The Great New Richmond Tornado Outbreak of June 11-12, 1899

June 11th, 1899

The sky is blue and filled with cirrus clouds, and the day is described as "warm and sulky," in the small Iowa town of Salix, located south of Sioux City. It's 68 degrees Fahrenheit that morning, and nobody suspected anything was wrong. I mean, how could they? It was sunny and it was summer. However, looking back at the weather map from that day, the precursor to the surface analysis that I've commonly used in my previous blog posts, something was different about this "perfect summer day." A surface low, with an intensity of 998 millibars was positioned northwest of the city of Winnipeg. A long cold front was draped across eastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, and Central Nebraska. A warm front had lifted north to just north of Marquette, Michigan, along the northern Minnesota border and the Great Lakes. That morning, dewpoints had risen to the lower 60s and temperatures to the lower 60s as well, showcasing significant moisture return, conducive for severe storms. Based on the accounts from witnesses that morning, describing a blue "warm and sulky day", we can infer that the "warm sector" had some significant time for heating, which would increase instability values in the area.

(Above): My surface analysis for June 11th, 1899 based on observations from stations. This is not an official map or completely accurate by any means

Everything seemed normal until 5:00 PM, when all of a sudden residents in the Sioux City area began to notice something weird. Large, angry clouds were seen developing from the west, moving directly towards them. Quickly, what had once been a blue sky and a regular day changed into mother nature's fury. One updraft in northeastern Nebraska roared into the sky, quickly gaining size and intensity. Over time, the intense supercell moved north towards Sioux City, developing a mesocyclone and dropping a tornado somewhere along the Nebraska/Iowa border southwest of Sioux City. Large hail fell from the supercell, some cells were measured to have a circumference of 9 inches, which is equal to approximately 1.432 inches across. The hail resulted in significant crop damage.

The tornado moved due east and quickly intensified into a strong tornado as it approached the home of David McDowell. Mr. McDowell lived on a farmstead east of Salix, very close to the state border. Several sheds were present to hold his farming equipment. Fortunately for him, Mr. McDowell was spared, the tornado missing his house. However, his sheds were completely destroyed by the tornado. The tornado continued towards the home of the Albert Devin, flattening crops, which were "more or less damaged." Mr. Devin, who also lived on a farm, just like Mr. McDowell. The tornado struck his home, tearing the roof away and resulting in significant damage to the structure, with the sheds nearby "torn to pieces or badly racked." Mr. Devin's flock of 75 pig's were mostly killed in the tornado. Windows were blown out, and a shard of glass cut Mr. Devin's face.

The tornado became a violent tornado not long afterwards, as it whirled directly for Salix. Telegraph lines were completely destroyed south of Salix, and the dark, low-based tornado came into view. The funnel, from eyewitness accounts didn't appear to have a "wedge" appearance to it, but rather one of a stovepipe/cone. Several people in Salix were doing daily tasks or walking out in the streets when they sighted the "spinning seething pillar" heading right for town. Immediately, massive panic ensued. People ran for storm cellars as the tornado approached town, fearing the worst was about to come. A roar that sounded like "4000 freight trains" came within earshot of the Salix residents. The tornado passed directly over a railroad track which went through Salix. The tornado sucked up the cobblestones that surrounded the tracks, throwing them all over the surrounding countryside. The tornado also threw a boulder "the size of a mans head" some hundred feet away.

All of a sudden, as it if were a miracle, the tornado turned slightly southeast, and ended up barely missing Salix. However, this sudden change in direction didn't alleviate all the danger, because there were still several farmsteads directly in the tornado's path. In fields near town, hundreds of livestock were killed and grain destroyed. At the farm of J.C. Currier. The tornado missed a direct hit on the farm, but the winds in the outer circulation were still strong enough to "badly twist" the farm. A windmill on the property was blown to the ground, and several sheds were destroyed. In the area, Mr. Lucien Pilotte also lost his outbuildings. Mr. Pat O'Neill's house's chimney was destroyed with windows shattered. The violent core of the tornado avoided striking something in this area, but that was all about to change.

The Malloy's were a huge family who lived in a home just to the south of Salix, easily within walking distance of the town. Father John and mother Kate lived with their seven children, Harry, Dick, Bessie, Thomas, Patrick, Fred, and Jack in their farmstead. They were all finishing up dinner when 9-year old Dick smelled something strange, sulfur. Where this smell could be coming from, he had absolutely no idea! He went outside to investigate, when he saw the violent stovepipe tornado coming right towards them. Immediately, Mr. and Mrs. Malloy sent Dick running to the home of Mrs. M.C. Hassell, who lived nearby. The Malloy family took shelter in their cellar.

