STORMY MEMORIES: LIBRARY DISPLAYS MEMORIES OF 1925 TRI-STATE TORNADO

STORMY MEMORIES: LIBRARY DISPLAYS MEMORIES OF 1925 TRI-STATE TORNADO

BY LINDA RUSH
THE SOUTHERN

Sherry Carlock, assistant librarian at Sallie Logan Library in Murphysboro shows a display of the 1925 tornado that hit Murphysboro and surrouding states.

Chuck Novara
MURPHYSBORO -- A new exhibit at the Sallie Logan Public Library in Murphysboro features some previously published photographs of the Tri-State Tornado that all but destroyed the city on March 18, 1925, as well as facts about the killer storm that took 234 lives in Murphysboro alone. It destroyed 40 percent of the city and much of its major industry.

The tornado also killed 34 in Gorham and at least 252 in De Soto, Hurst, West Frankfort and Parrish. All told, at least 600 died in Illinois before the twister, which had originated in Missouri, moved into Indiana.

The photos on exhibit at the library also are featured in a new book, "Tornado March 18, 1925," just published by the Jackson County Historical Society.

The tornado is classified as the longest in United States history -- cutting a swath 219 miles long "These are our Brownie shots," Clifton Swafford said, referring to the popular Kodak "box camera" many families owned years ago. After the tornado, many people took their own photos of rubble that once was their home.

More: http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2005/02/28/local/doc4223145f52f36160161858.txt