Destructive May 6, 1876, Chicago Storm

Overview

During the evening hours of May 6, 1876, a destructive severe storm caused widespread damage across the then growing city of Chicago. The storm was one of the worst to impact Chicago in its early history. More than 100 buildings were damaged, including collapsed chimneys, broken windows, and lofted sidewalks (which were then wooden planks). A few buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed. Unfortunately, there were 2 fatalities and approximately 31 injuries caused by the storm.

The severe storm that impacted Chicago appeared to be related to a larger outbreak of severe weather. Newspapers across the region reported instances of wind damage and flooding across portions of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.

Wind Damage & Flooding

Map of regional storm reports from the May 6, 1876 storm system

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms occurred from eastern Kansas into northern Indiana and southern Michigan from May 5 into May 7. During the overnight hours of May 5 into May 6, a storm impacted Leavenworth, Kansas, causing damage to numerous buildings. Into the morning hours of May 6, flooding was reported in multiple areas, with regional rail traffic halted in some areas due to flooding and washouts. Near Carlinville, Illinois, damage was reported to several houses and a barn.

Map showing the locations of reported damage in Chicago from the May 6, 1876 storm.		Map showing the locations of reported injuries and fatalities in Chicago from the May 6, 1876 storm.

During the afternoon hours of May 6, a storm impacted Ottawa, Illinois, with damaging wind gusts lasting just a few minutes. Scattered damage to a few buildings occurred. Around 4 PM, a storm was reported near Joliet, with skies almost as dark as nighttime. About an hour later at 5 PM, a storm was reported moving into Chicago. The first reports of damage were confined to fences on the then southwest side of the city near the Bridewell Grounds (today’s Cook County Jail near 26th Street and California Avenue). As the storm moved toward the Lake Michigan shore through about 5:15 PM, damage became more significant and widespread. Near Blue Island Avenue, a house was destroyed, causing 1 fatality. Nearby, the Methodist Reaper Mission was destroyed, causing 1 fatality and 4 injuries. Elsewhere in the Bridgeport and Canalport community areas, multiple residences were damaged, including removed roofs, collapsed walls, downed telegraph poles and fences, and lofted sidewalks. The Fuller Street Bridge was damaged by a ship, and 3 additional injuries occurred. Along the Chicago River, stacks of lumber and other goods were blown and scattered. Just to the north in the Near West Side community area, two structures were significantly damaged but damage was generally more isolated.

Damage in the Near South Side and Loop community areas was also widespread and sometimes significant. The southern end of the Michigan Southern Freight Depot (near today’s LaSalle Street and Polk Street) collapsed, injuring 10 people, some seriously. A chimney collapsed at the M.E. Page & Company candy factory (near today’s Lake Street and Franklin Street), injuring 4 people, one seriously. At the Rock Island Elevator (near today’s Roosevelt Road and Clark Street), a large brick chimney collapsed, causing an injury. A portion of the roof of Wabash Methodist Church toppled onto a nearby structure, and the steeple of Grace Church collapsed. Numerous Chicago landmarks sustained at least minor roof damage, including the Gardner House, Matteson House, Palmer House, Clarence House, Gregg House, John B. Drake House, Exposition Building, South Side Tivoli Beer Hall. An additional 9 injuries occurred across the Chicago Loop. In the Chicago River, a few boats broke free from their moorings, causing damage.

In the Near North Side community area, a few structures had roof damage and sections of sidewalk were lofted. No injuries or fatalities were reported. Two miles from shore at the water intake crib (later known as the Two-Mile Crib prior to being taken out of service in the 1930s), the tower housing the fog bell and a portion of the main building’s roof were damaged.

Later in the evening of May 6, a passenger train headed southbound between Neoga and Mattoon was derailed around 6:15 PM by strong winds. The engineer saw the storm approaching as the train left Neoga, but attempts to outrun the storm were unsuccessful. The train cars tipped over and slid down a small embankment. Approximately 20 people were injured. Nearby, at Sullivan, Illinois, multiple buildings were damaged and lumber at a storage elevator was scattered. Near Indianapolis, a storm uprooted trees at an apple orchard and removed the roof of a school in the New Britton area.

Meteorology and Environment

7 AM surface weather map on 5/5/1876	2 PM surface weather map on 5/5/1876	4 PM surface weather map on 5/5/1876
9 PM surface weather map on 5/5/1876	12 AM surface weather map on 5/6/1876	7 AM surface weather map on 5/6/1876
2 PM surface weather map on 5/6/1876	4 PM surface weather map on 5/6/1876	9 PM surface weather map on 5/6/1876

Detailed information about the environmental conditions on May 6, 1876, are not known due to the limited number of surface weather observations, as well as the lack of weather balloons, radars, and satellites. The indicated depiction of surface weather features such as low pressure, high pressure, and fronts has been updated from the original maps published in 1876, but uncertainty remains. If additional information becomes available for newspapers or weather journals, the best estimate of surface weather conditions occurring on this date could be updated.

Chicago Damage Cause

Was the wind damage in Chicago on May 6, 1876, Caused by a Tornado?

Due to the limited information available from events occurring in the 1800s, it is likely that we will never know for certain the exact causes of damage for places impacted by storms on May 6, 1876. Although more detailed damage information is available for the storm that impacted the city of Chicago, contemporary sources were conflicting. Two comprehensive books on the history of weather and climate of Chicago were published after this event. The first was Climate of Chicago in 1893 by H.A. Hazen, and the second was Weather and Climate of Chicago in 1914 by Cox & Armington. Neither of these publications indicated that a tornado impacted Chicago in May of 1876. In Climate of Chicago, the May 1876 event was indicated as a “severe wind storm” that was “distinguished” from a tornado. In Weather and Climate of Chicago, only the tornado of May 1896 is mentioned. The detailed book History of Chicago 1871-1885 published in 1886 by A.T. Andreas did not mention any tornadoes hitting the city during that time period, but did indicate that the Fuller Street Bridge and the Lincoln Street Church were each “destroyed by a gale” in May 1876.

