IN-FORUM: Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks-East Grand Forks IN-FORUM News Weather Sports Opinion Entertainment Business Register
On the evening of June 20, 1957 at 7;36 pm, a deadly F5 tornado moved through north Fargo, killing 12, injuring over 100, and destroying or badly damaging over 1,300 homes. To view the National Weather Service Web site click here.
Fargo, N.D. Friday Evening, June 21, 1957


 
Jayne Hanson

Fear of summer storms remains for woman who survived twister

06/21/2007
Jayne Haugen Hanson remembers the hot, muggy, “eerie” weather and how odd the neighbor’s dog was acting the day of the tornado.

Filmmaker spent all night editing footage of damage

06/20/2007
Bill Snyder, now 90, said he first heard about the tornado that hit Fargo while on the train, headed home from filming a movie in western North Dakota.
Bob Kiefert looks at faded color photos taken June 21, 1957, of the destroyed Linde Air Products Company building the day after the tornado hit Fargo. Kiefert was one of the many National Guard soldiers called in to patrol the city streets during the aftermath. Photo by David Samson / The Forum
Bob Kiefert

Law enforcement maintained order

06/20/2007
There may not have been martial law in Fargo after the 1957 tornado, but local law enforcement’s presence was felt all around the ravaged city.

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One panel of the stained glass window in the cry room features the image of a tornado coming out of the top of a church at Golden Ridge Lutheran Church. Photo by Bruce Crummy / The Forum
Golden Ridge Lutheran Church

Faith community emerged stronger

06/20/2007
Sunday school teachers huddled in the basement of Immanuel Lutheran as the tornado bore down on top of them.

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A Catholic priest administers last rites to a seriously injured patient, who later survived on June 20, 1957, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Fargo. Photo by Chet Gebert / Forum file photo
A Catholic priest administers last rites

ER staff prevailed over chaotic night

06/19/2007
The eerie darkness brewing in the western sky told Dorothy Larson that she should rush to get ready for what she worried would follow the clouds.

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Events marking the 50th anniversary

06/19/2007
WEDNESDAY MORNING 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Memorial service at Madison Elementary School, 1040 29th St. N., Fargo.
Ardyth and Jerry Rasmusson of Kenmare, N.D., will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary June 29. The couple went ahead with their wedding in 1957 nine days after the tornado even though the apartment they planned to move into and Ardyth’s parents’ home were destroyed. Photo by Teri Finneman / The Forum
Ardyth and Jerry Rasmusson of Kenmare, N.D.

Tornado didn’t stop wedding

06/19/2007
The family of Ardyth and Jerry Rasmusson know the story of the 1957 tornado by heart.

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Forum reporter Ed Kolpack checks Jerry Davenport’s car for occupants after the vehicle was found in the trees on the south border of El Zagal park after the 1957 tornado. Cal Olson / Forum file photo
Ed Kolpack checks Jerry Davenport’s car

7-month-old baby ‘blown away’

06/18/2007
Baby miraculously survived being ripped from mother’s arms
Jon Davenport considers his a normal life … except for the tornado that tore him from his mother’s arms when he was just 7 months old.

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Jan Richardson said that she teased growing up for being the “tornado baby.” Special to The Forum

‘Tornado baby’ born with twister nearby

06/18/2007
Jan Richardson doesn’t remember Fargo’s deadly tornado, but the notoriety of that 1957 day marks every birthday she celebrates.

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A deadly tornado barrels down on Fargo in 1957. The twister was responsible for 12 deaths and damaged nearly 1,400 homes. Chet Gebert / Forum file photo

Tornado tore through lives

06/17/2007
Had impact on families, area, state
The evening of June 20, 1957, unfolded like a warm blanket over Fargo.

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Edna Livingston’s home at the corner of 7th Avenue and 28th Street North in Fargo was blown away by the 1957 tornado. After the home was rebuilt, she planted trees between the house and the sidewalk. The city planted the boulevard trees. Dave Wallis / The Forum
Edna Livingston

Storm strikes Golden Ridge hardest

06/17/2007
Edna Livingston remembers dancing for joy in 1956, when running water and sewer finally caught up with her newly annexed north Fargo Golden Ridge neighborhood.

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Field house doors saved ex-Fargoan

06/17/2007
Bernice Knudsen clung to the doors of North Dakota State University’s field house as a towering funnel cloud threatened to suck her in.