Dick walked in the door of the Hassell home, where Mrs. Hassell and her seven children were inside. He warned them of what was coming, and they all ran into the cellar. Nearby, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard also sighted the funnel heading right for them, and made for their cellar. They waited for the killer blow to strike, but for five minutes, it never came. Mr. Malloy began to change his mind, thinking his son was making up the whole situation. He joked with his family, and managed to get them all to come out of the cellar. Unfortunately, this decision would prove to be fatal. As the whole family were coming out of the cellar, the roar became very loud and the wind picked up. Jack Malloy tried to shut the door as the family frantically made for the cellar once more, when everything vanished.

The Hassell family bore the brunt of the tornado in their cellar. The suction from the tornado's violent subvortices were so strong that one of the Hassell children was lifted off of the ground. Everyone grabbed onto the child to prevent the tornado from sucking him out of the cellar, into almost certain death. The Bernard family heard nothing, they just covered themselves inside of their cellar and shielded their heads, praying for dear life. Residents from Salix watched their homes being sucked into the funnel, flying out moments later in granulated fragments. Debris of all shapes and sizes filled the sky.

When everyone finally came to, everything they had ever known was gone. The Bernard family decided to look up, assuming the cloud had passed, and saw the open sky. Mrs. Bernard began to cry, while Mr. Bernard comforted her, telling her that the loss of their home and property was not as important as their lives. Their home was torn to "kindling wood." The Hassell family escaped unharmed, but their home was completely gone. Attention turned to the Malloy family, and the first men on the scene were greeted with a horrible sight. The home was completely gone, and the Malloy's, except for Dick who was with the Hassell's, were nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a slab foundation. The Bernard, Burger, Malloy, and Hassell homes were completely swept away in a 300 yard radius, suggesting the violent damage contour was rather wide.

The kitchen stove at the Malloy's home was thrown at least 100 yards away. The wood planks that were used to construct their home were not only completely destroyed, but were badly mangled, granulated, and twisted. The granulated remains of the home were not wind-rowed, but thrown all over the place, suggesting the home may have been lifted into the funnel and disintegrated, similar to the Holmes, ND tornado of June 17th, 2010 and the Dalton-Ashby, MN Tornado of July 8th, 2020. A coat from the Malloy home was thrown into a grove of trees nearby, which were unharmed. In fact, the violent damage gradient was so sharp that a barrel of water right next to the Malloy home remained in the same place the whole time, the water still in it!

The Malloy's were located by a search party that evening. They were all found in a small radius far from where their home once stood. Mr. and Mrs. Malloy were both dead on the spot. Harry was bleeding from the mouth, succumbing to his injuries an hour later. Bessie had been hit in the head with a flying object, resulting in swelling of the skull, from which she was not able to recover from. Thomas and Patrick sustained severe back injuries, and Jack and Fred were the least injured. A train happened to be passing through Salix at the time of the tornado, and stopped to take the injured to Sioux City nearby. Bessie passed away the next day. Thomas and Patrick remained in the hospital, but suddenly Thomas died about a week and a half later from his injuries.

After devastating the area south of Salix, the tornado completely swept away one more farm home near the locations of the Hassell, Malloy, and Bernard homes. The tornado is assumed to have roped out somewhere in this area, but far enough away from Salix to where it couldn't be seen. After it was all over, 5 members of one family had lost their lives. Several families completely lost everything they owned, and severe losses occurred to crops. Patrick Malloy, who survived his injuries, would grow up to become the Assistant Attorney General of the United States. For the next 35 years he lived, he always had to carry the burden of losing 5 of his family members, a scar that would never heal.

June 12th, 1899

While the areas south of Salix lay in ruin, a new day of severe weather was setting up in the Minneapolis and Wisconsin area. Dew points once again reached into the lower 60s, along with temperatures. The day was described as "hot and muggy." People in New Richmond Wisconsin woke up to, at that point, what seemed like a normal day. Along main street, bakers were selling food. The flour mill was operating, the scent from it filled the air. However, there was one thing that set this day apart from any other regular New Richmond Day. The circus was in town. The circus, at the time, was a major attraction. Hundreds of people came to New Richmond for the festivities, with twice as many people filling the streets than normal. Because of this special occasion, the two story businesses along Main Street opened for business enthusiastically, hoping to benefit from the circus's attraction. However, what nobody in the beautiful river town of 3,000 could know was that the surface low responsible for the Salix Tornado was getting ready for another big severe day, one that would change a town forever.

