Published: March 24, 2008 04:21 pm            

Sixty years later ... Town remembers tornado’s wrath

COATESVILLE, Ind. — Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of a tornado that destroyed the Town of Coatesville and left 19 people dead.

To help remember the lives lost and the devastation, officials of the Coatesville-Clay Township Public Library are presenting a lecture on the tornado Tuesday.

Librarian Cheryl Steinborn said Hendricks County Historian Betty Bartley will speak about the tornado at 7 p.m. in the library’s meeting room.

Steinborn explained that she has also made a slide show of photos from the tornado to show the devastation.

“I am hoping some of the survivors will attend,” she added.

Steinborn said town and library officials have begun to look into creating some type of memorial to commemorate the lives lost.

“Nothing in the county commemorates that event,” she added.

Indiana — recognized as a part of “Tornado Alley” — has seen its share of tornadoes wreak havoc and destruction across the state.

Darrell Storm, a resident of Coatesville, was 13 at the time of the tornado and had lived with his family just south of the town. He said in a previous article that both he and his father spotted the tornado and watched it rip through the heart of the town.

Storm said it took several years for the town to be rebuilt. Much of the money used to rebuild the town, he said, came from people who came to see the destruction first hand.

For more information about the lecture, call Steinborn at (765) 386-2355.



Amanda Roach writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.