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Black Wednesday Tornado From April 3, 1974, Remembered in Xenia, Ohio

by Jeff Louderback


Time stood still on an early spring afternoon 48 years ago, and life was forever impacted in my hometown of Xenia, Ohio.

April 3, 1974. Those of us who lived in Xenia and are old enough to remember vividly recall where we were when the clocks stopped around 4:40 p.m.

That is when a tornado packing 300 miles-per-hour winds splintered neighborhoods, reduced schools and businesses to piles of rubble, shredded graceful Victorians like paper dollhouses, and ripped apart historic landmarks that had stood for more than a century. Xenia was caught in the grip of one of the most violent single-day tornado outbreaks ever to strike North America…


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