflicted its destruction across 3 different states and caused the deaths of over 600 people. The map below, which is part of our present display at our museum commemorating that event, shows that path of that storm. It includes a table listing the number of fatalities in different locations.
Another part of our present exhibit about the Tri-State Tornado is this plat map on which pins have been placed on known locations in this area that experienced damage or loss of life.
I did a search on the Tri-State Tornado on our website and found several posts that told about people in East Perry County who were in the path of that tornado. The links below are the ones I decided to share once again in this post.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2024/05/13/ernst-kaempfe-family-farm-laborer/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2024/08/09/concordia-awarded-an-oscar-in-altenburg/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2024/07/14/first-wedding-at-new-church-in-wittenberg/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/02/08/kaempfe-tragedy-and-a-tornado-too/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2023/02/25/adolph-and-frieda-the-palischs/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2020/12/16/a-bull-from-brazeau/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2020/02/22/albert-and-emma-on-the-ridge/
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/12/10/all-i-got-for-christmas-was-5-stepsons/
One of our guest bloggers, Fred Eggers, wrote this story about the tornado.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/03/18/a-tornado-tale-of-two-towns/
The post linked below also mentions how the Ridge School was destroyed by the tornado.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2018/04/09/josephs-son-in-law-joseph/
Another one of our guest bloggers, Sally Gustin, wrote this post for our blog that tells of the impact of the Tri-State Tornado just across the Mississippi River in Jackson County. The small town of Gorham, Illinois was totally destroyed and never was rebuilt, and the city of Murphysboro had the most casualties of any location along the tornado’s path.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2019/03/22/fatal-funnel-in-fountain-bluff/
Another post mentioned that Ben Hopfer survived the tornado, and he was likely living near Gorham at the time.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2020/05/20/ole-ben-hopfer/
A Seibel farm in Jackson County also experienced damage from this tornado.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/05/01/selfsame-seibels/
Another previous post mentioned a Perry County resident who likely died in Murphysboro when the tornado struck.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2024/05/10/august-and-ida-the-hassebrocks/
Yet another story that has been told on this blog highlighted a different tornado that hit the town of Altenburg in 1938. That one occurred on March 15th.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/03/15/ides-of-march-tornado-outbreak/
The post that happens to be my favorite is the one listed below. I enjoy it because it tells the story of a baby that was sucked out of her mother’s arms and deposited in a nearby field. That baby would later marry my father’s brother and become my Aunt Dorothy.
https://lutheranmuseum.com/2017/03/21/a-baby-flies/
Our museum will have the Tri-State Tornado exhibit on display for a while, so it is not too late to visit and view this presentation. I think you would really find it interesting.