The definitive publication on early tornado research in the United States, John P. Finley’s Character of Six Hundred Tornadoes published in 1884, indicated a tornado at Chicago, Illinois, on May 6, 1876. Information about the length, path width, and forward velocity were all left blank for the Chicago event, but the pre-event air was mentioned as “sultry” with rain occurring before and hail occurring after the event. The damage path was described as “intervals of no destruction” because the “cloud bounded along the ground like a ball.” Elsewhere on May 6, 1876, tornadoes were reported in Anna and Carbondale in Illinois, Hamilton County, Indiana, and Leavenworth, Kansas.  Dr. Ted Fujita, considered by many to be a well-respected source for Chicago area tornado information, sometimes referred to the May 6, 1876, event as a tornado, but sometimes did not.

Newspapers that published in the days to weeks after the event referred to it as either a “tornado,” a “gale,” or a “cyclone.” In one detailed newspaper account, published by the Bloomington Pantagraph on May 12, it was indicated that strong winds first came from the west, lasting about 5 minutes, followed by light winds and heavy rainfall for about 10 minutes, and then the rainfall stopped, but strong winds came from the east for about 10 minutes. Other accounts of the storm published in newspapers indicated gusty winds off Lake Michigan from the east or northeast right up until the storm hit, after which winds briefly switched to a western direction. The majority of newspaper articles that discussed this event did not describe a tornado, but “dark clouds” or a “singular appearance” moving into the city. One article did mention “a tall column having swift rotating motion from right to left” and another mentioned “eight or ten columns grouped together, all whirling” as the storm moved out over Lake Michigan, but it was a minority.

Although the swath of wind damage through the city appeared to generally move from southwest to northeast, it was over a mile wide at times. Digitized paper observations show that a stationary front or warm front remained south of the city during the day and into the evening, with easterly winds off of Lake Michigan. Temperatures north of the front were in the 40s. These surface weather conditions were generally not consistent with weather known to be associated with tornadoes.

If not a tornado, what was it?

Recent research has found that damaging winds including those that mimic tornado damage can occur with thunderstorms that occur in environments thought to be hostile to tornadoes. An emerging topic, such “Gravity Wave Associated Convection” often occurs on the relatively cold side frontal boundaries - similar to the environmental conditions that were reported on May 6, 1876. With that said, it is, difficult to say with high confidence the exact cause of the Chicago area wind damage.

Advancements

Weather forecasting and weather warnings were very different in 1876 compared to today. The first official weather maps began just 5 years earlier, when a system of synchronized telegraph messages to Washington DC started. Weather maps of the time lacked information about cold fronts, warm fronts, and rainfall that we are accustomed to today, and instead just indicated general areas of low and high pressure. The only weather observations at the time were taken by official Signal Service observers at major cities, by Army employees at forts, and by volunteer private observers. These observations were often just taken a few times a day. The only information that can be ascertained about storm movement and speed from events in 1876 have to be estimated from the times of occurrence written down by observers, if they exist. No organized system existed for telegraphing neighboring cities when severe weather occurred. Watches and warnings for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes generally did not begin in the United States until the mid-1900s.

The US Signal Service daily weather map for May 6, 1876, at 3:35 PM central time. Note the distance between most observation locations and the lack of many surface weather features we are accustomed to on modern weather maps.

Forecasts in 1876 were referred to as “probabilities,” implying the suggestion of the most likely outcome in an uncertain prediction of the future. The term probabilities was later swapped for "indications," before “forecasts” came into use after 1889. Weather forecasts of the time were very general in nature, and covered a large region, in contrast to local, sub-county level forecasting that is common today. For more information about the early history of weather forecasting, see AMS journal article The Early History of Probability Forecasts: Some Extensions and Clarifications, by A.H. Murphy.

The official weather forecasts for the Great Lakes and midwest region generally indicated cloudy weather with rain, breezy and cool easterly or northeasterly wind.

Official "weather probabilities" for May 6, 1876, as published in the Chicago Tribune.		Official "weather probabilities" for May 6, 1876, as published in the Chicago InterOcean.

Notification of hazardous weather in 1876 was mostly confined to warning mariners of potentially dangerous conditions using signal flags. These “cautionary signals” were used to inform ships that potentially dangerous weather was forecasted, urging vigilance on the part of the mariners. According to History of the Signal Service published in 1884, cautionary signals were indicated by a red flag with a black square during the daytime and a red light at night. The original weather map created based upon observations taken around 4:35 PM eastern time (3:35 PM in Chicago) showed a cautionary signal in effect about 1.5 hours prior to the storm.

Legend from the US Signal Service daily weather map for May 6, 1876. The map legend indicates that "black at the base of arrow shows that the cautionary signal is hoisted at that station."		Zoomed in screenshot of southern Lake Michigan on the US Signal Service daily weather map for May 6, 1876, at 3:35 PM central time. The map shows that cautionary signals were in effect across the area.

Accounts

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Additional Information

Links:

• May 22, 1855, Des Plaines Tornado Story Map
• For more information on Gravity Wave Associated Convection, please see this recent publication in the American Meteorological Society Journal “Weather and Forecasting.”
• NWS Chicago Past Events Page