1900 John Korda-2's house moved by tornado. Flying outhouses.

Stevens Point Journal
14 July 1900

PRANKS OF A TORNADO
Houses Moved from Their Foundations and Trees Blown Down

The wind storm Saturday afternoon was far more serious in the northern and eastern part of the city than was at first suspected by those who were down town at the time.
It was a veritable tornado and did a great deal of damage, not all of which can be reckoned in dollars and cents, for the destruction was confined largely to shade and forest trees.
The line of greatest destruction passed in a southeasterly direction over the northeastern part of the city, passing north of St. Peter's church, south of the Normal and finally spending its fury near the Christian church on Minnesota avenue.
The first serious trouble caused by the wind was the displacement of the house of John Korda[-2] at the corner of Fourth avenue and Division street.
Mrs. Korda [Antonia Kluck-2] and her two small children [John Korda-1 and Edward Korda-1] were at home alone in the house at the time and she was so very much frightened that she did not realize what was happening until the storm was over. The house is 16x24 feet, one story in height, recently built, and was supported on stone pillers[sic]. The wind lifted it up and dropped it down again six feet south and three feet east of its original location. The plastering was badly cracked, and the whole frame loosened and knocked out of plumb. The center pillar came up through the floor and the chimney, which fell on the roof en masse, broke a hole through the shingles and roof boards and cracked a rafter.
John Frosz, who lives up on the hill on Prentice street, had three loads of hay cocked up on his meadow, but the wind carried it away and spread it over the neighboring farms.
The storm swept on, felling trees as it went, sometimes splitting off great limbs or the tops and again tearing them up bodily by the roots. A chimney was blown off the roof of Mrs. G.N. Doty's residence on Main street. Several lights of glass were blown in at the residence of John Dignum, next door. Mr. Dignum, who was permanently injured in the tornado at Star Lake two years ago, was very much alarmed at the threatening appearance of the clouds and expected a repetition of the catastrophe that destroyed the lumber camps at Star Lake in 1898. Several trees were blown down in the yards of W.H. Skinner, Mrs. N. Boyington, N. Gross, T. Clements, B.L.Vaughn, H. Cartmill and on the Normal, Third ward and high school lawns. Some windows in the corridor of the Normal were blown in and smashed.
The steam boat, Island City, which has been reposing on the tops of four kerosene barrels east of the Normal for the past year, was blown over and considerably racked.
The greatest destruction occurred in the block east of Michigan avenue, between Clark and Ellis streets.
The house on the corner of Clark street and Michigan avenue was badly twisted. Extending back from the main part is a long wing, the rear half of which is used as a woodshed and had no floor. The door was open and the wind, rushing in, lifted the shed from its foundations and twisted it around until it was a foot out of plumb. The house was occupied by the Winkler and Knute families. In the next house lives George Hubbard. Here the wind got under the shingles and tore great patches of them from the roof. A large barn, old but reasonably substantial, that stood in the rear of the the lot, was blown down and completely wrecked, together with some furniture it contained. Several outhouses in the vicinity were lifted up and carried some distance. One was carried over the top of a shed next to it at a height of ten feet. A group of jack pine trees that stood back of the Hubbard house on lots owned by J.F. Stewart and J.L. Jensen was attacked by the wind and fourteen of them were uprooted. A large oak in J. F. Stewart's yard, a foot in diameter, was broken off near its base. Further on the wind tore down large sections of the Fair ground fence, Athletic park fence and tore about three yards of shingles off Mr. Patterson's house near the Christian church and also blew down half a dozen pines in that vicinity.
The storm presented a wild scene at the time and many were very much frightened, especially the women who were at home alone. The wind was preceded by a great roaring noise high up in the air and as it rushed on, it gathered up the dust, sand, paper and branches of trees and whisked them high in the air.
The board roof of G.E. Culver's wood shed was lifted up and scattered in pieces over the adjoining lots for a distance of 150 feet. The roof of Dr. W.F. Atwell's carriage shed was also blown off and broken up. So far as known no persons were hurt.
Millions of dead branches and live twigs and leaves were torn from the trees and scattered broadcast. A number of people who were hurrying home had narrow escapes from the former. Probably a total of nearly a hundred trees in the city were either blown down or denuded of some of their limbs.