Frantic searches for survivors were immediately started in the rubble of Neisner’s Department Store, one of the hardest hit businesses in the Crystal Lake Plaza.Shortly after the tornado hit and realizing how severe damages were, Mayor Louis Goossens declared a citywide state of emergency and ordered families in the almost totally destroyed Colby subdivision to evacuate by nightfall. Much has transpired since then, including the devastating "Palm Sunday Tornado" in 1965, and Chicago Tribune photographers have been there. News you use every day! It is said that one of the roofs from a warehouse was thrown 400 feet away.The funnel then raced down Crystal Lake Avenue. Little kids were all over the place, cut and bleeding from the glass that was strewn over the whole area. Harry received a call from the president of the Illinois Mobile Home Association. We drove home to find the devastation. Clearchoice Services professionals know how to clean your windows effectively to eliminate streaks and ensure a professional appearance. She wasn't their since it was Palm Sunday. His last words to my grandmother were, ‘I am going to have to run between the raindrops.’ He went out, a few minutes later my grandmother saw the tornado through the kitchen/family room windows. 50th anniversary of 1965 Crystal Lake tornado. Also today, much more powerful and analytical radars, such as Doppler, are in use by the weather service to detect conditions for tornadic formations. But here we are, fifty years later, and the memories and nightmares of this giant storm are still strong in the minds of those who lived through it.The Crystal Lake Historical Society continues to collect photographs, newspaper articles, and personal accounts of the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado. Neighboring Nunda was renamed North Crystal Lake in 1908 before being annexed by Crystal Lake in 1914. For the next week, Crystal Lake’s police force divided themselves up and provided around-the-clock protection of the disaster area. The community was there for them.

As we ran to "The Del's" large window, a giantic limb from an oak tree at Blanche's Grill crashed into the middle of Virginia Street. “When it was over, dad went out and started talking to us,” Cooper said. Very few homes escaped the storm’s destruction.The tornado’s third, fourth, and fifth Crystal Lake victims were all from the same family. We drove home to find the devastation.
Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful reflection.We lived on Uteg Str and MY Father was one of the VERY 1st on the scene. Nearly all stayed with neighbors, relatives or friends.“The thing I remember most was the community coming together,” Dillon said. Ray reported for duty and was directed to Colby’s subdivision. if you know your way around computers, and would like to help, please let us know! he had built a beautiful pool for his grandchildren behind the barn in 1964 and was expecting a concrete contractor out on Monday to pour the deck around the pool. I was going through the lounge where there was a black & white TV. Their thoughts were on a pleasant evening to come. Mr. Wyman, Cheri Doetch (Rae Goss's granddaughter) has a more accurate story about Rae Goss's death. delicatessen hang-out on Route 14 right across from Blanche Moan's grill at the corner of Washington St. and Virginia Street (Rt.

Companies donated heavy equipment and operators to help with the cleanup. Still, his death was a huge loss to the community. By late morning, as churches were ending their services, even the unsophisticated radar systems used by weather forecasters in Chicago were picking up the makings of dangerous weather conditions across Missouri and Iowa. this is Amazing! I was shocked vecause my mother had written me that she had started going all the from Wauconda to Crystal Lake to go grocery shopping at that Piggly Wiggly. The Statter Wallpaper Mills lost several warehouses to the storm. Zero. By 1 p.m., they were concerned enough to notify Chicago radio stations, who delivered a “severe weather warning” for the northern Illinois and northern Indiana.Back in 1965, emergency sirens were not purposed to give tornado warnings. I then worked full-time for the city during the summer of 1965.As Shakespeare would say, "It was a strange-disposed time." A crew of men from nearby Coventry extricated his body when they went to search for children which they feared might have been in the wreckage.”Rae’s grandchildren recall a different story. This is the area of Crystal Lake hardest hit by the tornado.“At least 20 persons were trapped when the roof over Neisner’s dime store in the Crystal Lake Shopping Plaza collapsed at the height of Sunday’s tornado. We couldn't get back to Holters' house on the north side of Colby's subdivision because there were so many power lines down. Because of this outpouring of generosity, NO ONE had to spend the night in the high school gymnasium.When Chuck Aldridge, owner of The Pantry Restaurant learned of the tornado and could finally get through the traffic, he opened his downtown restaurant at 5:30 Palm Sunday evening and stayed open all night to serve the many workers and tornado victims. I got most of the details from people when I got home that summer. More serious injuries were treated at three nearby hospitals in Woodstock and Elgin.A changing crew of volunteer women, led by resident Margaret Jenner, prepared and served hot meals and sandwiches at the high school. Craig Knaack was a friend of mine, and I watched as rescue workers frantically tried to remove the caved in garage that had collapsed on his parents in their Harold St. home. There were streaks from the cloud – white, like sun shining through some rain,” local resident Ben Martin told the Crystal Lake Herald afterward.