On April 3, 1974 an F-5 tornado tore through the heart of Xenia, killing 33 people and injuring more than 1,300 others. It bulldozed a path more than a half-mile wide, destroying or damaging more than 1,400 buildings, including 1,200 homes, dozens of businesses, 10 churches, and several schools. By the time it lifted into the sky near Cedarville, it left behind more than $100 million of damage in Greene County.
The Xenia tornado was part of a super outbreak, when 148 twisters swept across several states, killing 335 people in a 16-hour period on April 3-4, 1974. It still ranks as one of the largest natural disasters in American history, with Xenia the hardest hit community.
The Xenia subdivision of “Arrowhead” was especially hard-hit, the tornado leaving it in ruins. The 4-year-old subdivision on the city’s southwest side lost more than 300 homes, many on concrete slabs with no basements.
Greene Memorial Hospital in northeast Xenia narrowly escaped the tornado’s wrath, but lost its power and telephone service and its water quality was suspect. About 500 people were treated there in the first 24 hours, 34 of them being admitted with a number transferred to hospitals in nearby Dayton for treatment.
Twenty-six years later another tornado (an F-4) struck at an unusual time – early autumn and after dark – on September 20, 2000. The tornado would follow an eerily familiar path of destruction through Xenia, killing one man and destroying or damaging more than 300 homes and 30 businesses.
*Material from the Dayton Daily News Archive was used to compose this blog entry.
Great post. I really enjoyed the pictures.
I remember this day well. I was 14 and living in Dayton. I was riding my bike that afternoon and an older man came out of his house and said “Girl, you better get home because a storm is coming”. I pedaled as fast as I could and I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz. That turned out to be too close to the truth. We had friends who lost their house and others who had damage but thankfully all our friends were safe.
Yeah, my mom drove from store to home. She saw a huge black cloud and tornado touchdown from 30 miles visibility from Kettering,OH. I used lived there until 1975. I was about 10 years old that time happened. My school offered for field trip to Xenia to see what is like tornado wiped out. It was horrible.
Stuart
Chicago, IL
I remember that day all too well. I was there. The silence and darkness of that first night was so very creepy. I was in college and my family was scattered throughout the town. Trying to get to them and not knowing who was where and if they were alright was so frightening.. and then the sound of the police cars going around saying, “Take Cover! Another tornado has been sited”. I’ll never forget it. The 2 x 4s that had gone through the front window of our home, but yet every vase and trinket was still standing unharmed on the window ledge. The 2×4 went through the living room way and hung out on the other side in the kitchen (lived in Arrowhead), still with the curtains hanging from the end of the 2×4. Thank you for remembering the people who lost their lives that day.
The “roar of 74″. I was downtown Xenia….my senior year of high school there. I’ll never be the same. My most vivid memory was my father running in where I was…still wearing the cape as he was in the middle of a haircut and had gone into a manhole to survive.
I remember this day very well also, I actually wrote a poem about it that was published not too long following the tornado. However, I believe that is even 37 years later the most terrifying day of my life. It is not something you just put behind you. I remember my family laying in the hallway and my father on top of all 3 of us and we were praying as hard as we could. Until a neighbor peeked in the front door and said it’s gone, when we came out we watched it continue to destroy everything it came in contact with, many places off in the distance that had never been visual before from my front yard was now completely clear in sight because everything else between it was gone i could see the courthouse clock like it was a block away and I remember thinking about my friends and the rest of my family at that exact moment. The days ahead were very crazy and chaotic as well. curfews, national guard everywhere, eating outside with the neighbors over coleman stoves, it was a time of togetherness that i have not had since. Thanks for remembering our day too!
Where is the memorial plaque with the names of all victums of the 74 tornado? I think it’s in downtown Zenia somewhere, any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Keith
Sir,
I am not sure of the exact location of the memorial. However if you contact the Greene County Historical Society they should be able to get you that information. Here is there contact info:
74 West Church Street
Xenia, OH 45385-2902
(937) 372-4606
IT SITS ON THE CORRNER BY CITY HALL. DETROIT ST.
I remember that day very well I was only 13 at the time we just got home from school Temple christian in dayton we lived in Bellbrook at the time my parants was taken care of our church camp grounds.Called (High view acres) owned by Dayton baptist temple. My dad (Denny Moore)was working in the cafiteria when he decide to come to the house as he was walking he saw the twister heading towards him and then took a turn and head towards Xenia. We spent over six hours in the basement that night we had a house in Xenia at Arrowhead at the time we rent it out. It was save the kids that was living there open up all the windows and it did save the house. It took us over eight hours to get into Xenia that night to check on our house. I’ll never forget that day, We live in Cleveland these days.
Years have gone by, the mind is now more forgetful than ever, however, one thing I will never forget is that day, that hour. It is still creepy to “re-live” it thru the pictures and video’s. Some things I recognize, others I don’t. I remember the story’s from that day that came out in the Xenia Tornado books that were printed shortly after. So many lost so much, some lost everything and some lost a whole family. It is almost 39 years later and everything is so vivid. Blessings to all who endured, to all who survived that fateful day. Blessings on those that were taken from us so brutally. I didn’t know you, but I remember you!
i was 8 wen it happened i kown
I remember that so well. We were wondering how my grandmother and my aunt and uncle were. We live in Mercer County and my mom and dad and my family were trying to get information on them. We didn’t receive any word until late in the night from my mom’s brother who lived in Beavercreek finally got into the area. My grandmother was transported to the hospital with severe head injuries and my aunt and uncle were okay physically but never recovered emotionallly. Both of their houses on W. Second street were destroyed. My grandmother didn’t remember anything about it. It was a very sad day when we finally took her to where her house was to show her why she now had to live with my parents. Her whole married life she lived in that house and raised six children. It was gone in minutes.
Thank you for sharing your family’s experience of the tornado, Carol. What a sad story! It was such a horrific event, truly one of Ohio’s worst natural disasters.