Vintage shots from days gone by!

preceding photos Bunker Hill, IL 1948 tornado

 

Wow, looks like a '32 Ford pickup under all those bricks!

Here's some history on this devastating tornado:

At 6:45am CST on 19 March 1948, a tornado that originated in Alton, Illinois blew through Bunker Hill, destroying the majority of the town's buildings and killing nineteen people. Although the tornado was only in town for less than a minute, the destruction was devastating. The downtown business district lost many of its buildings. The streets were impassable due to rubble from the storm. The newly renovated Meissner School was one of few buildings virtually undamaged by the tornado. A first aid station was set up in the school, with a temporary morgue in another classroom. By 9:00 am, ambulances from Alton, Carlinville, Litchfield, and Gillespie arrived to transport the injured to local hospitals. By the end of the day, National Guard units, US Army units, the Red Cross, Salvation Army, American Legion, VFW, and Illinois State Police had arrived to restore order and provide assistance to the citizens of Bunker Hill.

The Army and National Guard established patrols to minimize looting, and the State Police set up road blocks to keep sightseers away. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Lebanon American Legion opened food stations to feed the volunteers and homeless citizens of the town. Bahn's Grocery Store donated their entire stock for the food stations. A temporary post office was opened in the lobby of the First National Bank. Local farmers brought their tractors and bulldozers to town to clear rubble and reopen the streets.

By evening, the Red Cross had pitched tents in front of Meissner School to house the newly homeless citizens. 126 people were injured and 19 killed by the tornado. Property damage was estimated between four and five million dollars. All five churches in Bunker Hill were destroyed by the tornado, prompting two local ministers, Rev. Burke of the First Congregational Church and Rev. Johnson of the Baptist Church, to conduct the Easter Sunday services on 28 March 1948 using a bulldozer as a pulpit. An estimated 500 residents and volunteers gathered at the center of town for the sermons before returning to work.

A brick pavilion stood in the middle of the intersection of Washington and Warren Streets prior to the tornado. The pavilion, which had been used as a bandstand for community events, was not rebuilt after the tornado, instead being replaced by a flagpole and memorial to local military veterans.

You must watch this unbelievably haunting video showing before and after pics and more devastation:

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This thread is awesome! I wanna play too! Here's a shot of my granddad and his wrecker!

View attachment 930555

 

thank you for posting these pics. Its very interesting how things change.

 

Toby inspired! Some from the small town I live in...got these off a city-type website. Richmond, IN. Used to be very "cosmopolitan" and with it back in it's heyday with millionaires and inventors (i.e.:roller skates, threshers, Jazz records, piano makers) moguls of all kinds. Once home to these auto manufacturers:

Crosley 1939-42
Davis 1908-29
Laurel 1916-17
Lorraine 1920-21
New York Six 1927-28
Pilot 1909-24
Richmond 1904-17
Seidel 1908-09
Wescott 1909-16

Mather Brothers - Dealers in Lumber, Coal, Cement and etc.
1906


2005

 

First National Bank (now chase)
1896(?)


1915


1957


2003

 

Second National Bank (now First national bank and trust)
1915


1918


2006

 

The Big Store (now a jewelry store)
1906


1960


2006


2008

 

Chenoweth Cadillac
1940


2008

 

Irvin Reed & Son (now Phillips Drug)
1906


1948


1993


2003

 

Main Street facing west from 7th (North Side)
1906


2003

 

Main St facing west from 7th (South Side)
1906


2003


There's more but I'm making myself depressed...

...if you don't know how sad a city can get, I compare this one to that movie "Gummo".

 

There's definitely a tendency to remove all the "unnecessary" decoration...

 

I think there was a Chenoweth Buick in a small town about 15 miles from me (Xenia Ohio) and wonder if it was related.

 

Am I the only one that finds it odd that the Walgreens is in before picture and not the after...

 

Dad, 1957, Orange Co NY

 

Some times there clowns every where ,,This looks like Emit Kelly or his son
anyone remember he was a clown for Ringling brothers
and Barnham Baily if it is he,s out of his make up that a first
the pic was posted by Mopar for life

 

Rite-Aid didn't build on the opposite corner, so the Walgreens management team determined that location would never work.

 

Here is one of me on my seventh Birthday. This career lasted only one year. By my 8th Birthday I had cleared all the Injuns and bad guys from the neighborhood and I was firmly entrenched in the car culture.

 

2005
[/QUOTE]
hehe,no money, or ladder too short??

 

Here...probably both.