One of the worst natural disasters to ever happen in the state took place in Lorain around 5 p.m. on June 28, 1924.
From historical documents and photos, we know the storm caused damage in Sandusky before going out over Lake Erie. The storm then came back onshore in Lorain.
When the tornado touched down, it destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 78 people. Fifteen people were killed when the State Theatre collapsed on a crowd watching an afternoon matinee. Eight people were killed when the tornado destroyed the Lorain Municipal Bath House.
The twister continued through the city, wreaking havoc on around 200 businesses, with an estimated $13 million in damage caused. In today's money, that's around $266 million.
In total, nearly 700 houses were destroyed, and 7,000 of Lorain’s 40,000 residents were left homeless.
A historical marker is located in a parking lot directly behind Black River Landing in the 300 block of Broadway Avenue.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
