View source for Fargo tornado

{{Short description|1957 tornado in North Dakota and Minnesota, U.S.}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox weather event
| name  = 1957 Fargo tornado
| image = 1957 Fargo tornado.jpg
| caption = An image of the F5 tornado as it neared [[Hector International Airport]].
| formed = June 20, 1957<br>4:40 p.m. [[Central Time Zone|CDT]] ([[UTC−06:00]])
| duration = 3 hours, 30 minutes<ref name="Bordwall_Forecasts.weather.gov_April_9_2015c"/>
| dissipated = June 20, 1957<br>8:10 p.m. CDT (UTC−06:00)
}}{{Infobox weather event/Tornado
| basin = atl
| winds = >275 mph (442.57 km/h)
| fujita-scale = F5
| enhanced = no
}}{{Infobox weather event/Effects
| deaths = 12
| injuries = 103
| damages = $25.250&nbsp;million (1957 [[United States dollar|USD]])<br/>${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|25883000|1957}}}} ({{currentyear}} [[United States dollar|USD]])
| affected = [[Cass County, North Dakota]], especially [[Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo]], and [[Clay County, Minnesota]], especially [[Moorhead, Minnesota|Moorhead]]
}}{{Infobox weather event/Footer
| season = '''[[Tornadoes of 1957|tornado outbreaks of 1957]]''' and the '''[[Tornado outbreak sequence of June 20–23, 1957]]'''
}}
During the late afternoon and evening hours of June 20, 1957, a violent, "long lived" (it was later confirmed that it was a [[tornado family]]) and deadly [[Fujita scale|F5]] [[tornado]] commonly known as the '''Fargo tornado''', struck the north side of [[Fargo, North Dakota]]<ref name="Bordwall_Forecasts.weather.gov_April_9_2015c">{{cite web|url=http://forecasts.weather.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/Fargo%20Tornadoes%20June%2020%201957.pdf |title=A Detailed Analysis of the Fargo Tornadoes of June 20, 1957 |newspaper=Forecasts.weather.gov |date= |author= |access-date=April 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041856/http://forecasts.weather.gov/om/assessments/pdfs/Fargo%20Tornadoes%20June%2020%201957.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref> as well as the area north of [[Moorhead, Minnesota]]. It was part of a family of five devastating tornadoes produced by one supercell over the course of 3.5 hours, although they are listed as one continuous tornado. The tornado family started in [[North Dakota]], traveled {{convert|27.4|mi|km}} to the [[Minnesota]] border before crossing it and continuing for another {{convert|25|mi|km}} for a total track length of {{convert|52.4|mi|km}}. Additionally, at its widest point, the damage swath reached {{convert|500|yd|m}} across. A total of 12 people were killed, making it the deadliest tornado in North Dakota history. Meanwhile, 103 others were injured, and damage was estimated at $25.25 million (1957 USD). It was part of a [[June 20–23, 1957 tornado outbreak sequence|larger outbreak sequence]] of 23 tornadoes that affected the [[Midwest]] and [[Great Plains]].

