Remembering Minnesota’s Deadliest Tornado On Its 140th Anniversary

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- Tuesday is the 140th anniversary of the deadliest tornado ever in Minnesota history.

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The storm formed over downtown St. Cloud, crossed the Mississippi River, where it temporarily sucked all the water out of the river, and then destroyed 80 percent of the buildings in Sauk Rapids, before moving up toward Rice, where 14 members of a wedding party died, including the groom, before finally coming to an end in Morrison County.

A total of 72 people died that day.

Benton County Historical Society Research Specialist Wendy Wheeler says there were many heroes after the tornado, including a man who ran for help.

He ran to St. Cloud to the telegraph office, and he sent a telegram to the mayor of Minneapolis.  In 2 1/2 hours, they had a special train coming up here with supplies, nurses, and doctors to help the people.

Wheeler says there were a lot of heroes after the storm, but she's also discovered some strange things that happened in the aftermath.

St. Paul, a couple of days afterward, had a special train that came up.  They had multiple cars with people coming to be tourists.  They stopped in Minneapolis and needed to add more cars; we're talking well over 1,000 people.  They came up to the train depot in St. Cloud, and they had to wait because Brainerd had also sent a special train.  These people toured St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, walking through the ruins looking for souvenirs.

The F4 tornado was 14 miles long and one mile wide.

Wheeler has been doing a deep dive into the stories of the survivors of that storm, going through newspapers and other archives. She's working on a book and putting together a documentary for the Benton County Historical Society and Museum.

One of the buildings that survived is the former granite home that is now the Benton County Historical Society and Museum, which was used as a makeshift hospital.  The historical society is in the process of renovating the second floor of the building to create a new permanent exhibit space dedicated to the 1886 tornado.  They are hoping to have it open by late fall.