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Gilmore Brothers Dept. Store rear facade, in pieces on Farmer’s Alley. | Photo by Bill Cole, 5/14/80 | (KVM 80.382)
Tracing the Path:
The 1980 Kalamazoo Tornado
Forty years ago on May 13, 1980 a tornado bore down on Kalamazoo. In just 16 short minutes, the tornado left an 11-mile path of destruction, killing 5 people, seriously injuring 79, and causing over $50 million in damage.
The tornado touched down at 4:09 p.m. near the western edge of the city limits, striking the neighborhoods along the West Main corridor. After tearing through Mountain Home Cemetery, the twister leapt to the bottom of West Main Hill, plowing into the St. Augustine Cathedral. In Bronson Park, over two dozen trees that had stood for over 150 years were uprooted or damaged.
Kalamazoo’s pedestrian mall and its surrounding buildings were next along the path of destruction. The six-story Gilmore Department Store building suffered extensive roof damage, and its east wall collapsed outward, piling massive amounts of rubble into Farmer’s Alley below. The tornado damaged several additional structures as it traveled towards Comstock Township, dissipating at 4:25 p.m. just northwest of downtown.
As we look back on the Kalamazoo tornado, the resilience of the city and the positivity of its inhabitants were paramount in the aftermath of disaster. “I Survived the Kalamazoo Tornado—Let’s Rebuild!” t-shirts were produced and words of encouragement were hand painted on wooden boards exclaiming, “It’ll Take More Than a Wind to do Kalamazoo In” and “Yes, there STILL is a Kalamazoo!”
Scene from a parking lot near the corner of Portage and East South streets behind DeGroot Office Machines (now Okun Brothers Shoes). The back wall of a vacant building to the north has almost completely collapsed. (KVM 80.375)