The
Tornado of 1915
by
Bob Brail
Few
experiences are more terrifying than an encounter with a tornado.
These monsters of destruction ravage places in the United States
every year, leaving in their wake ruined homes and businesses, sorely
testing the resiliency of often grieving survivors. On Wednesday,
July 7, 1915, folks living on the northern edge of Boone-Duden
country faced that same test when a tornado tore through the towns of
Foristell, Wentzville, Gilmore, O'Fallon, and St. Peters, before
striking St. Charles. When the storm finally passed, four people
would be dead and scores of buildings would be damaged or destroyed.
The
storm struck around 2:30 PM on the northwestern extreme of
Boone-Duden country first, destroying the Herman Oberlag farm near
Foristell and seriously injuring Mrs. Oberlag. As the storm ravaged
the countryside in its approach to St. Charles, thousands of acres of
corn, much of it in shocks, and wheat were ruined by the wind, rain,
and hail.
Following
just to the north of what decades later would be the path of
Interstate 70, the tornado rushed past Wentzville a short time later.
As it began to increase in power, it struck the Henry Meier farm
northwest of the town, ripping shutters off the house. Crossing
present day Meyer Road, it approached the Koenig farm (located near
the intersection of Blumhoff Road and Wood Hollow Drive), which was
comprised of two homes, those of H. H. Koenig and his son H. W.
Koenig. The tornado released its fury on the H. W. Koenig home with
deadly force, demolishing the structure and burying its only two
occupants at the time, thirty year old Martha Koenig, the wife and H.
W., and their five week old daughter Alma. Only about fifty yards
away, other family members sought refuge in the basement of the H. H.
Koenig home, including the other child of H. W. and Martha,
twenty-two month old Elsie. Immediately after the storm passed their
farm, H. W. Koenig, who had been trying to reach his house when the
tornado hit it, and others frantically looked for his wife and baby
in the rubble of their home. The crying of the baby led them to
Martha, who was found seriously injured, with her baby in her arms.
Martha Koenig would linger for several hours before dying early the
next morning. The tornado continued on, blowing away
many houses in Needmore,
an African American settlement on the eastern edge of Wentzville
(located in the area of the present day A & W restaurant).
As
the tornado had approached Foristell, the Wabash Railroad Train #9
for Kansas City had been heading west from St. Charles. As the train
crossed the bridge over Peruque Creek, just east of Gilmore, they
probably saw the funnel cloud approaching them from the west.
Passengers later reported that the engineer had “driven into the
teeth of the storm.” The train and tornado collided at Gilmore, a
small town less than three miles east of Wentzville. The first four
cars behind the engine were blown from the rest of the train and
lifted from the tracks, throwing their thirty passengers from their
seats. Amazingly, no one was killed or even seriously injured. One
passenger later related, “It turned black very suddenly and then
before we knew what had happened, the four coaches were in the
ditch.” One week later The
St. Charles Cosmos-Monitor
reported, “The facts are that four of the steel coaches were picked
up from the track just beyond Gilmore and lifted over the telegraph
wires and dropped in the field more than fifty feet from the track,
right side up, and no one was hurt to any serious extent.”
By
the time the tornado left Gilmore, another person would be dead,
killed by storm debris. The
Wentzville Union
reported that “Gilmore was completely swept away.” The storm
would do its most significant damage there. Twelve buildings were
destroyed, but somehow the town's one hotel, located only a few
hundred feet west from the train depot, was not damaged. Frank
Hunsel was the sixty-seven year old section boss at Gilmore. The
passengers in the derailed train saw Hunsel killed as he and two
other men tried to close the station door. Hunsel was struck in the
head by a beam that blew through the depot wall, partially
decapitating him. One coat pocket of one of Hunsel's helpers “was
filled with the brains of Mr. Hunsel.”
When the storm passed Gilmore, it continued to head
toward the wagon and railroad bridges over Peruque Creek, located two
and one-half miles due east from town. Soon the twister would claim
its final two victims. John and Mary Meinert, and and their three
year old daughter Minerva, were in a buggy on the Salt River Road,
east of the creek, trying to reach their home before the storm
struck. From newspaper accounts of the tragedy, it appears that the
family was heading west to their home, perhaps from the livery stable
that Meinert operated in O'Fallon. If so, they would have had an
unimpeded and terrifying view of the funnel cloud as it approached
them. Just as the Meinerts neared their farm, the tornado hit the
barn of their neighbors, the John Henleys, rocketing beams in a
deadly explosion . After the event, John Meinert recounted flying
through the air, as his team and buggy disappeared. When he regained
consciousness, he saw his wife and daughter laying nearby, both
killed by a barn beam. His wife's neck was broken, and his
daughter's skull was crushed. Somehow Meinert managed to carry their
bodies into the Henleys' house.
At the same time, the tornado was demolishing the three
hundred foot Wabash Railroad bridge spanning Peruque Creek, only a
short distance away from the Meinert farm. The derailed train in
Gilmore had crossed the bridge only minutes before it was destroyed.
