Remembering 1949 tornado in Cape Girardeau

Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau and former lieutenant governor of Missouri gave a presentation Wednesday, Dec. 20, to the Cape Girardeau Noon Lions Club about a tornado that struck the city May 21, 1949.

Kinder showed photos of the aftermath and said the tornado first touched down at 6:56 p.m., obliterating the Albert Spaulding farmhouse about 1 mile west of Cape Girardeau. He said it carved a path northeast toward Highway 61, across Kingshighway near Independence Street, then north of Capaha Park, through the Southeast Missouri State University campus, and the Red Star district on North Main Street all the way to the Mississippi River.

In the aftermath, 22 people died, 72 were hospitalized and hundreds more were injured.

Kinder noted there were no early alert systems in place to warn people to take shelter during that tornado that took place 75 years ago this coming May.

"I grew up hearing these stories," Kinder said. "So, what happened was people went out and said, 'Wow, there's a big storm coming. Let's watch it.' I have to think with the modern warning systems we have today on our phones, TV and internet, there might not have been any fatalities, but there were 22 as this devastating storm moved through."

Kinder invited Walter "Doc" Ford of Ford and Young Funeral Home to share his memories of the event.

Ford said he was 14 years old at the time and was watching a movie with friends at the Broadway Theatre. He said he doesn't remember the movie playing that night, but does remember the trail of destruction left behind by the tornado.

After the movie, Ford and his friend Gary Rust -- now Gary Rust Sr., board chairman of Rust Communications -- walked to Ford's house in the 400 block of Themis Street.

"There wasn't anybody on Broadway and we thought, 'Man this is really something,'" Ford said. "So, we get to my house and asked my mom what was going on, and she said, 'Well, the whole north end of town blew away tonight.'"

Ford said he and Rust then walked back down Broadway to Rust's house and saw the roof had been blown off.

"Gary's dad had just bought a brand-new Pontiac and it was in the unattached garage by the house," Ford said. "Well, the garage was gone but the brand-new car didn't have a scratch on it."

Ford said his dad, Walter H. Ford, who was mayor of Cape Girardeau at the time, was so busy working to get the town back on its feet he didn't come home for two days.

Kinder also invited former Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. to give his recollection of events. Limbaugh Sr. said his family was fortunate to have been out of town at his brother's wedding that night, but they also came home to a house with no roof.

"You can't imagine what it's like when you walk in the front door and look up at the sky. It's a phenomenal feeling," Limbaugh Sr. said.

He said a month later they received a letter from a farmer in Marion, Illinois. The letter contained another letter.

"It was a letter that my mother had written me while I was in the Navy and he found that letter had blown all the way out to his farm in Marion, Illinois," Limbaugh Sr. said.