Cass County INGenWeb Project

PHOTOS AND RECOLLECTIONS OF July 3, 1960:
TORNADIC WINDS DUBBED AS, "THE WORST STORM IN MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS."
Submitted by Angela Todd

1960storm

PHOTO ABOVE: BETWEEN 10TH AND 11TH STREETS IN LOGANSPORT, CASS COUNTY, INDIANA. THE BACK SIDE OF THE ANDERSON HOME IN BACKGROUND. TENTH STREET IS IN THE BACKGROUND, RUNNING LEFT TO RIGHT OR NORTH TO SOUTH.THE UPROOTED TREE IS IS THE BACKYARD OF ONE OF THE MOHLMAN RENTAL PROPERTIES, WHICH IS ALSO IN BACK OF THE HOME OF FRANK AND ROSEMARY TODD.

Dubbed "the worst storm in more than a hundred years," it all began during the night on Saturday, July 2, 1960, the day after my 13th birthday, and ended on Sunday morning,

July 3, Mother's 36th birthday. Though no actual funnel cloud was spotted (how could it be at night?), the "tornadic winds" were uprooting trees, downing power lines, destroying cars and homes over several counties. Funny, though, how, with all of this destruction, the only thing that woke me up in my upstairs bedroom, was the sound of a breaking ashtray on the backyard patio below. When I went downstairs, the rest of the family was also awake and trying to figure out what was going on. With only a flashlight to illuminate that awful blackness, Dad was leading us through the living room to the front door. It was like some sort of surreal trip to Oz when we opened the front door to view what layed beyond. Cars were all going two ways on a one-way street, like a bunch of confused ants, trying to find any path of egress around all of the fallen debris, mostly trees and limbs. ALL streets were a mess. The electricity was out. the full scale of damage was becoming apparent. I thought it should be recorded, so, as daylight approached, I went through the neighborhood, snapping amateur photos, which, after all of these years, I'm now able to scan and put online. Downtown, I remember seeing a store on E. Broadway, with all of the plate glass window strewn everywhere and the long, indoor venetian blind was hanging through that gaping emptiness and flapping in the outside wind, now scaled down to a fairly gentle breeze. On North Third Street, a heavy old tree had fallen and sliced off the entire front half of a two-story home. The phrase, "Gone With The Wind" applied as the storm blew across not only our Cass County, but Miami and White counties, as well. Crops were leveled in the fields. Roof shingles were trashed. And much, much more. I remember thinking that it was a good thing that we had our white picket fence around the backyard, as all of our patio furniture was blown to one side, piled up against the east side of the fence. And, the thing I remember the very most was the sound of the buzz saws clearing debris for what seemed to be the entire rest of the Summer.

HERE IS SOME BIZARRE TRIVIA. Twenty-two years later, on my 35th birthday, July 1, 1982, almost to the exact anniversary of this storm, I had just signed a rental contract with a landlord and landlady in San Jose, California who told me that they knew of my hometown. What are the odds that anyone in California would know of Logansport? They knew because they had been vacationing and driving through Logansport on the morning of that terrible storm. Again, what are the odds that this couple, unknown to me when I was thirteen, would cross paths with me a second time all those years later, thousands of miles away, in another state, to rehash our memories of that terrible storm?

(Our home was at 1005 East Broadway, which was on the opposite side of the block from the Cass County Historical Society Museum at 1004 East Market St. My parents were Frank and Rosemary Todd. Frank was a brother to Ralph Preston Todd of "Todd's Appliances," which used to be at the corner of 3rd and E. Market Streets, in downtown Logansport.)

IS THIS NORTH OR HIGH STREET? I THINK IT'S NORTH STREET. THE WHITE BUILDING TO THE RIGHT IS THE FORMER CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BUILDING, LOGANSPORT, CASS COUNTY, INDIANA.

1960storm

I FORGET WHERE THIS WAS. ON 11TH AND MARKET? SOMEWHERE AROUND THERE. LOGANSPORT.

NORTH STREET CROSSES EAST TO WEST, LEFT TO RIGHT. TO THE LEFT OF THE PHOTO IS THE CORNER OF NORTH STREET AND 11TH STREET.