American Essence

Storm-Born: Three Doctors, a Nun, and a Twister

In this installment of “When Character Counted,” we look at the Doctors Mayo and a nun who created one of the world’s great medical institutions.
Storm-Born: Three Doctors, a Nun, and a Twister
The damage from the 1883 Rochester, Minn. tornado. View of Lower town, looking northwest, from 2nd Ave and 5th Street NW. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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The sweltering afternoon heat and strange stillness that had puzzled and oppressed the 5,000 residents of Rochester, Minnesota, finally broke when a tornado roared into the town and surrounding farms in the evening of Aug. 21, 1883. A score  or more people died from the horrific winds, while hundreds more were injured.

That night, volunteers carrying lanterns searched for victims among damaged homes and businesses. Since Rochester had no hospital, the injured were taken to several buildings, including a local dance hall.

Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.