1967 — April 21, Tornadoes, Northern IL, esp. Oak Lawn area (33) and Belvidere (24)– 58

–58 Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, pp. 510, 1088-1089.
–24 Boone County, especially Belvidere; 15:50 F4
–>7 Belvidere shopping center
–13 Belvidere High School
— 1 Kane, Cook, Lake counties 17:00 F4
–33 Cook County 17:24 F4
–58 National Weather Service, Milwaukee Weather Forecast Office. Famous Tornadoes. 2005.
–58 NCDC/NOAA. Event Record Details. Tornado, Illinois 21 Apr 1967.
–24 Boone County. NCDC/NOAA. Event Record Details. Tornado, IL, 4-21-1967.
–33 Cook County. NCDC/NOAA. Event Record Details. Tornado, IL, 4-21-1967.
— 1 Lake County. NCDC/NOAA. Event Record Details. Tornado, IL, 4-21-1967.
–57 Assoc. Press. “Tornadoes Claim 57.” The Daily Illini, Urbana-Champaign, IL. 4-22-1967, 1.
–32 Oak Lawn, Cook County
–23 Belvidere, Boone County
— 1 Chicago, Cook County
— 1 Stone Park, Kane County

Narrative Information

Grazulis: “IL. APR 21, 1967 1550 24k 500inj 800y f28m F4. BOONE/MCHENRY–Moved generally ENE from 2m SE of Cherry Valley, passing across the south and SE side of Belvidere, passing south of Harvard and lifting 2m N of Woodstock. While farms were leveled all along the path, no deaths occurred outside Belvidere. At least seven people were killed at a shopping center, and at least 13 were killed and 300 injured at Belvidere High School. The funnel swept into the bus loading area as the high school students were being dismissed. The 16 buses had already picked up the elementary school students. In the chaos that followed, 12 buses were overturned or thrown. A bus driver was killed but most of the dead were students who were ‘tossed like leaves’ into adjacent fields. Students and teachers used school doors and plywood from nearby houses as stretchers for the injured students, carrying them into the school. There was near-F4 damage to homes adjacent to the school. About 300 new cars and 100 employee cars were destroyed at the Chrysler Plant. Damage at Belvidere totaled about $20,000,000, with $2,000,000 recorded outside town. About 130 homes were destroyed and 370 were damaged. A marriage certificate from Belvidere was found south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. South of Harvard, a school bus was ripped in half and thrown into power lines as the driver and 20 students hid in a ditch.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 1088.)

“IL. APR 21, 1967 1700 lk 123inj 150y fl7m F4. KANE/COOK/LAKE—This tornado is plotted as moving NE from the NW side of Elgin, passing through Barrington Hills and Lake Zurich. It may have begun as far to the SW as a service station on Hwy-47 near Elburn. At Elgin, three people were injured as a factory was unroofed and torn apart. There was a $100,000 loss at the state hospital. Further to the NE, the tornado grew very intense and destroyed or damaged 500 homes. Homes were leveled at Barrington Hills, and a 1000-pound heating unit was carried a half mile from a home. A dozen cars were “thrown like toys” near the Hwy-22 and 59 intersection. $10,000,000.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 1089.)

“IL. APR 21, 1967 1724 33k 500inj 200y 16m F4. COOK—Moved NE from Palos Hills, through Oak Lawn, Hometown, Evergreen Park, across the south side of Chicago to Lake Michigan. This tornado struck during the Friday evening rush hour. Many deaths occurred in cars that were thrown about at traffic lights. A high school, grocery store, and 200 homes and trailers were destroyed. Several children were killed when the tornado struck a roller skating rink. Other people died under the collapsing walls of a supermarket and in mobile homes.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 1089.)

Newspaper

April 22, AP: “Oak Lawn, Belvidere Suffer Heavy Damage from Storms.
“Chicago (AP) – A swarm of death-dealing tornadoes ripped into heavily populated areas of northern Illinois late Friday [22nd], killing 57 persons, injuring more than 1,000 and leaving portions of the sector a strewn wasteland, police and hospital officials said. The death toll included 32 in Oak Lawn, a suburb on the southwestern rim of Chicago; 23 in Belvidere, a town 65 miles northwest of Chicago; 1 in Stone Park, another Chicago suburb; and 1 in Chicago.

“The Illinois National Guard was activated to patrol against looters Sheriff Joseph Woods of Cook County said in a terse statement: ‘Any looters in the Oak Lawn area struck by the tornado will be shot on sight.’

“A spokesman at Christ Community Hospital in Oak Lawn said 32 victims of the twister had been pronounced dead there. The Cook County coroner said 25 dead were accounted for and he expected the toll to go higher.

“Mayor Clair Hedland of Belvidere estimated that 1,000 persons were injured, 300 critically. The town has 9,500 residents.

“Three Belvidere teen-agers were killed when they touched one of the many broken power lines snaking in the streets.

“One person was killed in Chicago and a 5-year-old girl was killed in Stone Park.

“Several hundred members of the Illinois National Guard were activated to help clear rubble in the Oak Lawn area and guard against looting.

“After the first 10 persons were pronounced dead on arrival at the Christ Community Hospital, a temporary morgue was set up at a VFW hall. Several of the bodies at the temporary morgue were unidentified children whose feet still bore roller skates. Apparently they had been killed when the twister hit a roller rink, leveling the building.

“In Belvidere, reporters saw a woman rummaging through a crushed, overturned school bus about one mile from Belvidere High School. She said she was looking for her son. ‘I haven’t found my son yet. All I’ve found is his coronet case,’ she said.

“Bill Coleman, 17, a junior at the high school, said he helped teachers herd about 200 students into a cafeteria and they were unaware of the damage. ‘Then we got out and looked and there was a bus half-way through the wall.’

“As the tornado neared the new Belvidere High School, terrified students rushed to the school’s library where they huddled against the walls. The force of the wind exploded the library’s windows, injuring dozens, police said.

“One school bus driver said students in his bus saw the tornado approaching and rolled down their windows. ‘The bus jumped off the ground but did not tip over,’ he said.

“One eyewitness at Belvidere described the funnel cloud as a ‘swirling, angry black mass.’

“Damage also was reported at the new Chrysler plant in Belvidere, but most was confined to the exterior of the building on the city’s South Side.” (Associated Press. “Tornadoes Claim 57.” The Daily Illini, Urbana-Champaign, IL. 4-22-1967, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Tornadoes Claim 57.” The Daily Illini, Urbana-Champaign, IL. 4-22-1967, p. 1. Accessed 4-21-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-daily-illini-apr-22-1967-p-1/

Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.

National Climatic Data Center. Event Record Details. Tornado, Illinois 21 Apr 1967, Boone County. NCDC, NOAA, Department of Commerce. Accessed 2/4/2009 at: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~29550

National Climatic Data Center. Event Record Details. Tornado, Illinois 21 Apr 1967, Cook County. NCDC, NOAA, Department of Commerce. Accessed 2/4/2009 at: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~29566

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI. Famous Large Tornado Outbreaks in the United States. NWS, NOAA, DOC. November 2, 2005 modification. Accessed at: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/climate/torout.php