“Something like a tornado” visited Dayton on Sunday July 9, 1871, read the newspaper headline on Monday, July 10, 1871.

The storm, described as less than a tornado and more of a “big wind”, blew through “creating great havoc in property and destroying precious human lives. The storm, which was a furious one, lasted about 30 minutes. It began in the northwest with a sultry atmosphere and a temperature of 96 degrees. About 2 p.m. there were angry growlings and menacing streaks of lightning above the horizon. There were a few drops of rain, a sudden rush of wind and the storm came on furiously. Branches fluttered in the air, shade trees went down in the gutters, signs were flung about like flails, great steeples, by the wind, swung to and fro like the tops of tall pine trees. The thunder was terrific, the lightning vivid, the wind most furious and the rain poured down as though the flood-gates of heaven had opened for a deluge.”

Not a corner of the city was spared. The wind blew through Second Street, knocking down the forest of trees lining the road. The Washington Street Bridge, then made of wood, collapsed when bearing the brunt of the wind. It was a total loss. Two young men, George Speyer and Edward Mehan, were killed when they fled the river to the bridge. They were swept into the stream under a mass of timber while onlookers watched helplessly, unable to do anything to save them. Their bodies were discovered a while later, during the cleanup of the storm.

A group of boys and men fishing when the storm started sought shelter from a wooden structure not too far from the bridge in what is now McKinley Park. The wind surged and lifted the structure into the air and flung it into the river. The weight of the roof crushed the side timbers, which flattened the entire structure as it sank into the water. The men and boys inside fled to the roadway, escaping harm.

The German Lutheran Church on East Third Street suffered the worst fate. The storm hit during Sunday school and church was at full capacity. 300 to 400 people were in the church when the storm hit. When a small group of men heard a noise upstairs and investigated, they discovered the north wall was falling inward, having been separated from the roof by the wind. The men rushed back downstairs shouting for everyone to get out of the building immediately.

Although most got out, many men, women, and children were not spared. Some were trapped in the lecture hall when the walls crumbled. The falling beams broke the floor through to the basement, which became a death trap for a number who were caught beneath the brick and wood.

Among the dead were:

• Leonhard Weyrauch, age 16. Leonhard lived with his father, a shoemaker, at 52 Fifth Street. He was crushed under the roof timbers, and killed instantly.
• Christian Thomas, age 38, Shoemaker. Christian remained inside to assist the children in escaping and was unable to make it out himself.
• Theresa Randall, Sunday school teacher. Wife of Oscar Randall of 79 Water Street. Oscar was employed in the music store of J.D. Dubois.

The injured at the German Lutheran Church:

• Jacob Wolfram, age 19. Transported to hospital with fractured skull.
• Lizzy Egry, age 11. Badly cut and bruised on head and shoulders. She also had a scalp wound across her head from ear to ear.
• Mary Siesse, age 12. Serious injury to back and one broken finger.
• Mr. Mailman, church sexton. Helped get children out of the building but was caught by falling wreckage. Badly cut and bruised on head and shoulders.
• Anna Faber, age 7. Buried beneath the timbers. Her father rescued her as he reached the church immediately after the building collapsed.
• Miss Bodecker, Sixth District School teacher, badly bruised.

Other injuries and deaths:

• Four residents of the state asylum were injured, two seriously, when the storm damaged the north gable, causing debris to fall inward. The tin roofing on the main building tore loose, rolled, and landed in the flower beds.
• Mrs. DeCamp was at her son’s home when a flying brick struck her in the head.
• Fannie Fredericks was injured when a bolt of lightning struck her home on East Third Street.
• At a gypsy camp nearby, a tree uprooted and landed on a wagon covering several women and children. Two women were fatally injured.
• St. Mary’s Church on Xenia Ave lost part of its roof. Miss Minnie Kinster was struck by flying timber as she hurried past the building. She suffered three fractured ribs.

Property Damage:

• Machinery used in construction work on the Winters Bank fell and crushed the awning over the sidewalk in front of a fruit store.
• The Mad River Bridge, now known as the Keowee Street Bridge, was badly damaged. Entire sections of weather boarding along the sides were ripped off.
• In Woodland Cemetery, a funeral cortege was disrupted when the storm started. The horses pulling hearse and following cabs were spooked by the swirling storm debris. By the time the drivers managed to regain control of their horses, the separate cabs had been driven in various directions. Once the funeral procession had been reassembled, they met another delay when they discovered the newly dug grave had been filled to the top with water.
• Part of the roof of the C, H, & D railroad bridge was blown away. The chimney on the old Union Building was blown onto the tracks below. Tracks were filled with cars, and outbound trains were held in the station while inbound trains were disrupted throughout the day and night.

Overall, the damage cost into six figures. Carpenters spent the summer replacing roofs, fences, and adding weather boarding that had been ripped off in the wind.