(Above): An artists depiction of New Richmond as it appeared before the tornado

By the morning of June 12th, the surface low had moved southwest, crossing into the United States and over North Dakota, resting near Pierre. The warm front lifted north to just north of Marquette, MI and Moorhead, MN, specifically excluding Duluth. The cold front extended all the way down to Oklahoma, in a similar position to where it had been the previous day. However, one thing that really caught my eye, from the limited weather data we had back in 1899, is a surface wind heading due southeast in the Minneapolis area, right next to New Richmond, WI. This significant low-level turning favored tornadoes to form with any discrete, right-moving supercell that could root itself into the environment. While we don't know the exact mesoscale aspects of this day, we can infer there wasn't much of a capping inversion in place, at least in the Minneapolis area, due to how many storms fired and went upscale in the Minneapolis vicinity, bringing lots of flooding. However, everything else must have come together mesoscale-wise to support such a violent tornado.

While the circus rocked on in New Richmond, a line of rain passed through the area. Nobody paid much attention to this at all, and everything continued on as normal. While the circus was performing its final act, severe thunderstorms began to develop around the Minneapolis area. Most of these storms quickly grew upscale and moved very slowly, with devastating effects. Severe floods raged the Minneapolis vicinity. The floods had become so bad that people had to canoe out of their homes to safety, resulting in significant damage.

As the messy storm mode took shape, one updraft that was away from the main convective mess fired into the atmosphere, quickly maturing into a discrete supercell thunderstorm. The storm began to develop a mesocyclone, and produced a tornado somewhere near Lake St. Croix, just south of Hudson, Wisconsin. The exact location of tornadogenesis is unknown, however the tornado must have touched down before it crossed over the Lake. The tornado crossed over a railroad just after exiting the lake, forcing a train to stop. Witnesses from the train described the highly visible funnel to have contained debris of unknown origin. The tornado damaged the railroad itself so badly that the train could not continue. The tornado continued to move to the northeast, gradually curving more eastwards as it progressed. Three men were driving down a road from the city of Hudson to nearby River Falls, another small Minneapolis suburb town when the tornado struck their vehicle. Their vehicle was torn to pieces.

The first known structure to fall victim to the tornado was the barn of F.C Mattison. His home remained intact, but his barns were destroyed. The tornado picked up the windmill on his farm, throwing it several yards away. The intensifying core then took aim at the Gridley Family Farm. The Gridley's were outside when they saw the funnel coming, and ran for their stone shelter about 110 yards away from their main home. They ran inside just as the tornado struck. Fortunately for them, the tornado's intense core missed hitting their home, which only lost a few of their roof tiles. Unfortunately for them, the upscale line of storms produced a lightning bolt that struck their house later that evening, which burned to the ground. Just to the northeast, the tornado completely destroyed a grove of oak trees 3 feet in diameter. Each tree was torn out by its roots and twisted into "every conceivable shape."

The tornado intensified into a violent tornado as it churned to the northeast, heading right for the home of H.S. Mattison. He and his family saw the tornado coming and sprinted for the cellar, barely making it in time. No more than a few seconds after the cellar door closed, the roar became unbearable and their home was completely swept away. All that was left on the foundation was the floor and the cellar door. The home was granulated into small debris. Furniture at the home was shredded into small pieces and deposited nearby. Several barns on the property were smashed apart, and lots of cattle were killed. Very close by, W.J. Gilpin was riding by when he saw the violent tornado headed right for him. He tried to run for the family's cellar, but was unable to make it in time. The cyclone threw him high into the air, and he landed underneath a lumber wagon, surrounded by the carcasses of dead horses and debris of all shapes and sizes.

The tornado remained violent as it passed near the city of Burkhardt, a very small unincorporated community along the highway from Hudson to Minneapolis. Numerous homes in the area were leveled to the ground, but not much information on these homes is available. The tornado picked up a bridge in the area, and tossed it across a hill. The tornado grew in intensity as it impacted what is today known as the Willow River State Park. The tornado completely sucked up all the water from the pond. A lot of Mud was also sucked up into the funnel, and spread it all over fields and tree trunks nearby. Dead fish were thrown all over the place. It is definitely possible that Father Degnan, who would become a key part of the recovery later, could have mistaken this for ground scouring.

