| TWISTER!
The 1980 Tornado
On Tuesday, 13 May 1980, a tornado struck the heart of Kalamazoo,
Michigan. First touching down at 4:00 p.m. eight miles west of the
city limits, it rapidly moved eastward through downtown until it
dissipated east of the city at 4:25 p.m. Only twenty-five minutes
had elapsed, but the devastation left in the tornado's 11-mile wake
was considerable: five people dead, seventy-nine injured, and over
fifty million dollars in total property damage. Governor William
Milliken, walking through the area only hours later, remarked, "it
reminds me of a bombed-out city."
When the tornado first struck over the relatively open terrain
west of Kalamazoo, it caused only minor damage to trees, fences,
and power poles. This changed dramatically once the storm entered
the city limits. Homes were leveled in the Westwood residential
district, and monuments were overturned at Mountain Home Cemetery.
The gymnasium at St. Augustine Elementary School was severely damaged.
Fortunately, school had already been dismissed, so most children
were at home when the tornado struck. Bronson
Park, the two-acre cultural center of the city, and also the
home of numerous century-old oak trees, was also hit. Twenty-six
of those trees were downed or damaged, including the one which had
shaded Abraham Lincoln when he addressed Kalamazoo in 1856. The
roof of the nine-story ISB Building (today the Comerica Building)
was ripped away, and its glass exterior was almost completely destroyed;
only a handful of its windows remained intact. The entire back brick
wall of the seven-story Gilmore Brothers Department Store was removed
in one clean slice, depositing a six-foot high pile of bricks in
the adjacent alley. In a parking structure nearby, cars were flipped
over, their windows popped out by changing air-pressure. Kalamazoo
Mayor Edward Annen Jr. commented: "This is the worst disaster
our city has ever seen, but we'll come back from this."
The impact of the 1980 tornado was immeasurable and continues to
be felt today. Most of the damaged buildings were either reconstructed
or razed, but the damage to
Bronson
Park became a focal point in the city's recovery. Seeded by
a generous gift from the Kalamazoo Gazette, a fund was started to
replace the fallen trees. A wide search, lasting several years,
was conducted to replace them with new ones of the same species.
New flower beds were cut to showcase the area's bedding plant industry,
and to give the park a lift while the new trees matured.
The tornado of 1980 remains one of the most significant events
in Kalamazoo's history, but not only because of the immediate destruction
it caused or the powerful community spirit it engendered. The legacy
of the tornado will continue indefinitely in the question, "Where
were you when...?"
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For further information, we suggest
these sources:
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"Disaster! Killer tornado strikes city," Kalamazoo
Gazette, Special Section, 14 May 14 1980. |
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McDonald, James R. Storm Damage Investigation of Kalamazoo,
Michigan, Tornado of May 13, 1980. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech
University, Institute for Disaster Research, 1980. |
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"Recovery!" Kalamazoo Gazette, Special
Section, 13 May 1981. |
H 551.553
N277 |
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Natural Disasters.
The Kalamazoo Tornado of May 13, 1980: a Report. National
Academy Press, 1981. |
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"Winds of Change: 10 Years After Kalamazoo's
Killer Tornado." Kalamazoo Gazette, Special Section,
13 May 1990. |
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http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikalama/tornado.htm. |
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"25 years later: Nature's fury
remembered," Kalamazoo Gazette, 13 May 2005, pages
B1-B5. Other survivor memories are printed in
several issues preceding the 13th. |
Written by Kris Rzepczynski, Kalamazoo Public
Library Staff, 1998. Updated 10 August 2005.
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