Shabbona farmer remembers deadly tornadoes of April 21, 1967 on the storms’ 55th anniversary

From his home at Barb City Manager on April 18, 2022, Paul Herrmann, whose family farm is located 8 miles west of Shabbona in Lee County, shared photos of how a tornado destroyed his cattle shed on April 21, 1967. The tornado was one of 45 that occurred during the outbreak. Three F4 tornadoes killed 58 people and injured more than 1,000.

SHABBONA – Paul Herrmann distinctly remembers the afternoon of April 21, 1967, when multiple deadly tornadoes struck northern Illinois.

Thursday marks the 55th anniversary.

The Herrmann family farm is located 8 miles west of Shabbona in Lee County. The family homesteaded the farm in the 1850s after it immigrated from Germany. Herrmann’s grandson is the fifth generation on the family farm. Paul Herrmann is 91 years old and lives at Barb City Manor in DeKalb.

The afternoon of April 21, 1967 started like any other for Herrmann and his family.

Between 3 and 4 p.m., Herrmann, his late wife Shirley, and their 4-year-old son, Walt, were at home, waiting for the couple’s five older children to return home from school on the school bus.

“The sky turned an eerie yellow green and the air grew still,” Paul Herrmann said. “That’s when there was a big blast of wind, and I knew we had to run to get into the basement.”

Herrmann said that once in the basement, “it was all over in 30 seconds.”

When they exited the basement, Herrmann and his wife and son saw that their large cattle shed had been destroyed by a tornado, with pieces of wood, plaster and windows scattered over a 40-acre field. About 50 head of cattle escaped a mile away. Herrmann spent the rest of the day rounding them up in the remaining barns. His older children safely returned home from school on the bus after the storm.

“I think even the sun came back out, but it was too late,” Herrmann said. “It makes a believer outta ya, that’s for sure.”

A neighbor half a mile north received no damage, but a neighbor to the east had a small shed destroyed. The Herrmann family was without electricity for 48 hours after the storm. Family members, neighbors and friends helped the family clean up the cattle shed’s debris. Herrmann had insurance on the barn, but the structure never was rebuilt.

From his home at Barb City Manager on April 18, 2022, Paul Herrmann, whose family farm is located 8 miles west of Shabbona in Lee County, shared photos of how a tornado destroyed his cattle shed on April 21, 1967. The tornado was one of 45 that occurred during the outbreak. Three F4 tornadoes killed 58 people and injured more than 1,000.

Multiple deadly tornadoes

The National Weather Service described the April 21, 1967 tornado outbreak as “Northern Illinois’ Worst Tornado Disaster.”

There were 45 tornadoes in the outbreak total, with at least 10 in northern Illinois, including the one Herrmann and his family experienced. There were three F4 tornadoes that killed 58 people and injured more than 1,000.

Other northern Illinois tornadoes included an F2 at La Fox, an F2 in Batavia and Geneva, an F2 on the southwest side of Elgin and an F1 in Bloomingdale, from Addison to Schiller Park, the north side of Chicago and South Holland.

The day’s temperatures were in the low-to-mid 70s with mild and humid air. There was a wave of low pressure during the warmth of the afternoon, which caused an increase in low level wind sheer, or the change of wind speed and direction with height.

“This fatal combination of factors led to explosive development of rotating supercells along a line of storms that was moving across northern Illinois that afternoon,” the NWS said in its report.

The storms caused three fatal F4 tornadoes in Belvidere, Lake Zurich and Oak Lawn. The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale is used to assign a tornado a rating based on estimated wind speeds and related damage. The NWS describes an EF4 tornado as “violent,” with maximum winds of 207 to 260 mph, and produces devastating damage: well-constructed houses leveled, structures with weak foundation blown some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

The Belvidere F4 tornado struck at 3:50 p.m., traveled a length of 26.6 miles and had a maximum width of 800 yards. The tornado caused 24 deaths and 500 injuries. The tornado struck Belvidere High School just as students were leaving at the end of the day.

According to an April 22, 1967 Daily Chronicle article, “many of [the students] died in the wreckage of school buses and automobiles littered across a field of mud for 200 yards. … Many of the victims were young children. … The 16 buses lined up at the high school had picked up the elementary children first, then stopped for the older pupils.”

The Lake Zurich F4 tornado struck at 5:03 p.m., traveled a length of 4 miles and had a maximum width of 150 yards. The tornado caused one death and 100 injuries.

The Oak Lawn F4 tornado struck at 5:24 p.m., traveled a length of 16.2 miles and had a maximum width of 200 yards. The tornado caused 33 deaths and 500 injuries.

Heavy winds on Friday afternoon raised and then lowered the roof on the Glidden School, doing considerable damage. Brick work that was wrecked by the wind is seen in the area near the roof line. Barricades have been installed to prevent injury from falling bricks. From the April 22, 1967 issue of The DeKalb Daily Chronicle, provided by the DeKalb County History Center Archives.

DeKalb County storm damage

The April 22, 1967 issue of The Daily Chronicle reported that DeKalb suffered heavy storm damage storms that occurred the day before.

“Damage in DeKalb will probably reach into the thousands, while damage in outlying areas will double in total,” the article reported.

The DeKalb Fire Department took emergency lighting equipment to Belvidere after assistance was requested. The newspaper article stated that 14 DeKalb police officers, seven NIU security officers and four county deputies went to help at the high school and hospital in Belvidere.

Glidden School in DeKalb was heavily damaged by the storm and was closed for the remainder of the school year “as being in an unsafe condition.”

“Contractors said they would round up crews and immediately start investigating the damaged roof and the southwest and northwest corners of the building,” the article stated. “They were hoping to prevent further damage from rains or possible storms by taking such preventive measures as seemed possible.”

Glidden School was extensively remodeled that summer and reopened Fall 1967. The building was torn down in February 1975.

Sycamore was spared from any serious damage, although some trees were toppled. Heavy wind and rain led to car accidents that caused five injuries.

Four Sycamore police officers and all available DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputies except one went to assist with tornado damage in Belvidere.

“Many people in our community may be familiar with the devastation from the tornado that hit Belvidere but often don’t realize the impact it had in DeKalb County,” DeKalb County Historian Michelle Donahoe said. “Glidden School was severely damaged, and many area communities sent police and firemen to help out. As it happened around the time school was getting out, it was a frightening time for many people throughout northern Illinois.”

After the storms

According to the NWS, after the storms, much colder air poured into the area on northwest winds. Two days later on April 23, northern Illinois had a rare late April snow. A total of 3.8 inches of snow fell at Rockford and 3.1 inches fell at Chicago’s Midway Airport. The snowfall was the latest 3-inch snow on record for both locations.

After the tornado outbreak 55 years ago, Herrmann said he and his family have taken severe weather warnings seriously.

“It made me realize the power of tornadoes and Mother Nature,” Herrmann said. “It could take big trees up by the root and level my big barn.”

Herrmann said he remembers the disaster of the Belvidere tornado and the schoolchildren who were killed.

“The one at my farm was a small tornado, but it sure as hell did a lot of damage,” Herrmann said. “It was the same time and the same day. It puts everything in perspective.”

A few years after the tornado, Herrmann asked his son Walt if he remembered what happened that day.

Said Herrmann: “He said, ‘Of course. I was scared. It was the first time I ever remember seeing you cry. It was awful. The tornado of April 21, 1967 was a tragedy I will never forget.’ ”

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