Valley Girl Views: The 1919 Tornado That Destroyed The Dewart School House

Seventeen school children and three teachers were in the Dewart Academy when the Tornado touched down, taking the top floor right off the building. No one was seriously injured.

On May 21 1919, 17 students from the Dewart school, and other township schools, had come to the Dewart Academy, to take the exam exam to attend the high school located there. While three township teachers and a Northumberland School Superintendent graded the tests, the pupils were outside on the playground.

As the skies darkened, the superintendent, Mr Swank from Elyburg, called the students back inside, saying it looked like an awful storm was coming. He had everyone gather in the vestibule, the sturdiest part of the red brick building.

Moments later, the winds tore through the building, removing the top floor. The school bell flew off the school, and across the creek, landing in the meadow.

Tornado Damage at the Russell Farm

Superintendent Swanks Ford roadster was picked up, turned over several times, and landed in a vacant lot nearby. It had to be taken to a Watsontown garage to undergo repairs.

No one was seriously injured, and the students, who all lived within walking distance, walked home after the building collapsed. They later all took the same exam again at the McEwensville school.

Tornado Damage at the Nicely Barn

It was about half past 4pm when a man crossing the Allenwood-Dewart bridge witnessed the black funnel cloud. It first tore the roof off of a large barn at the William Nicely farm. From there it moved east, striking the Russell farm, where the Dewart Academy was located.

Edmund E. Russell & Wiliam H. Nicely, President of the Farmers National Bank, were brother in laws. The Dewart Academy was located between their two farms.

John Russell, and his father Edmond, were working in the nearby barn when the funnel shaped twister came through the area, taking the roof off the barn they were working in.

The barn was soon reduced to a pile of boards and heavy timbers. A nearby shed was ripped apart, and the 1917 Model T Ford kept inside was lifted into the air. It landed upside down, on it's roof. (After the storm, the car was flipped upright, and when the hand crank was turned, the car started.)

Residents took shelter wherever they could find it. The two Russell men and the farmhand hid under a wagon.

The entire storm lasted approximately three minutes, but it was followed by heavy rains that continued throughout the night. Several neighbors helped the Russells put a temporary roof on their home during the rains.

Between 20 and 30 apple trees on the Russell farm were uprooted, and a windmill was leveled. Later the family attempted to replant the apple orchard, but the new trees would not grow there. Some of the chickens were blow about a mile away to the next farm.

At Coburn, along Penns Creek, the creeks overan the banks in the worst flood since 1880.

A large portion of the dam at Monroe Mills was washed out. Fifteen hundred dollars worth of lumber was washed away. The heavy rains caused the river to rise so rapidly that several feet of water covered the trolley tracks near the Milton fairgrounds.

East of Sunbury, a tornado touched down around 6:30pm. Two additional farm houses were unroofed and fruit trees of George Conrad's 3 year old peach orchard were torn up by their roots.

Seven Men and a boy look over part of the remains of the Dewart schoolhouse after a cyclone hit the building and ripped the roof off May 21 1919. About 20 students were inside the building when the cyclone struck. Miraculously, only two pupils were slightly injured. Investigating the damage are (left to right) Fred Truckenmiller, Jake Wertman, W. Truckenmiller, Ed Truckenmiller, George Fredericks, Stewart Wertman, Unidentified, and Homer Hess, all from the Dewart area.

Ward Truckenmiller would be the "boy". Fred was his brother, Ed his father.

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The next tornado to come through the Dewart Area was in 19185
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-1919-tornado-that-destroyed-dewart.html

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