==Tornado summary==
The F5 tornado that hit Fargo was the third in the tornado family that moved from [[North Dakota|Central North Dakota]] to [[Minnesota|Central Minnesota]], as well as the strongest and most catastrophic. The tornado was sighted as a funnel cloud above [[Mapleton, North Dakota]] at 6:25&nbsp;p.m. on June 20, 1957. It touched down at 7:40&nbsp;p.m. a mile west of 29th&nbsp;Street North in [[Fargo, North Dakota|Fargo]] and traveled generally northeast for {{convert|9|mi|km|spell=in}}, moving directly through the north side of Fargo between 7th&nbsp;Avenue North and 12th&nbsp;Avenue North. It then crossed the [[Red River of the North|Red River]] into [[Moorhead, Minnesota|Northeastern Moorhead, Minnesota]], before occluding northward and dissipating. It had a peak width of {{convert|500|yd|m}} and was on the ground for 21&nbsp;minutes. It also at times moved at a painfully slow {{convert|10|mph|km/h|abbr=out}}, which no doubt played a role in how destructive it was. In addition, the communities of [[Wheatland, North Dakota]], [[Casselton, North Dakota]], [[Glyndon, Minnesota]], and [[Dale, Minnesota]] were damaged from F0, F2, F4, and F3&nbsp;tornadoes, respectively. The F0 and F2&nbsp;tornadoes occurred before the Fargo F5&nbsp;tornado, while the F4 and F3&nbsp;tornadoes occurred afterwards, with all of them happening over a time period of 3.5&nbsp;hours from 4:40 to 8:10 PM CDT. However, the event is officially listed as one long-tracked F5&nbsp;tornado.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Damage was extensive and included 100&nbsp;blocks of North Fargo. Approximately 329&nbsp;homes were destroyed and some of them were completely swept off their foundations. An additional 1,035&nbsp;homes were damaged.<ref name="Bordwall_Library.ndsu.edu_April_9_2015c">{{cite web |url=http://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/?q=content/1957-tornado |title=1957 Tornado |newspaper=Library.ndsu.edu |date= |author= |access-date=April 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408005318/http://library.ndsu.edu/fargo-history/?q=content%2F1957-tornado |archive-date=April 8, 2015 }}</ref> The worst residential damage occurred in the Golden Ridge Subdivision (today the Madison Elementary School district) near 25th&nbsp;Street North, much of which was swept away and scattered across a nearby farm field. A total of 15&nbsp;farm homes were destroyed and 25&nbsp;others damaged. Four churches and three schools, including [[Shanley High School]], Sacred Heart Academy, and buildings on the [[North Dakota State University|North Dakota Agricultural College]] campus were also severely damaged. It also damaged 15&nbsp;businesses that were destroyed and 30 others that suffered major damage. These were mainly small local shops. A total of 200&nbsp;automobiles were destroyed and 300&nbsp;damaged.<ref name="Bordwall_Digitalhorizonsonline.org_April_9_2015c">{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalhorizonsonline.org/cdm/search/collection/uw/searchterm/Herschel%20Lashkowitz%20Photograph%20Collection%202107/field/all/mode/exact/conn/and/cosuppress/ |title= Herschel Lashkowitz Photograph Collection 2107 - Photo Gallery - Images from the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies (NDSU) |newspaper=Digitalhorizonsonline.org |date=  |author= |access-date= April 9, 2015}}</ref> Some debris from the F5&nbsp;tornado was found in [[Becker County, Minnesota|Becker County]] over {{convert|50|mi|km}} east of Fargo.

===Casualties===
{{Copy edit|section|for=tone and compliance with the [[WP:MOS|Manual of Style]]|date=May 2025}}
Ten people lost their lives in the immediate aftermath of the storm, making it the deadliest tornado in North Dakota history. Two more people later died likely due to injuries sustained in the tornado, but were not counted in the official death toll. All those killed were residents of the Golden Ridge neighborhood, described as a predominantly working-class neighborhood of modest, but cheaply built homes, only a handful of which had basements.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 16</ref> An additional 103&nbsp;people were injured. Because of the tornado's relatively slow speed, many neighborhood residents fled the area in their cars before the storm hit. Others were not so lucky. At the western edge of Golden Ridge, Donald and Betty Titgen were in their mobile home when the tornado struck. Donald was killed instantly, while Betty was gravely injured. She remained in a coma until her death in January 1960. Their two young daughters, who had been in the care of an aunt that day, were later raised by relatives.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 28</ref> Two blocks to the east of the Titgens, Theodore and Teresa Udahl and their eight-year-old daughter Mary Jean were also killed when their home was swept away. In the confusion afterwards, Theodore and Teresa were mistakenly identified as another couple, while Mary Jean, whose body was found almost a block away from where the Udahl home had stood, was not properly identified until the next day.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 7, 28, 108-109</ref> Sixty-nine-year-old Laura Schoenherr, who lived in a mobile home one block east of the Udahls, had been trying to take shelter in her daughter's home next door when the tornado struck. She suffered terrible injuries which later led to a leg being amputated and the loss of function in one arm, and she later died in hospital about three weeks after the tornado on July 15.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 29</ref>

====The Munson family====
The remaining six fatalities together were the most tragic losses exacted by the storm, as they all came from a single family. In the summer of 1957, Gerald and Mercedes Munson lived at the far eastern edge of Golden Ridge with their seven children; Phyllis, LeRoy, Darwin, Bradley, Jeanette, Lois Ann and Mary Beth, whose ages at the time were 16, 14, 12, 10, 5, 2, and 16&nbsp;months respectively. On June&nbsp;20, Gerald was in [[Bismarck, North Dakota]] for his job as a truck driver, while Mercedes was also at her job as a bartender. LeRoy was babysitting for a neighbor while Phyllis was at home with the younger children. That day had also been Mercedes' 36th&nbsp;birthday and she had arranged to leave work early to celebrate her birthday with her children. However, the co-worker who was supposed to cover her shift had been running late, and when Mercedes first heard the storm warnings she called home to check on her children. Phyllis answered the phone, screaming "Mother, it's hitting!" before the line went dead.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 24-27.</ref>

