The Falls City Hall Tragedy

One of the most tragic sites that night in 1890 was Falls City Hall on West Market Street. The Hall was full when the storm hit: a local chapter of the Knights and Ladies of Honor were having a meeting, and a group of 50-75 children and their mothers were taking dance lessons.

First-hand accounts from survivors at Falls City paint a clear and terrifying picture of what happened when the tornado approached. First the building started rocking in the intense winds, then a dormer window in the lodge room was blown from its casings, and plaster began to drop from the ceiling. Then suddenly the floors gave way, and the entire building collapsed to the basement level. Within minutes, Falls City Hall was reduced to a pile of rubble, a burial site for 200 trapped victims.

Thousands worked through the night to dig out survivors and retrieve the dead. Many victims were crushed by fallen structures, while others died of suffocation under the wreckage as they awaited rescue. The next day the Courier-Journal reported the devastation at Falls City as “A Story of Woe.”