Excepting only the 1937 flood, there has never been a natural disaster
affecting Northern Kentuckians like the tornados of July 7, 1915.
In Bellevue . . .
The tornado drops the third
floor of |
Tornado hits the |
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Fairfield at Foote |
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Lewis' Notions |
Queen City Beach |
John Kaltenbach, |
The steamer Princess intentionally grounded itself on the Dayton bar to save itself from the winds.
The news account notes “There was some excitement on board.” Right. Story here.
More on the Bellevue damage is here.
In Newport . . .
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| Grace Methodist, East Sixth Street, lost it's steeple |
Clifton Heights Public School | Clifton Scenes from the 1915 Tornado | |
“Four persons, two men and two women, were victims of the storm’s most humorous mood at
Heidelberg Garden on Alexandria-pk., Campbell-co. Two couples were seated at a table enjoying
refreshments when wind lifted the roof off a summer house and set it down, imprisoning them beneath.
After storm abated, and inspection party lifted the roof to find the quartet seated at the table unharmed.”
from the Kentucky Post, July 8, 1915
Damage in Newport from the 1915 Tornado, Images include:
1. Wiedemann's Baseball Field, 2. Grace Methodist Church (the before and after are on our Newport Churches page)
3. Clifton School ( larger image here), 4. Clifton ( a.k.a. Spaghetti Hill) 5. The L&N Bridge (notice things floating)
Newport's mayor notes that much of the storm damage could have been avoided if the electric
company had just obeyed a Newport city ordinance, on the books, that all power lines
must be underground. That story's here.
Southgate, Tornado of 1915
You can read the Kentucky Post's story
about the tornado from the first day
after the disaster here, and
here, and their follow-up, from the second day after the tornado,
here.
There are additional stories from Pendleton County, where heavy rains were also a problem: here,
here, and here.
And from Carroll County here and just
across the river in Vevay, here.
The New York Times covered the tornado here and here.
The Cincinnati Enquirer's July 8 story is here.
The Enquirer's July 9 coverage starts on page 1, continues
on page 9, page 10 (note the insurance ads), and page 11. Out of the area damage is noted on page 3.
In Covington . . .
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| Pleasant & Greenup | Tornado damage at the Turners, July 7, 1915 |
“This house was taken off of its foundation from Lewis & Baker Streets to Covington Ball Park during a tornado” |
Read the details about the Covington Damage here.
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The C & O Offices, on Madison
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clockwise from the top center: The C & O Railroad Station, a house with a plank from the station, Southgate Kentucky, and the Whitaker Residence. |
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| clockwise from the top center: unknown residence, 12th & Greenup, St. Joseph's, and Pleasant and Greenup |
left, The White House (Bavarian Brewery), center, Perry Residence, right, The Colored Church |
“Covington Police Chief Schuler estimated Thursday that loss by property damage during cyclones of
Wednesday night at not less
than $2,000,000. It is thought 1,000 homes were more or less crippled.”
from the Kentucky Post, July 8, 1915. The dollar estimate would later be lowered.
On the river . . .
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| The Kelle |
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| Steamer Fulton | The Steamer Dick Fulton before the storm. | |
| Story of it's sinking here. | ||
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| Convoy Before the Tornado |
Convoy After the Tornado |
| The Steamer Convoy Goes down in the tornado, story here. | |
from Erlanger and Elsmere . . .
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| North on Dixie, from the Seven Mile House |
Ruth Home |
Davis Home |
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| Gale Home |
Hazenbeller Home |
Jones Home |
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| Stephenson Home |
Stephenson Home |
Westerman Home |
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| Koettenbrink Home (sp?) |
Dauwe Home |
Dauwe Home |
The above twelve images are all courtesy of the Boone County Historical Society and the efforts of Mr. Steve Conrad. Thanks folks.
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| The Dauwe Home on Garvey in Elsmere, years before, and after the tornado of July 7, 1915, at 9:15 p.m. Scuttlebutt has it that the bathtub ended up a half mile away on Dixie Highway. |
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| Elsmere Scene after the July 7, 1915 Tornado |
Erlanger Scenes after a Tornado, July 7, 1915 |
The Kentucky Post's story about the disaster in Erlanger and Elsmere is here.
. . . and in Ludlow . . .
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Ludlow's St. Boniface after Tornado of July 7, 1915
In addition to St. Boniface, Ludlow's Lagoon was severely damaged. Those pictures are here.
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| Definitely Ludlow or Bromley, thought to be July 7, 1915 from Facebook posts by Tom Dryer |
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As bad as the tornado was in Northern Kentucky, it was worse in Cincinnati. Whole
blocks of the old west end were flattened, and at least 8 people died. One news account noted
“More bodies [of babies] in [the Cincinnati] morgue than on any one day in its history.” The total
Tri-State body account was over 30, and 20 others were declared missing.
There's an overview of the Tri-State damage here.