This bridge was located about one quarter mile north of where West
Terra Lane now crosses Peruque Creek or one half mile northeast of
today's Interstate 70 and Lake St. Louis Boulevard intersection. The
steel bridge, sixty feet high, was left in the creek by the storm.
The tornado then tore through O'Fallon and approached
St. Peters. By this time, the tornado's path was one quarter mile
wide. Dozens of houses damaged. Several houses were unroofed, yet
only two hundred yards north of the tornado's path wheat shocks were
still standing. Mrs. Gertrude Ziegemeyer and her two daughters,
Margaret and Eleanor, were in their house when the tornado moved it
ten feet and dropped it “with a violence that caused it to
collapse.” Mrs. Ziegemeyer was struck by debris as the three of
them were buried in the ruins of their home. Neighbors dug through
the rubble to rescue them. Injured folks included Mrs. Isaac Madden
and daughter Eleanor. Mary Schapple was struck on head by door. All
would survive.
After it passed out of Boone-Duden country, at around
3:45 PM the tornado caused extensive damage in the city of St.
Charles, including the destruction of St. Charles Borromeo Church.
Winds were measured at 80 miles per hour in the city. The storm
weakened as it crossed Missouri River. Some minor wind damage and
flooding occurred in St. Louis County, St. Louis, and Illinois.
The villages to the south of the tornado's path did not
suffer comparable damage as the storm passed them by, although
several reported destruction. Augusta suffered a lot of damage to
its fruit and shade trees, and several fences were destroyed. The
quantities of rain that accompanied the tornado resulted in
overflowing creeks which washed out roads in the area. No damage was
reported at Cottleville, although Dardenne Creek was so high that the
road over had to be closed. New Melle was unaffected. In fact,
several of its residents “visited the cyclone and train wreck at
Wentzville and Gilmore” in the following days.
Certainly the Tornado of 1915 was not even close to
being one of the worst ever twisters. Dozens of people did not die
and, comparatively speaking, the destruction was limited to a few
rather small communities. However, by late afternoon on July 7, many
households in northern Boone-Duden country were literally picking up
the pieces of their lives, while three families were utterly
grief-stricken by their losses. July 7, 1915, would not be a day
anyone would soon forget.
Sources:
The
Macon (MO) Republican
(newspapers.com); Mapquest.com; The
St. Charles Banner-News
(St. Charles City-County Library); The
St. Charles Cosmos-Monitor
(St. Charles City-County Library); Missouri
Death Certificate Database
(sos.mo.gov/records); The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1879-1922)
(ProQuest Historical Newspapers); The
Wentzville Union
(heritage.freese.net); The
York (PA) Daily
(newspapers.com); 1905
St.Charles County Plat Book
(statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org); 1910 Federal Census; Elsie
Koenig Schroeder interview.
A
Tornado Survivor . . . One Hundred Years Later
by
Bob Brail
“They
never talked about it,” is what Elsie Koenig Schroeder will first
say today if you ask her about the tornado of 1915. However, it
won't take long for her to begin recounting her recollections of what
her family members told her of the incident as she was growing up.
Now a resident of Delmar Gardens on Highway N in St. Charles County,
Mrs. Schroeder is, as she puts it, “the only person left” who was
a participant in the events of July 8, 1915. She is now 102 years
old.
Early newspaper accounts of the tragedy described
Martha Koenig being blown “several hundred feet” and a “two
year old” Koenig daughter thrown sixty feet through the air,
landing against a fence. Elsie Schroeder is quick with the
corrections: her mother died in their house, holding Alma, and Elsie
herself was not two years old and was not blown sixty feet. She was
twenty months old and taking shelter in her grandparents' basement
when the tornado struck.
Another story Mrs. Schroeder tells is of the Henry
Meier family who helped the Koenigs clean up debris and collected and
washed the Koenigs' clothing. “They were good neighbors,” she
says. She also recalls the story of the kindness of the Lutheran
minister, Rev. Mueller, who was packed to move to a new church on
July 8. He stayed in Wentzville for several days in order to have
Martha Koenig's funeral.
Mrs. Schroeder remembers being told that in the midst
of the rubble of her home, one partial wall still stood, upon which
was hanging a dresser mirror, completely unscathed. A barn on the
farm was completely destroyed, but an old log house next to the barn
was not harmed at all. Years later she recalls visiting the area of
her old home, finding a piece of metal embedded in a hickory tree,
lingering evidence of the 1915 tornado.
It is extremely rare for an author to write of an
incident that happened one hundred years ago and yet be able to
interview a participant in that event. Thank you, Elsie Koenig
Schroeder, for sharing your memories with us!
The author would like to thank Ruth Busdieker for
arranging and assisting with the interview with Elsie Koenig
Schroeder. He would also like to thank Deb Brail for assisting with
the interview.