| 1899 New Richmond tornado | |
| Fujitascale: | F5 |
| Total Fatalities: | 117 fatalities, 125 injuries |
| Damages: | $300,000 ($ in dollars) |
The 1899 New Richmond tornado was an estimated F5 tornado that formed in the early evening of Monday, June 12, 1899, and tore a 45-mile path of destruction through St. Croix, Polk, and Barron counties in west-central Wisconsin. It killed 117 people, injured over twice as many, and left hundreds homeless. The worst devastation occurred in the city of New Richmond, which took a direct hit from the storm. Over half of the town was left in ruins due to the tornado, which also caused minor damage to surrounding communities. The damage was reported to be over $300,000 (USD) ($ in).[1] As of 2019, it is ranked as the ninth deadliest tornado in United States history,[2] as well as the deadliest ever recorded in Wisconsin.[3]
June 12, 1899 was the day of the Gollmar Brothers Circus, which drew hundreds of visitors to New Richmond, Wisconsin. The town had 1,600 regular inhabitants besides the visitors. At around 3:00 pm, clouds began to build, and the sky became dark. As the circus ended for the day at around 4:30 pm, a heavy rain with some hail began to fall. The rain let up at around 5:00 pm and people began to head home for the day. By 6:00 pm, the streets of New Richmond were full of tourists, travelers, and residents.[4]
At around 5:30 pm, the tornado was reported to have first touched down about five miles south of Hudson, on the eastern bank of Lake St. Croix. The tornado was described as a boiling cloud, and was reported to have skirted the hills to the east of Lake St. Croix before moving off to the northeast. Passing clear of Hudson and following both the Willow River and the Omaha Railroad, the tornado swept away several farms near the rural communities of Burkhardt and Boardman as it traveled on its northeast course. At Boardman, there were four deaths reported. The first reported casualty was Kate Heffron, a 55 years old woman that lost her life when the tornado destroyed her home and farm. The home and farm of 70-year-old Louisa Hurd also sustained a direct hit; Ms. Hurd and 13-year-old Gertie Wears were both killed as the home was swept away. Wears had stopped in along with her father and brother to visit, both of whom managed to reach the cellar before the storm hit. John Neitge, a young farmer from Deer Park who had been driving through with his intended bride, had also stopped at the Hurd farm to seek shelter from the storm. He was struck and killed by flying debris, while his bride was uninjured.[5]
There was little warning in New Richmond before the tornado struck. The tornado was illuminated by lightning, but it was visible for only a few minutes before it reached the town, as the view was largely obstructed by buildings and large trees. Initially, several of the town's residents recalled hearing a faint rumble in the distance which many mistook for the sound of a passing train. As the tornado approached it became more visible, and a panic ensued with people scrambling to take shelter. Shortly after 6:00 pm, the tornado tore into the southwest corner of town, a wealthy and influential area. Many of the large homes were quickly swept away and destroyed in the tornado.
The greatest destruction caused was to the town's business district, a three-block stretch lined with stores, offices, and tenements built of brick and stone. A large amount of fatalities occurred in this area, as many people had taken shelter in the masonry structures, but were killed by cascades of heavy debris as the buildings were destroyed. The city bank was also destroyed,[6] along with the town's Methodist Church. The tornado threw a 1.5-ton safe a full block away, and the only remnant of the church was the 1.1-ton cast iron bell, which was found nearly 200 feet away.The tornado also tore an iron-frame bridge from its supports and threw it onto an adjacent riverbank. It also destroyed the City Hall, in addition to the adjacent water tower, which caused a deluge of water to be released onto the streets below. The tornado then moved into the east side of New Richmond, where many of the city's working-class residents lived. Almost every home in the area was destroyed, and the neighborhood war left with only scattered debris and empty foundations. Substantial damage to large trees occurred in this area as well, some of which were observed later to be stripped clean of all bark and limbs. Within a period of roughly seven to ten minutes, over half of New Richmond was destroyed.
