UP ONE LEVEL

No doubt the most dramatic incident in the history of Coon Rapids was the destructive tornado which struck the town in the early evening of April 16, 1886.

About 4 p.m. skies became dark and threatening and light rain and hail fell. The skies colored and the report spread that a monstrous tornado was coming.  Everyone took cover. The storm struck the east end of the business district.

Before reaching the town, it struck a freight train of 20 cars standing on the track, blowing 16 of them off the track. A car of Milwaukee beer remained undamaged while the home of Reverend Crittenden was destroyed and a quotation from the Enterprise at the time says “__ it is all the evidence one could want to prove that the tornado was not a dispensation of providence - but rather the work of the evil one.

The worst of the destruction was in the residential section. Thirty-seven buildings, including the Town Hall, Presbyterian Church, Christian church and the school house, were either totally demolished or seriously damaged. The estimated damage was $50,000. A considerable amount of money was sent to the town to help the people who were homeless.  Most of the contributions came from wholesale houses that sold goods to the local merchants.

The only casualty was one of the two Raygor boys who were doing janitor work at the school house at the time.

The churches and schools were rebuilt that summer but when it came time for school to open in the fall they were unable to get desks and seats and this delayed the opening of school until November.