The village [of Tampico] had hardly recovered from [the fire of Jan 1874] before another and a more destructive agency came whirling through the town, leaving ruin in its path. This was the dreadful tornado of June 6, 1874, which struck the place about eleven o’clock in the evening of that day (Saturday). It raged but a short time, but within that space thousands of dollars worth of property was destroyed, and many persons injured. Such a tornado had not visited this section of the country since the terrible one of June 3, 1860. The following were the losses of property as given at the time, and published in the Whiteside Sentinel: “The large grain warehouse and elevator of Glassburn & Bryant, containing 20,000 bushels of grain, completely wrecked, loss $10,000; T. S. Beach’s elevator, then recently erected at a cost of $3,000, and having two thousand bushels of grain in store, entirely demolished; G. T. Piersol, damage to dwelling, loss $500; J. G. Banes, dwelling house wrecked, loss $1,000; Ira Humphrey, damage to dwelling house, loss $1,000; T. H. C. Dow, damage to dwelling house and furniture, loss $200; Timothy Guegnian, dwelling house demolished, loss $1,000; Milton Hixon, shoe shop wrecked, loss $200; Payson Williams, saloon damaged, loss $100; Geo. Dee, store and Tampico Hall damaged, loss $1,500; Crampton & Kemp, carpenter shop demolished, loss $300; Col. Crampton, dwelling house destroyed, loss $500; D. McMillan, two dwelling houses destroyed, loss $1,500; Frank Williams, damage to dwelling house, $1,000; John Van Valkenburg, damage to dwelling, $1,500; Eli Cain, damage to dwelling, $1,500; Peter Burke, damage to dwelling, $1,000; James Cain, damage to paint and wagon shop, $700; Chas. Luther, damage to dwelling, $100; S. B. Winters, damage to store, $50; Messrs. Robert Collins, M. R. Jones, James Varian, H. H. Seymour, and several others, sustained damages ranging from $25 to $200. The M. E. Church, built about two years before, at a cost of $1,300, was blown to fragments, the organ being carried a distance of one hundred and fifty feet. The railroad buildings were also damaged to the extent of $500.” Although the storm came as a breath of destruction, and in a few moments was gone, yet scores of hairbreadth escapes were made, and many are the thrilling narratives yet related by the citizens. Chas. Glassburn had a sleeping room in the office of Glassburn & Bryant’s elevator, and when he heard the storm approaching, closed the window, just as several pieces of scantling came crashing through the windows opposite. In another moment the office was filled with flying debris from the elevator adjoining. Young Glassburn clung to the safe, and was saved as by a miracle. Wilbur Piersol sprang into a cellar when the gale came, and cut his leg badly. The building was carried a distance of over fifty feet, but Mr. Piersol happily did not sustain any other damage. Mrs. D. Olmstead who was confined to her bed by sickness, leaped to the floor when she heard the roaring of the approaching storm; her husband forced her into the bed again, and by enveloping her with the bed coverings, protected her from the timbers that crashed through the building. The most remarkable incident of the scene was narrated at the time by Mr. Dow and Mr. Olmstead. Eleven persons, composing two families, were residing in the same building, and all the members, soon after the blow, were found, with the exception of an infant child of Mr. Dow. The neighbors finally tore away the ruins of the edifice, and amid the rubbish, protected from the timbers by a large box and a sewing machine, the little one was found, uninjured. Altogether, eight persons were injured seriously, and a much larger number slightly bruised. The following are the names of the persons most dangerously injured, with the nature of their injuries: Mrs. Maria Banes, head dangerously wounded; T. H. C. Dow, injured in the breast; Wilber Piersol, leg and face badly hurt; Mrs. J. B. Gates, collar bone broken; J. G. Banes, serious wounds of the side and foot; Mrs. J. G. Banes, leg broken; Mrs. W. Piersol, face and breast badly bruised; Granville Connor, head and breast badly hurt. Geo. Banes was struck with a piece of flying timber, but escaped serious injury; Luther Piersol was considerably bruised. That no lives were lost seems almost miraculous, considering the widespread destruction and the great number of buildings blown down, all occupied. During the prevalence of the tornado the groans of the wounded, and the cries of those almost bereft of reason by fright, gave a touch of horror to the picture, revealed as it was by the flashes of lightning which followed each other in rapid succession. The storm came from a southwesterly direction, following the railroad, and veered in its course slightly to the northeast. The damage outside of the village was slight. The scene on Sunday morning, June 7, 1874, was one which the people of the village of Tampico do not desire to look upon again. As soon as possible after the storm, a committee, consisting of E. W. High, T. M. Wiley, A. Smith, Wm. Camper, and J. S. Kimball, was appointed to receive all moneys and supplies for the sufferers, arid it is but due to the people of the county to say that the appeal made to them for this purpose was promptly and generously responded to. It was not long before stores and residences again sprang up, and all evidence of the awful tempest was blotted from sight.

History of Whiteside County, Illinois : from its first settlement to the present time, with numerous biographical and family sketches, 1877, pages 456-458