The tornado, if not already at such a threshold, reached definite F5 intensity when it passed very close to the city of Boardman, one of several small towns in the Minneapolis area. The tornado's first target were the homes of Mr. Spencer, Mrs. Hurd, and the Heffron family, who all resided two miles west of Boardman. A girl was stopping by with Mrs. Hurd at the time for an unknown reason when the tornado came, and another man was waiting the storm out, right in the middle of the tornado's path. The homes of Mr. Spencer and Mrs. Hurd were located in a rather wooded area, surrounded by several large Oak Trees, which may have instilled a false sense of safety in them when they sighted the storm coming, thinking the trees would serve as some barrier. However, their fates were already sealed. The Heffron's saw the tornado coming and ran for the cellar, and a few moments later the tornado struck their homes.

Unfortunately, for Mr. Spencer and Mrs. Hurd, those trees offered absolutely no protection from the tornado. Their homes were completely swept away in F5 fashion, the debris so finely granulated that "there is scarcely a board a foot long to be found anywhere near." The elm trees that surrounded their homes were either torn out of the ground by their roots or completely debarked. Mrs. Hurd, the girl who was waiting with her when the tornado struck, and the man who was waiting out the storm were all killed. The tornado then completely swept away the home of the Heffron family. Even though they had made their way into the cellar, the F5 winds managed to put one wooden plank on a collision course with the cellar entrance. It flew directly through the door and into Mrs. Heffron, cutting her in half. The tornado had claimed its first victim in the most gruesome of ways. Her husband was seriously injured

The swath of F5 damage continued as the tornado cored the Burrow family home. All of them were killed instantly. The homes of Mr. Hub Robinson and Mr. Hiram Teal. The tornado completely destroyed the barns on Mr. Robinson's property, and the F5 core barely missed striking Mr. Teal's home directly. All the outbuildings on his property were swept away, and his home was badly damaged. Everyone there escaped with minor injuries. The tornado continued to inflict F5 damage to at least 15 homes, all of which were swept away. In this area, 24 cattle were killed, and many trees were debarked, Father Degnan stating that the trees from Burkhardt and Boardman looked "exactly the same as they did in New Richmond."

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the F5 tornado creeping up on them, the parties were still going on in New Richmond. Although the circus had concluded, many people were still staying in the city, eating dinner and partying. All of a sudden, at about 6:00, people began to notice "concerning clouds," which would turn out to be the parent supercell, gathering in the distance. The clouds grew larger and larger, and more people began to pay attention to it. Father Degnan, who surveyed the area outside of New Richmond, was standing with his nephew in the city when he noticed the threatening clouds at 6:30 PM. He pointed the clouds out to his nephew, and said, "These clouds are cyclonic."

About a minute later, a faint noise, described by Father Degnan as the sound of "Fifty panting locomotives on an upgrade" made itself audible. Initially, people thought it was another train, because New Richmond was a train hub. However, something about this didn't seem right. The roar kept getting deeper and deeper, and louder and louder. The people in the city looked around for a possible source of this noise, and saw a "whisking black cloud" heading right for them. "It's apex on the ground, the funnel in the sky." Father Degnan was right. Some people recognized the approaching tornado before others, and immediately tried to warn others of the approaching tornado, but not everyone paid attention until the funnel was bearing down on the town. Over the next minute, the tornado's roar became so loud the ground began to vibrate. Several people, who were initially unaware of the major plight finally saw the tornado, and ran for shelter. A massive panic ensued in the city as people ran for their cellars.

The tornado began its massive onslaught on the city on the southeastern side, filled with nice homes. The tornado immediately began producing a large swath of F5 damage, sweeping rows homes off of their foundations, and transformed the granulated remains of these homes into tiny missiles, flying at extremely high speeds with deadly accuracy. The flying projectiles smashed into nearby homes and embedded themselves in brick, causing one home, despite being outside of the intense core, to flip over, the owner inside severely injured. Several fatalities occurred in the initial area of the track into New Richmond. Despite the fact that the tornado had already tracked into the city, several people were still screaming and running for their cellars. Others watched on in horror as the funnel tore the town apart, transfixed on the swirling phenomenon.

As the tornado continued towards main street, the amount of flying debris within the funnel had become so massive that it was already flying well ahead of the funnel, making the tornado appear larger than it actually was. Father Degnan, who watched the whole tragedy unfold, described that ,"Already far ahead of the center (of the funnel) the air was full of flying debris, splinters, boards, feathers, bedding and everything." The tornado continued to level more and more homes, debark trees in the path completely, and left debris in very small splinters as the tornado entered the business district, where many people laid directly in its path. One important thing to note below is that the panorama was taken about a week after the tornado, and the structures that you see standing were erected after the tornado.

