Pomeroy Tornado Museum

"On the evening of July 6, 1893, there passed through one of the most beautiful and productive sections of fair and fertile Iowa a tornado which destroyed more lives and property than any other like visitation of which western history contains any record."
From
The Story of a Storm
A History of The
Great Tornado at Pomeroy
Calhoun County, Iowa
July 6,1893
By F. W. Sprague
It lives! On July 19, 2008 I installed the first exhibit of the Pomeroy Tornado Museum. The focus of this museum will be on scientific education. Doing the research so far has been fascinating and I'm very excited about the possibilities of this venture. It is located in the Pomeroy Mall. The interior common space will be used for a free tornado museum. Jerry Schultz was one of the first visitors:


July 31, 2008 The 2nd exhibit was hung today. It's a 42" enlargement of a tintype taken after the tornado. The view is from the south part of town looking north and is proof it was an EF5. "Nice job" to Choice Printing of Fort Dodge!
August 8, 2008. Another exhibit got hung today. Choice Printing enlarged 5 public domain weather photos from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is the "Cliff's Notes" of the tornado museum. A description prepared by students and faculty of The College of Leonard accompanies it.
August 21, 2008 I had Choice Printing enlarge the title page from Story of a Storm, the map of the town showing the devastated area and 6 pages of description of the multiple vortex tornado which struck Pomeroy. Those were hung today.
August 22, 2008 I hung three more framed descriptions. They explain the Fujita Scale and The Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Here are some "before" pictures. Stay tuned for the "after"
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
To Contact me: |
| Leonard Olson | |
| The Pomeroy Tornado Museum | |
| 114 South Ontario Street | |
| P. O. Box 3 | |
| Pomeroy IA 50575 | |
| chelp@ncn.net |
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00. Saturday 9:00-12:00 Sunday - closed