Black and white postcard (14 x 8.5 cm.) with a view of a residential section at 31st and Seward Streets in Omaha, Nebraska that was destroyed by the tornado that hit Omaha on March 23, 1913. There is a home and another building both visible and wooden steps leading up to the home amid the debris. There are two men dressed in black coats and hats standing at the bottom of the steps and some other people milling about. In the bottom right of the image is written: Photo by Scott. The top has hand written across 31st & Seward St.
Late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, disaster struck Omaha in the form of a massive tornado. The path of the tornado started at 49th & Poppleton and continued through Carter Lake and Council Bluffs, IA. Areas suffering the heaviest damage were Bemis Park, Sacred Heart Academy and 24th & Lake Streets. Homes of both rich and poor were leveled. Several churches were seriously damaged. Fires from broken gas mains and wood stoves raged throughout the devastated neighborhoods. 140 citizens were killed and 400 injured. The Webster Telephone Exchange at 2219 S. 29th served as a temporary morgue while the telephone operators remained at the switchboards. News of Omaha's disaster went out on the only surviving telegraph wire -- the Omaha Daily News. Offers of aid came in, and Omaha's citizens helped one another. The 1913 Easter Tornado remains one of Omaha's greatest disasters. Source: Driscoll, Charles. Complete Story of Omaha's Disastrous Tornado, Omaha: Mogy Publishing, c1913.