(Above): A panorama taken after the tornado struck shows entire neighborhoods leveled to the ground in the southeastern part of New Richmond, where the tornado entered town. (Photo Courtesy of the Wisconsin National Archives)

The tornado was relatively visible, and all witness accounts paint the same type of funnel. Unlike several violent tornadoes in the past, this tornado did not take on the wedge appearance, perfectly proving that size does not equal intensity in tornadoes! All accounts align with a "small tip on the ground" and a funnel in the sky, rapidly spreading out over the small tip on the ground. The tornado was described to have been spinning with "fearful velocity," taking an appearance similar to that of the 2008 Picher, OK Tornado.

(Above): F5 damage to a row of structures along 4th and 3rd streets. The structures you see standing in the F5 damage swath were erected after the tornado. (Photo Courtesy of the Wisconsin National Archives)

Several people had seen the cyclone coming along third street, and made for the cellar of the O.J. Williams dry good store, a brick structure. Many people piled into the cellar as the tornado razed the building, but the massive amount of flying debris was hurled into the cellar, slaughtering the group inside in the most gruesome of ways. The tornado was so powerful that debris was found embedded on the other side of the Willow River, which crossed through town. The tornado continued to raze several buildings along second street, approaching the Nicollet Hotel. A man outside noticed the funnel-shaped cloud coming up towards main street, and ran inside, yelling, "CYCLONE! CYCLONE!" Immediately, a couple who were eating dinner ran for the cellar.

The couple made it barely in time as the 6-story structure was completely obliterated and swept away, with the exception of the first floor. The couple described seeing another man inside the hotel running for the cellar when the cyclone sucked him back out into the street, where he was mutilated by flying debris and killed. The woman who was serving the couple was found severely injured as the tornado crossed on to Main Street, where the most people were. The two story brick shops along Main Street were razed, crumbled into small fragments, and turned airborne. Many people lost their lives in this area. One boy, holding a camera in his hand, was running up main street when the tornado picked him up, drove a wooden plank through his head, and left his corpse several streets away. Incredible granulation occurred with the leveled wooden homes, as shown by the photo on the bottom right.

(Above left): The remains of the Nicollet Hotel. (Above right): A grove of trees debarked to a similar extent to the debarking observed from the 2020 Bassfield tornado, with granulated debris lying in the foreground. The ground appears to be scoured, but that cannot be confirmed. (Photos Courtesy of the Wisconsin National Archives)

(Above left): The remains of the shops along Main Street. The remains of what I believe to be the Nicollet Hotel lie in the background. (Above Right): A scene showing the devastation at New Richmond (Photos Courtesy of the Wisconsin National Archives)

After leaving the business section of New Richmond in shambles, the tornado continued to debark trees and throw debris incredible distances. The funnel was filled with so much debris that it became hard to see, although power flashes inside of it were noted. The tornado continued leveling rows of homes as it headed towards the Apple River Bridge. Incredible phenomena occurred in this area. One metal rod of unknown origin was badly twisted, and found embedded into a debarked tree, next to a home that had mud splattering on it, which suggests possible scouring within the city. Two very heavy safes, one of which weighed 8000 pounds, were tossed a block by the tornado. A very heavy wagon tire was found wrapped tightly around a debarked tree. As the tornado exited town, it impacted the wagon bridge. The bridge was sucked up into the funnel, and sheared apart into many small pieces, the remains thrown over half a mile away.

(Above): Stunned onlookers look at a piece of twisted metal embedded into a debarked tree. Note the significant debris granulation in the foreground. (Photo Courtesy of the Wisconsin National Archives)

A grove of trees along this section of the river were completely debarked. The tornado then filled the nearby pond with debris of all sizes. Continuing northeast, the tornado remained at F5 intensity as it curved northeast, destroying hundreds of trees and sweeping away homes before it near-missed the town of Clear Lake, which had been struck by a tornado in 1884. The tornado resulted in massive panic, as people feared of another disaster. The tornado ended up missing the town 3 miles to the north. The tornado swept away many more farm homes at F5 intensity. Fred Kennetz was thrown from his house into a nearby field a few hundred yards away, where he lay in the hands of death. The tornado then obliterated the home of Sam Olson. He and his wife were killed, and his son was severely injured. P.L. Taylor made it to the cellar just in time, as his home was "blown to atoms." He sustained few injuries. J.C Walsworth's barn was also swept away.

