Built in 1883, the windmill that discovered fireclay and coal in Vandalia was destroyed by a tornado.
One of the most disastrous blows ever dealt Vandalia or this section of the country was the visitation of a terrible windstorm on Wednesday, May 27, 1896.
About 2:30 o’clock that afternoon, when dark and forbidding clouds had banked up in the west, the wind commenced to blow, and soon the air was filled with flying dust.
The wind gradually increased until it blew a gale. But the residents’ reactions to such velocity were not reached until the elements tore signs from their fastenings and storefront awnings were ripped and mangled. The storm gods rode out of the west in chariots of fire, drawn through clouds of blackness by wild, screaming hoarse roaring winds. They swept through the west and south sides of our beautiful city and left a track of desolation that moved even the strongest hearts to tears. A number of persons received slight injuries, but strange to say, not a person in town received serious injuries.
The storm came from the west and took an eastern course through the town, about five or six blocks wide south of a line of the LaCrosse Lumber Co. (currently Hwy. 54 to Walsh Street).
The town’s wooden windmill was the first thing to go in the business part of town and fell with a loud crash across the street, demolishing the awnings and corner of the building occupied by Miss Rosser’s millinery establishment on the east side of North D Street (Main Street).
The entire roof of the building occupied by J. M. Riney was taken off and deposited across the street behind the bank building and his stock was also flooded. A $150 plate glass was broken to atoms in the Vandalia Bank Building (corner of State and Main) by a flying board from the roof of a building across the street.
The force of the wind overthrew a couple of boxcars near the Salamander (brick plant) and delayed the trains for a couple of days. All of the telegraph and telephone wires were down in every direction, and communication with the outside world for several days was entirely cut off.
Lumber was scattered from the LaCrosse Lumber Co. yards in every direction. The one-story dwelling occupied by Al Bungard was one of the most complete wrecks ever beheld. There was not a single piece of timber left standing. Five of the family were cut and bruised by falling debris, and it was a wonder they were not all killed.
Harvey Coontz’s barn and buggy shed were destroyed. At this place the storm seemed in such a hurry that it destroyed only that which was insight as it carried the barn completely away and left the horse in the barn uninjured.
Nearly every house in the southern part of Vandalia received damage. The day after the storm, all businesses downtown were closed by the order of Mayor Turner, and everyone lent a hand to restore the wrecked houses to a condition for occupancy and to alleviate any suffering.
The mayor appointed a relief committee composed of S.U. Branstetter, J.C. Parrish, J.F. Coontz, I.J. Stuart and George W. Phillips to help relieve the distressed and make an estimate of the damage done.
The committee reported that the damage in Vandalia proper would be about $50,000 (in 1896 an average home cost $1,000 – $2,000) and that contributions would be thankfully received.
This same storm that hit Vandalia was one of the largest recorded in the state of Missouri. On the same day, downtown residents noticed the dark clouds moving in from the west, so many made the grave mistake of leaving their workplace to walk home, only to be caught in the worst storm in St. Louis history. More than 400 St. Louis residents lost their lives that afternoon.