Storm Wrecks Buildings on West Division Street
A fragment of a storm report describing wind and rain damage to homes, an elevator, and wagon works in Cairo, Illinois — a small, thoroughly forgotten local disaster.
NewsPipe summary
The Cairo Bulletin · July 11, 1873 · Page 2
2 min read[…] 'S two buildings on West Division street, the first on the left hand side of the bridge, were torn from their foundations and set down in the mud and eddy water. Both of these were occupied by families. The furniture, dishes, etc., were badly smashed.
The next to feel the fury of the destructive element was the Millers' elevator. Nearly all the roof was taken off, giving the pouring rain a chance to reach the wheat. The damage to the Millers' elevator will not fall short of $1,000, and it may be more. Just how seriously the grain is damaged is not yet known.
The La Belle wagon works were next struck. The tin roofing was loosened and torn off in an instant, and with it a considerable portion of the boards, scantling, and other timbers. One large piece of the tin and two pieces of roofing torn out were carried a distance of 300 feet and landed on John Bonnell's store, corner of Forest and Brooke streets. The roof of Bonnell's building was crushed in and the goods considerably damaged by the rain. The damage to this building can be repaired at an expense of $200. The smoke-stack at the La Belle works was thrown down, and that and a considerable share of the roofing, wadded in all shapes, lay in Forest street, near the bridge. The damage to those works is quite serious, aside from the loss of the roofing.
The barn on Hon. Edward Pier's farm, just south of the city limits, was lifted up and partially turned around. This is one of the strongest barns in the county, and is the same one that was unroofed and moved from its foundation in 1840. The headstones and some trees in the family burying ground on Mr. Pier's farm were blown down.
Col. O.K. Pier's horse and carriage barn was unroofed. His woodshed and farm workshop, 20x30, was blown away. Many of his fruit trees and considerable fence was laid low.
All kinds of grain is down. All over the town are buildings that were destroyed or injured.
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