Belvidere, Illinois: 1967 Tornado Disaster Monument
A stainless steel tornado, over six feet tall, engraved with the names of all 24 people who were killed by its swirling counterpart.
- Address:
- East Ave., Belvidere, IL
- Directions:
- Belvidere High School. I-90 northwest of Chicago. Take the Belvidere/Genoa Rd exit. Drive north on Hwy 4/Genoa Rd for a half-mile, then turn left onto US 20 for a half-mile. Turn right onto East Ave.; the high school with the monument in front will be on the right.
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A stainless steel tornado, over six feet tall, is engraved with the names of all 24 people who were killed by an F4 tornado on April 21, 1967. It hit the high school just as the kids were getting on their buses to go home; 12 of the 16 buses were either thrown or overturned.
Ninety minutes later the same system spawned another F4 tornado 75 miles southeast of here, in Oak Lawn. It killed even more people than in Belvidere, including 16 who died sitting in Friday rush hour traffic at the corner of Southwest Highway and W. 95th St. There's no memorial in Oak Lawn, however, so the one here will have to suffice for both disasters.
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August 2013: Photo added (Jon Morgan).