The tornado then began to move in a mostly easterly direction as it headed towards the city of Barron, the same Barron that was near-missed by a long-tracked and weaker EF3 to the south on May 16th, 2017. The tornado had weakened somewhat by the time it approached the city, but was still strong enough to pierce flying debris through walls of homes. A church was totally leveled and many homes were shifted off of their foundations. Several trees were snapped and glass was shattered by flying debris. As the tornado was about to enter the city of Barron, however, it rapidly weakened. The inflow dried up, and the supercell finally began to let go of the deadliest tornado in Wisconsin History. The tornado finally vanished for good at 7:00 PM, but the scars it had inflicted were far from gone. The parent supercell likely was overtaken by the convective mess at this point, or it never produced a tornado again and finally decayed.

The town of New Richmond was completely destroyed. All the hard work put in by the citizens, working day and night for years and years had been completely wiped out of existence in the span of less than 3 minutes. Immediately, screams and cries of the injured began to echo from the streets. Initially, people were so confused by what had happened, that they didn't even have time to understand their whole town was gone when the precipitation core of the supercell came, producing very heavy rains that lasted for an hour. Immediately, people ran back into their cellars, fearing another cyclone was coming. They out when the rain died down into a war zone. Granulated debris and debarked trees lined the streets, absolutely nothing, even of the business section which was built with stone structures, was left intact in the swath of F5 damage. Fires began to burn in the tornado's wake, which quickly spread without anyone to fight it. Debris was embedded in homes all over the city, regardless if you were in the damage path or not. One wooden plank was embedded deep into a lawn well outside of the tornado's damage path.

It is unknown how many people died in the tornado itself, or died in the fire afterwards, but the death toll mounted up to at least 117. Several bodies were found without limbs or body parts. Other bodies were so badly burnt that they weren't even recognizable as bodies. One boy laid dead in the streets next to the church for over a day, people passing by him thinking he was a piece of debris. Another man was found so badly mutilated that all of his bones were shattered, his body decaptitated, the remaining torso slashed with deadly force. It is possible that several other bodies were thrown into the nearby lake, or into the Willow River and never recovered, but that is unknown.

The first order of business was to recover the deceased, treat the injured, and put out the fires. The same man who yelled, "CYCLONE! CYCLONE!" To warn the people at the Nicollet Hotel survived. He, along with another friend of his, braved the precipitation core to deliver news of the disaster to Minneapolis, which was already being crippled by floods. He managed to deliver the news despite all of these obstacles, and news of the disaster spread around the country like wildfire. There were only a few doctors in the city at the time, and they worked around the clock, doing their best to try to treat the hundreds of injured. The first relief train was sent from Minneapolis to the site of the disaster later that night, carrying a lot of doctors, nurses, and press representatives, wanting to take an account of the disaster for themselves.

Dead bodies continued to be recovered for days, and debris was hauled off of the streets into piles over the next week. The circus remained in town for the next day, despite not being in the tornado's path. They used their elephants to help remove debris off of the streets and carry the injured. Father Degnan, the same man who witnessed the tornado destroy his town, went out to survey the damage outside of the city, which helped those outside New Richmond get attention, because it wasn't only the people of New Richmond who needed help. Donations came in from all over the place to help those who had lost everything. The Governor of the state came to survey the ruins. As time passed, as months passed, signs of the "Great New Richmond Cyclone" began to fade and fade. It wasn't until the late 1930s, when the last sign buildings that were leveled by the tornado were removed. Debarked tree trunks were replaced with new trees. A new bridge was built, and New Richmond began to prosper once more.

However, the tornado's memory would never fade. The deep scars and the pain carried by orphaned children, parents who lost their children, anyone who lost a loved one lasted for the rest of their lives. Even today, 121 years later, the tornado's effects remain. It's given the people of New Richmond a sense that they can rebuild. They can go over any obstacle that comes their way. The tornado instilled in the people of New Richmond a sense of ambition, which can still be seen today. The New Richmond tornado of 1899 was the worst, and most powerful tornado in Wisconsin History. It still remains the 9th deadliest tornado disaster in United States History, and one of three official F5/EF5 tornadoes to impact the state of Wisconsin. The tornado completely changed New Richmond forever, and it's effects still haven't worn off today.