The tornados of 2019 caused a lot of destruction in the Dayton area, but did you know there was a tornado in Kettering on May 8,1969?

At 5:57 pm, during the Thursday evening rush hour, a tornado touched down in the Kettering/Beavercreek Township area, near the Montgomery County/Greene County Line. The approximate size of the damage path was 150 yards wide and 4 miles long, starting east of Woodman Drive and continuing to Grange Hall Road. Thirty residents of Kettering were hospitalized with minor injuries and about thirty homes were demolished. Another 150 homes were severely damaged. The neighborhoods along Dorothy Lane were hit the hardest with damage. Colony of Kettering, a 120 unit apartment building on County Line Road, was severely damaged, displacing the residents. Nearby Fairmont Easy High School, now Kettering Middle School, was set up as a temporary shelter, but not many used it. Instead, many stayed with friends, family, and neighbors whose homes were not damaged.

Crestview Nursing Home (Now Crestview Manor) lost their kitchen and a part of their roof, but luckily none of their 75 residents were injured. National Guardsmen were sent in to prevent looting and aid the displaced residents. Red Cross stations were set up and civil defense workers were on scene to help.

The weather conditions that caused this tornado started over the Great Lakes. A low center over the lakes triggered a cold front that moved southeastward and set off a series of thunderstorms, one of which formed the tornado