The tornado that destroyed Concordia Church cut a wide swath through Clay County, beginning south of Moorhead. This storm was responsible for extensive property damage over a wide area, serious injuries, and three deaths.
Photo of the original building
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Moorhead Daily News, Thursday, May 28, 1931
"...Then swinging westward again towards the river, seeming almost to take aim at Concordia Lutheran Church, it [the tornado] took this building and laid it in a tangled mass of wreckage.
Several gravestones in the cemetery were turned over..."
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"From Our Files" page 2, December 20, 1938
"Harold Bekkerus had a strange experience in the above mentioned cyclone. He, with Robert Johnk were driving along the grade between Wm. Sprung and Halvor Tweten homestead where Flemming then lived. The boys were sucked out of their car and dragged a long the graveled highway so their clothes were shredded and their bodies bruised and whipped with dirt. They noticed their car rolling over along the ditch and it was found later to have rolled over seven times. They were able at last to get up and walk to Flemmings place which was just a mile south of the church which was completely wrecked, blown to bits and scattered far and wide, leaving only the cement basement."
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Moorhead Daily News, Friday May 29, 1931:
"Farmer Thrown 50 Feet....Continuing its dizzy, zig-zag course, the twister turned again toward the east, where it struck the Henry Anderson farm. Mr. Anderson saw the cloud coming and he attempted to hold the doors of the garage shut. He landed on his hands and knees, badly bruised. "
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From Our Files" page 2, written December 20, 1938
"A new and well built house on the old Lee homestead owned by Mrs. Andre Hattledal was also destroyed and her son Melvin killed when taking refuge in the basement. Wm. Sprung's barn, silo, windmill and other buildings were also destroyed or wrecked."
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Moorhead Daily News, Friday May 29, 1931
"Evidently drawing up a huge amount of water from the Buffalo River, the tornado plastered everything on the Nels Hanson farm with a heavy coating of mud. It picked up cattle and chickens and scattered them all over the prairie. Six cows were killed and a hog....a baker's dozen (of chickens) remain alive and these walk about the yard caked with mud and minus most of their feathers."
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Photos of the Tornado Damage
Click on a thumbnail and a full-sized photo will appear in a new window.
took most of the pictures on this page the day after the disaster.
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For more about the tornado,
contact the Historical & Cultural Society of Clay County
for a copy of their July/August 1997 Newsletter
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