Thanksgiving Day Tornado Outbreak of 1915

At least twenty-two people were killed and scores were injured in an outbreak of tornadoes on Thanksgiving Day 1915 that caused widespread devastation in four southwestern Arkansas counties.

The worst damage was reported in Lafayette, Hempstead, and Nevada counties. That storm formed eight miles north of Stamps (Lafayette County) at around 3:00 p.m. on November 25, 1915, and “gained a velocity that swept everything before it in a district a half mile wide and 15 miles long.”

The tornado first hit the farmhouse of the John Bailey family, killing his father and infant child and injuring him, his wife, and other children. It then killed newlywed Lewis Armstrong and injured his wife before destroying seven homes in the Sardis (Hempstead County) community.

The twister continued into the Azor (Nevada County) community, killing six people, five of whom were in one house, and then hit Bodcaw (Nevada County), injuring several people, including some who were attending at Thanksgiving Day football game. Several of the injured there were expected to die. At Laneburg (Nevada County), “all houses, barns and fences for a solid mile were destroyed.”

Patmos (Hempstead County) “felt keenly the storm,” with three deaths reported, including that of a two-year-old child.

A tornado hit near Hot Springs (Garland County) around 3:05 p.m. and was on the ground for about ten minutes. Ten people were killed by that storm, with the greatest damage near the Shady Grove schoolhouse where Mrs. A. J. Crowder and three of her children were killed. A nineteen-year-old bride had “her head severed cleanly from her body as she lay by her husband.”

The storm system continued north, and at Salem (Fulton County) an “aged woman, met instant death when her house was wrecked by the wind.” Three of her family members were injured.

More than fifty people were injured in the Garland County storm, and more than one hundred were hurt overall in the Thanksgiving Day tornado outbreak.

For additional information:
“Houses Are Crumpled as though Toys.” Arkansas Gazette, November 27, 1915, pp. 1, 8, 13.

“Ten Known Dead and More than Fifty Hurt in Tornado that Struck near Hot Springs.” Arkansas Gazette, November 26, 1915, p. 1.

“Tornado Will Likely Claim More Victims.” Arkansas Gazette, November 28, 1915, p. 1.

“Twenty Killed and About One Hundred Hurt in Arkansas as Result of Thursday’s Storm.” Arkansas Gazette, November 27, 1915, pp. 1, 16.

Reynolds, Robert Edwards. “Devastating Tornado on Thanksgiving Day November 25, 1915.” The Record 5 (2010): 125–132.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas