Monticello, Indiana

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Monticello, Indiana
April 3, 1974
517 p.m.
TORNADO!
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It is difficult to rationalize why you do certain
things in times of crisis, but I realized one
thing something terrible was happening out
there. My instinct told me to seek safety in
whatever manner I could.
----- Katie Wolf White County Clerk
1968 1978 In the White County
Courthouse when the tornado struck
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One person was killed and many employees were
trapped when the third floor of Bryans
Manufacturing collapsed.
Firefighters and citizens worked together to free
Karl Wert, who was covered with tons of stone
from the Barr Company at Main and Broadway, after
being thrown from his pickup truck by the tornado.
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There had been a temporary morgue set up at the
fire department and there were two women in
there. One was from a dime store downtown Ben
Franklin and another was killed at Bryans
Manufacturing.
----- Bill Green Monticello Police Chief
April 3, 1974
The storm blew this house into East Marion
Street. Note the Washington Street Bridge in the
background, where five fatalities occurred. Guy
Emigh is at left.
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This is still a troublesome thing for me. Its
not easy to remember that my friends all died.
Its hard to know that so many peoples lives
were so hurt by their losses and my life went on
pretty much as usual.
----- Karen Stotts Myatt, the only survivor in a
van that was swept from the Washington Street
Bridge into the Tippecanoe River fifty feet
below. Four teenage girls and their teacher, who
was at the wheel, were killed.
The body of Sharon Miller, friend of Karen Stotts
Myatt, was pulled from Lake Freeman two weeks
after the tempest.
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The tornado ripped 115-ton spans from the
Penn-Central railroad bridge and carried them
for forty feet before dropping them into the
Tippecanoe River.
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We really havent recovered yet, to my
estimation. A number of the businesses that
were torn down, they never came back.
----- Carl Capper November 20, 1998
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The tornado demolished the sanctuary of the
Monticello Presbyterian Church.
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It was unreal that so much damage could take
place in such a short period of time. We had to
call school offwe didnt know for how long.
It was just unbelievable.
----- Dr. Robert Hanni Twin Lakes School
superintendent at the time of the tornado
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We faced the daylight in a daze. Our roof was
gone, the entire back wall of our home was lying
in the yard, and the front wall was lying in the
living room.
----- Sue Erb, who rode out the storm in the
basement of her Maxwell Avenue home, pictured here
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Harrison Street
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As I neared the town square, my stomach turned
upside down because I saw total devastation.
----- Bob Fox, Indiana State Trooper and
Monticello resident at the time of the tornado
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I asked White County Memorial Hospital
administrator William Saunders how many people
had been injured or killed. We dont have any
idea, he said, quietly. They just keep coming
in.
----- David Maroney, news reporter who covered
the aftermath
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As I arrived in Monticello on U.S. 24, I first
noticed Roosevelt Junior High School, which
appeared to have been bombed.
----- Reg Shireman, Indiana State Trooper and
Monticello resident at the time of the storm
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Today, there is little visible evidence of the
destruction of the deadly storm.
Yet in the minds of those who were in Monticello
during the tornado, the day will live
forever.
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Many thanks to the Monticello Herald-Journal for
allowing us to use the photos and text in this
presentation.
Photos credited to the Monticello Herald-Journal,
with the following exceptions Slide 2 Studio-D
Inc., White County Historical Society Slide 3,
right Linda McClintic Harmon Slide 6 Studio-D
Inc., White County Historical Society Slide 8
Studio-D Inc., White County Historical
Society Slide 10 Jerrys Photography Slide 13
Studio-D Inc., White County Historical
Society Slide 14 Studio-D Inc., White County
Historical Society