What The Tornado Saw When It Came To Washburn

These are aerial views of campus before (top) and after (bottom) the tornado struck in 1966. It's sadly obvious why some of the buildings couldn't be saved.
Notice in the top photo that the western wing which exists today on Morgan Hall has not yet been added and that KTWU has not yet been built. Although the whole block owned by the university can be seen, the campus has grown and changed drastically since these pictures were taken.

photos courtesy of Mabee Library Archives

Life Goes On

As the community emerged from the shock after the 1966 tornado, the recovery process began. Repairs commenced. The dome was returned to cover the observatory, mangled trees were trimmed, and classes resumed in the fall with the assistance of temporary trailers (top photo). Noticeably missing in the picture is Rice Hall, which used to be just south of Stoffer.

The second photo shows Stoffer Hall in the spring of 1967, when the trees were beginning to recover. The greenhouse currently located by the southern entry was constructed at a later date. MacVicar Chapel, previously located to the west of Stoffer Hall, is conspicuously absent, having been destroyed by the tornado along with Rice Hall.

In the lower picture is a winter view of Stoffer Hall from the west with the city as a backdrop. Little evidence remains of the devastation visited upon the campus by the tornado. Today, the U-shaped parking lot and Bennett Hall are located in the area near where MacVicar chapel used to stand. And forty years later, the three small pine trees planted near the west entry of Stoffer after the tornado are now grown tall.

photos courtesy of Mabee Library Archives

Stoffer and the Tornado of 1966

A tornado, reportedly the equivalent of an F5, struck in 1966 and devastated the campus. Several buildings were so badly damaged that they couldn't be saved. The most common pictures of the damage sustained by Stoffer Science Hall depict the southern view of the building. Although the damage portrayed on the southern side is considerable, few people are aware that the worst damage was on the northern side of the building.

At top is the damaged north side of the building. Few windows are left intact. This photo is a testament of a tornado of such power that even after having traversed several miles and demolishing multiple campus buildings, it still had the strength left to lift and remove the observatory dome.

The northwest damage can be seen (second from top) in this picture taken from the driveway into the Morgan Hall front parking lot. It appears almost like the tornado, as an afterthought, gave the building a parting shot. The western-most lecture hall, ST101, was nearly destroyed, although the other lecture hall appears to have escaped major damage. The three lower pictures show the extent of the destruction from three different angles: the western entry, the north side and from inside the lobby.

All photos by Mike Worsick, courtesy of Mabee Library Archives.

The Organic Lab

Once again noting how things have changed over the years, this is a comparison of the Organic chemistry lab viewed through the pass-through window of the stockroom in 1960 (top) and in 2006. Special thanks to Sean and Ami for serving as models. Top photo courtesy of Mabee Library Archives. Lower photo by D. Leach, 12/06.