In 1892, it was meteorological March Madness for much of the Central and Eastern thirds of Kansas, as severe thunderstorms spawned 9 strong to violent tornadoes that evening. A pair of vicious F4 tornadoes tore through parts of South Central Kansas. The first was nearly a half mile wide and had a track 30 miles long. It tracked from near South Haven to near Derby. The twister killed 7 and injured 40. The second tornado injured 60 along its 25 mile long, one quarter mile wide track. All 9 of the fatalities associated with this tornado occurred in Towanda, which was almost completely destroyed.