A cyclone struck Chaffee about 6 o'clock Tuesday evening and
wreaked damage estimated as high as $100,000. The storm
came from the southwest and took a diagonal path through the southern
residential section of the city, hit a part of the business section,
the Frisco freight house and passenger station and passed over the
hills east of town.
Wednesday morning there was but one house visible on the crest of
the hill, whereas there were several located in that vicinity.
The Frisco Railroad suffered much loss, their freight house being
practically demolished, the passenger station badly damaged, and the
Superintendent's private car, spotted near the passenger station,
being blown over on its side. No one was in the
private car at the time.
The old high school gymnasium was blown down, and several children
who were decorating a float for the annual high school carnival parade
were injured, none seriously. Dennis Slinkard, son of Mr.
and Mrs. A.E. Slinkard, was taken to a Cape Girardeau hospital, but
his injuries were not considered serious.
The Norbert Essner residence on South Main street, occupied by
Homer Imhoff and family, was torn from its foundation, but not
overturned.
The Pruett garage on South Main street, immediately behind the
Sinclair Service Station, was wrecked and several automobiles in it
badly damaged. The mechanics had left the building just a
few minutes before the storm started. The Al Varble garage
across the street had its roof partly torn away.
Windows in the Finley building just south of the post office, as
well as windows in the post office and in the Rexall Drug Store were
broken out.
A box car, spotted on the spur track across the street from the
Frisco office building, was blown through the bumping post there and
out into Yoakum avenue.
Two storage tanks, located at the Success Oil Company filling
station near the Frisco office building, were blown over and about
5,000 gallons of gasoline lost. The block of East Yoakum
avenue from Main street to the Frisco railroad track was roped off,
due to the gasoline, and to a number of telephone, telegraph and light
wires being down.
The roof of the Chaffee Manufacturing Company building on the North
Main street was partly torn away, doing damage estimated at
$500.00. Rain following the storm damaged a lot of the
company's clothing material and machinery, doing damage estimated at
about $3,000.
Residences in the south part of town reported badly damaged and
rendered unfit for the families to sleep in included the Bill Vickery
house in the 600 block of South Main street; John Dobbs house in
the 200 block of Frates avenue; Arthur Brussman in the 100 block
of Frates avenue; Frank Moore residence in the 200 block of Heeb
avenue; John Boyts residence in the 100 block of Elliott avenue
and the E.P. Bullock residence in the 200 block of Heeb.
Big trees throughout the southern section of the city were blown
down and it was impossible to drive through the streets in that part
of the city. The northern part of Chaffee escaped the
serious damage of the storm except for a few houses which were not so
seriously damaged.
Mayor Oscar T. Honey directed the work of rehabilitation
immediately following the cyclone, and summoned members of the 140th
Infantry National Guard Band and of the Chaffee Fire Department to aid
in the work. Members of the State Highway Patrol were
present and WPA workers started Wednesday morning cleaning up debris
over all of the streets in the city. This was expected to
take several days.
Photos of the 1940 Tornado
The most of these photos
have been donated to the Chaffee Historical Society by the son of
Arthur Clark, Band Director.
