September 2008
President’s Message Try to picture our Burlington community as it appeared in 1928, the year our Burlington Historical Society was established. All the "action" was located in or near downtown. About the only activity north of Echo Lake was some farm markets, some auto traffic heading towards Waterford, and the Milwaukee Electric Line train heading to and from Milwaukee. Our small industrial and farming community had no idea how its borders would spread out and what it would look like in 2008. We now are planning for a new look in our Society's Museum. Work is now underway to add a second floor and additional space for display and research. We look to the day we will be able to look at past photos of our museum and compare the changes. We also look forward to a fun and beautiful fall season in our great state of Wisconsin. Dennis Tully |
Racine County Government Contributes Funds Racine County Executive William McReynolds (right) and County Supervisor Tom Pringle (center) presented a check to the Society in July 2008 to help with remodeling costs. Society board members at the event were (from left) Don Vande Sand, John Smith, Roger Bieneman, Priscilla Crowley, Jackie Heiligenthal, and Dennis Tully. |
Burlington Area Garden Club and Master Gardeners
Keep the Legacy and Vintage Gardens Attractive for Our Community
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Annual Ice Cream Social
Again Successful The Society's annual ice cream social, held in conjunction with Burlington's Maxwell Street Days on the last Saturday in July, was again well-supported by the public. Thanks to the Society volunteers who worked to make the event a success. Did You Know? The first baby born at Burlington Memorial Hospital was Alpha Omega
Johnston, daughter of George and Doris Johnston; she was born June 16, 1924,
one day before the Hospital officially opened. |
September 1925's Killer Storm While heavy wind and rain storms in and around Burlington are not uncommon, and occasionally tornadoes and cyclones have hit parts of the area – such as the tornado that caused extensive damage in the town of Wheatland on January 7, 2008 – very few Burlington-area storms have ever resulted in people dying. One that did, however, occurred September 9, 1925, when Burlington resident, Henry Storey, died as a result of injuries suffered when a chimney was blown over and crashed through the roof of the engine house at the Burlington Floral Co., burying Mr. Storey in the wreckage. Mr. Storey was taken to Memorial Hospital where he died two days later. Although the two Burlington newspapers at the time differed in their characterizations of the storm – the Free Press calling it a cyclone while the Standard Democrat called it a terrific wind storm – the storm also caused considerable damage in and around Burlington. The September 11 Standard ran the following article. The accompanying photos, from the Historical Society’s collection, were taken by Burlington photographer John Asder. TERRIFIC WIND STORM WEDNESDAY CAUSES BIG PROPERTY DAMAGE HERE Henry Storey and Henry Thiegs Receive Serious Injuries by Falling Debris – Hundreds of Shade Trees Uprooted and Broken – Barns Wrecked – Chimneys Down – Windows Broken – Overhead Wires a Tangled Mass – Several Freak Results Two men suffered serious injuries in a terrific wind storm that struck Burlington Wednesday afternoon, causing a property damage that will run into thousands of dollars and which will leave its scars upon the many beautiful trees of the city for many years to come. Shortly before 3 o’clock a dark cloud appeared in the west and before citizens had time to reach cover the storm broke in all its fury. It didn’t seem to have the twisting effect of the usual cyclone. The wind came from almost straight west and trees and buildings give no evidence of a twister. With a crash and a bang trees and telephone poles went down, windows were caved in, chimneys were blown off, while humanity looked on and shivered. Autos parked on the streets were jammed into each other or into curbs and buildings, and the roof of practically every open car was torn to ribbons. Rain and hail driven by the high wind added to the confusion. Sheets of water, filled with leaves, limbs, and debris, made it impossible to see across the streets and made being out of doors impossible. The storm lasted less than five minutes and fifteen minutes later the sun was shining. When the storm was over and citizens emerged from their hiding places, wreckage greeted them on every side. Trees by the hundreds were torn down. Service poles were broken and electric light and telephone wires were down in a tangled mass and for some time it was almost impossible to get through any of the streets of the city. Then reports of more serious