March 1890 Mid–Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak

Memorial to the 1890 tornado, on Main Street in downtown Louisville; images of the destruction, furnished by The Filson Historical Society, ring the structure at pedestrian level

The Mid–Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak was a major tornado outbreak occurring in the middle United States on March 27, 1890. To this day, this outbreak is still one of the most deadly storm in U.S. history. At least 24 significant tornadoes were recorded to have spawned from this system.

The most notable of the spawned tornadoes was one measuring F4 on the Fujita scale, which visited Louisville, Kentucky. The tornado carved a path from the Parkland neighborhood all the way to Crescent Hill, destroying 766 buildings ($2½ million worth of property) and killing an estimated 74 to 120 people. At least 55 of those deaths occurred when the Falls City Hall collapsed. This is one of the highest death tolls due to a single building collapse from a tornado in U.S. history. In addition, it was one of the 25 most deadly tornadoes in U.S. history until May 22, 2011. It was relegated to 26th when the May 22, 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri killed more than 125.

The day after the destruction, the Louisville Courier-Journal labeled the tornado "the whirling tiger of the air".

Due to the fast pace of reconstruction, there was almost no sign of this tornado having occurred just one year later.

See also

• Columbia Building
• History of Louisville, Kentucky
• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• Southern Exposition
• Super Outbreak

References

• Yater, George H. (1987). Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County (2nd edition ed.). Filson Club, Incorporated. 

External links

• "Whirling Tigers of the Air: A Century of Louisville Tornadoes". Archived from the original on 2006-09-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20060910010635/http://www.louisville.edu/library/ekstrom/special/tornado/tornado.html.  — Historical tornado damage images and narrative from the University of Louisville Photographic Archives
• "The Great Cyclone of 1890: Tragedy Struck Louisville" — Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush