Storm Damages Inflicted Upon Michigan: Photos from 1900-1920s

Whenever Michigan gets hit with a storm, chances are you'll see someone outside watching: in the yard, on the porch, on the street, or in a field...all looking toward the sky, silently hoping to see a funnel so they can capture it on their phones.

Many of us have experienced what it's like to be in the path of a tornado. Many years ago, I was in the path of one. I was with my cousins hanging out in town when the wind picked up and the sky started to look weird. REAL weird. Imagine the halves of a sheet of paper, one half clear, the other half completely black. No fading in between the shade, just an abrupt change. That's how odd the sky looked. A tornado was on its way.

We got back to the house just in time to get into the basement. We all huddled in a corner and waited while the extreme rumbling took place outside. When it was over, we went out and saw all the huge fully-grown trees that were toppled into the driveway. This tornado experience was not in Michigan - I was visiting my relatives in Kansas, who lived in a farm house out in the country...just like in “The Wizard of Oz”. Difference was, there was no root cellar to climb down to, just a basement. Luckily no one got hurt.

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Michigan has had an ample share of storms, no matter what the season: severe thunder and lightning storms, tornadoes, snow storms, ice storms, hail storms.....all capable of extreme damage.

The gallery below features over fifty images of storm damages that occurred in various Michigan towns back over 100 years ago, from 1900-1920s.