Mercedes quickly caught a ride across town in an effort to reach her children, only to find her neighborhood in ruins. After finding LeRoy unharmed, a neighbor told her to head for a hospital, which she did along with a friend who gave her a ride. As the evening progressed the two women went back and forth between the city's two main hospitals, St. John's and St. Luke's, until before long she learned the horrible truth. Her family's home had been directly in the path of the tornado, and like most homes in the neighborhood did not have a basement. Phyllis and her five younger siblings had tried to take shelter under a table, which provided little shelter when the house collapsed upon them. Mercedes first identified Phyllis, Jeanette and Mary Beth in the basement morgue at St. John's hospital, while Lois Ann had been found alive but gravely injured. Meanwhile, at St. Luke's she identified Bradley in the morgue, and was informed that Darwin had also survived but like Lois Ann, was also severely injured. Mercedes was not allowed to see either of them. Darwin died from his injuries just before midnight, while Lois Ann died at 2:30&nbsp;a.m. the following morning.<ref>The Minneapolis Star, June 21, 1957, p. 1</ref>

The following morning, the deaths of the six Munson children dominated many headlines regarding the tornado as the disaster made headlines in newspapers across the country. Included in the story of the Munsons was a photograph taken by ''Fargo Forum'' photographer Cal Olson, showing 21-year-old&nbsp;Richard Shaw, a neighbor of the Munsons, carrying the body of Jeanette Munson out of the wreckage of their home. The photograph was hailed as symbolizing in raw detail the true horror experienced by Fargo in the wake of the tornado, and the following year helped the ''Forum'' win a Pulitzer Prize.<ref>Trista Raezer-Stursa, Lisa Eggebraaten, Jylisa Doney and John Hallberg. "Images of America: 1957 Fargo Tornado". p. 26-27</ref> Gerald Munson came to learn the fate of six of his children the following morning. The evening before he'd heard about the tornado on television but was unable to reach his wife by phone as the lines were down. The next morning, when reading the morning edition of ''The Bismarck Tribune'', he immediately recognized his last name repeated six times in the list of victims, after which he stated aloud "Those are my children. Why did this happen to me? I thought the world of those kids!"<ref>The Star Tribune, June 22, 1957, p. 5</ref>

==Aftermath and recovery==
The 1957 Fargo tornado has been identified as the deadliest tornado in North Dakota to date.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=William |title=North Dakota Tornadoes Twisters & Cyclones |year=2024 |publisher=Valley Star Publications |isbn=979-8-89480-378-4 |location=Dickinson, ND |publication-date=2024 |pages=46 |language=English}}</ref>

After 1971, when [[Ted Fujita]] introduced [[Fujita scale|his scale]] that rates tornadoes based on the damage they cause, the Fargo tornado received an F5 rating, the highest level. The Fargo tornado is considered the most devastating in North Dakota history, and was one of only two F5 tornadoes that have struck the state, [[Tornado outbreak of May 29, 1953|the other]] occurring four years earlier in 1953. The Fargo area was also hit by F3 tornadoes on June 13, 1950, August 30, 1956, and June 15, 1973, but none of these caused any fatalities. As of 2025, this remains the northernmost F5/EF5 tornado in the United States.

An image of the tornado is featured on the cover of the 1984 album [[Couldn't Stand the Weather]] by [[Stevie Ray Vaughan]] and [[Double Trouble (band)|Double Trouble]].

In June 2007, the 50th anniversary of the Fargo tornado was commemorated by the [[Fargo Forum]], which ran a week-long series of stories on the tornado.

In 2010, North Dakota Associate Poet Laureate [[Jamie Parsley]] authored a book about the Fargo tornado entitled ''Fargo, 1957: An Elegy'', which was published by the Institute for Regional Studies at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

In 2019, the Cass Act Players performed a musical based on the events of the tornado called "Weather the Storm" at Bonanzaville Museum in West Fargo, ND.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 10, 2019 |title=Calm in the eye of the 'Storm': Original musical inspired by 1957 Fargo tornado premieres this week |url=https://www.inforum.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/calm-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-original-musical-inspired-by-1957-fargo-tornado-premieres-this-week |access-date=August 26, 2024 |website=InForum |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks]]
*[[List of F5 and EF5 tornadoes]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euORCKG38Ts] Video of Fargo Tornado
{{F5 and EF5 tornadoes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1957-06-20 Tornado, Fargo}}
[[Category:F5, EF5 and IF5 tornadoes]]
[[Category:Tornadoes of 1957|06-20 Fargo]]
[[Category:Tornadoes in North Dakota]]
[[Category:Tornadoes in Minnesota]]
[[Category:1957 natural disasters in the United States|Tornado, 06-20]]
[[Category:June 1957 in the United States|Tornado, 20]]
[[Category:1957 in North Dakota|Tornado, 06-15]]
[[Category:1957 in Minnesota|Tornado, 06-15]]