damage commenced to come in. Chief among these was that Henry Storey had been seriously injured at the plant of the Burlington Floral Co. Mr. Storey had taken refuge in the engine house. The wind caught the chimney, hurling it through the roof of the structure and burying Mr. Storey in the wreckage. He was taken to the Memorial hospital where Drs. Newell found he had a fractured skull and other injuries. Then came a call from Brown’s lake that part of the Consumer’s Ice Co. ice house had blown down and that Henry Thiegs had been caught in the wreckage. Dr. Fulton attended him and found a broken arm and serious internal injuries. As a result of the storm Burlington will be without gas for several days. The chimney of the Citizens’ Gas Co. was blown over onto the gas reservoir, breaking through the roof of the reservoir. The tank has to be emptied, a new roof rushed herefrom the city and welded into place before pressure can be restored. Many homes have only gas ranges and they will have cold meals until the reservoir is repaired. At the plant of the Murphy Products Co. the large new warehouse built a year ago was completely wrecked and the rain did considerable damage to the stock. Part of the window frames and walls on two sides of the new St. Mary’s high school were blown in. At the Episcopal church the steeple was blown over onto the roof. At the Prasch Bros. farm on Geneva street the large barn was unroofed, and a stave silo and windmill reduced to kindling wood. One section of the roof twenty-five feet square was carried over fifty feet. On the John Cook farm in the town of Lyons, most of the buildings were completely wrecked. Two horses were killed. The barns and sheep sheds on the Howard Wood farm near the Milwaukee road depot were a mass of wreckage. At the Wm. Kruckman residence on Kendall street a large barn was lifted off the foundation and dumped on one end. The 100 foot smokestack at the plant of the Burlington Brass Works was blown down as was the fifty foot stack at the plant of the F. G. Klein Co. Throughout the city any number of chimneys were blown from private homes. The coping along the top of the Hotel Burlington was torn off and the wreckage strewn all over the roof, driving holes in the roof in several places. The barn of A. Hess (corrected later to Otto Haase) on Origen street was crushed to splinters and blown for hundreds of feet. The back yards of G. Heublein, R. Carpenter and Ed. Ayers on Lewis street were filled with the wreckage, the big doors crashing against an apple tree in the Heublein yard, and timbers putting immense holes in the Ayers barn. A freak thing was that the Hess automobile in the barn was untouched and stood intact among the wreckage. Telephone, electric light and interurban service is at a standstill. Some twenty poles were blown down in the city and this together with the hundreds of trees falling across the wires made a tangled mass that will take days to straighten. The storm seemed at its worst in the city although crippled wire service
prevents reports from outside reaching here. -- a large window on the Geneva Street (now Milwaukee Ave.) side of the Burlington National bank was wrecked; -- many other windows in the business district, at the old high school building (the former Cooper School building), and in many residences were blown in; -- at the Burlington Floral Co., much glass in the green houses was broken; and -- large shade trees in various city areas were blown down, including one on Kane Street at the Meinhardt home. In their next editions, the papers reported Mr. Storey's death and that the storm had wrecked a barn at the Theodore Lemmerhirt residence on Perkins Boulevard; demolished an estimated 40 chimneys and smokestacks in the city; and blown down 14 of Lawrence Stang, Jr.’s bill boards, a silo on the John Uhen farm west of the city, and a small spire on St. Mary’s church, which went through the roof and landed in the organ loft. The papers also reported that Henry Thiegs, who had sustained a broken rib and other bruises at the Consumers Ice Co. at Norton’s Lake, was able to be around again. The Wisconsin Telephone Co. brought four crews, about 40 men, to repair the damage to its lines; and the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Co. had about 20 men from Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Whitewater working on its electric lines until "order was restored." Gas service from the Citizens' Gas Co. was not restored for nearly 2 weeks.
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For More Information Contact:
Burlington Historical Society
232 North Perkins Blvd., Burlington, WI 53105
Tel: (262) 767-2884
FAX: (262) 767-2844
Internet:
info@burlingtonhistory.org
Notices: Disclaimer and Restriction of Liability