After leaving New Richmond, the tornado moved toward the northeast, continuing along a course almost parallel to the Omaha Railroad line. Most of its destruction after that point was confined to rural areas, with only two fatalities occurring north of the town. The tornado struck several farms in the Stanton area, and passed barely a mile north of the village of Deer Park before crossing into Polk County. It came within two miles of the village of Clear Lake, frightening residents who had experienced a similar tornado which had struck the town in September 1884.[7] A large number of farms in the area suffered considerable damage, and many families were left homeless. One farmer, Sam Olson, was killed instantly when the tornado leveled his farmstead, leaving his wife and son seriously injured. Moving northeast of Clear Lake, the tornado swept through the logging community of Pineville, where another farmer, Michael Kennetz, was killed when his home was swept away.[8] Several homes and farms in the vicinity of the hamlet of Richardson and the village of Clayton were blown away. The storm continued east into Barron County, and hit the farming community of Arland. Almost the entire settlement was demolished but no fatalities or serious injuries were reported. The tornado dissipated a few miles southwest of Barron, although the storm was still strong enough to cause a considerable amount of damage to the town.[9]
The storm had blown down telegraph lines in the immediate area, so two riders were sent to Roberts, ten miles to the south, to send messages into St. Paul with news of the tornado. Altogether, the tornado and the subsequent fires that burned throughout the following night destroyed the entire business district along with more than half the residences in the town, with total damage adding up to over 300 buildings. The only significant surviving structures were the Lumber and Roller Mills located on the banks of the Willow River, the latter of which was narrowly missed by the tornado, the town's public school, and the Catholic Church, which acted as either makeshift shelters or morgues. Only the extreme northwestern and southeastern portions of the city were spared. The town's electrical plant and water facilities were destroyed, so there was no way to counter the fires that burned through the scattered debris. Many bodies found in the aftermath the tornado were burnt beyond recognition—it was impossible to tell if they died from the tornado or from being trapped and burned alive.[10]
In the days following the tornado, the list of those killed in the tornado gradually grew, as several injured people died in various St. Paul hospitals. On June 22, 57-year-old Ward Gould died from complications caused by internal injuries sustained in the storm, officially bringing the death toll to 117: four at Boardman, two in Polk County, and the remaining 111 in the vicinity of New Richmond, including five victims who were never identified. 66 were residents of New Richmond, another 31 had resided in the adjacent townships of Richmond, Stanton and Erin Prairie, and the remainder were mostly from other communities nearby, such as Hudson, Stillwater, Star Prairie, Baldwin and Glenwood City.[11] Among the dead were 26 children under the age of 16, including a 10-year-old boy whose body was never found.[12]
The town was damaged so severely that it essentially had to be rebuilt completely. Damage claims exceeded $300,000 ($7 million in 2006), however, damages may have been as high as $600,000 ($14 million in 2006).[13]
The tornado that struck New Richmond is estimated to be an F5 on the original Fujita scale, and would today be categorized an EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour, making it the third of only six F5 tornadoes ever recorded in Wisconsin.[14] Surveys of the damage caused at New Richmond and elsewhere determined the tornado had a damage path of roughly 400–500 yards, or slightly over a quarter-mile in width.
In terms of fatalities, the New Richmond Tornado presently ranks as the ninth deadliest tornado in United States history. At the time of its occurrence, it ranked as the third deadliest tornado in American history, outflanked only by the 1840 Great Natchez Tornado and the 1896 St. Louis-East St. Louis tornado. Since 1899, the record has only been surpassed six times, those being the Amite-Purvis Tornado in 1908, the Tri-State Tornado in 1925, the Tupelo and Gainesville tornadoes in 1936, the 1947 Woodward Tornado and most recently the 2011 Joplin Tornado.
According to the research compiled by meteorologist and tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis, the New Richmond Tornado was the first determined F/EF5 in American history to cause a death toll exceeding 100, as the rating for the Natchez tornado has never been officially determined[15] (though is likely at least an F4 tornado), and the St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado ranked only as an F4. In addition, the Amite-Purvis (1908 Dixie tornado outbreak), and Gainesville (1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak), tornadoes have also both been classified as only F4 tornadoes.[16]