The El Dorado, Kansas TORNADO of 1958
It was about six in the afternoon and six of us were on our way to Wichita to listen to a speech to be presented by the President of Cities Service. We pulled up to the toll booth to enter the Kansas Turn Pike and a large dark gray cloud caught our attention. It was moving slowly toward El Dorado. I have heard many times what a cloud that contain a tornado looked like, but this was the first time I new I was looking at the real thing. It was concave like an umbrella and was about the size of El Dorado itself. We decided to pull over into a parking lot near the toll booth and watch the cloud. We were trying to decide if we should go back to the office and pick up our cars and head for home or go on to Wichta.
As we stood there looking at the cloud a tail came out of the center and headed for the ground. About half way to the ground the tail disappeared back into the cloud just as quickly as it had appeared. This convinced us the cloud contained a tornado and it was just matter of time until one would make it to the ground. Just as we decided to go back to the office another tail streaked out of the cloud and almost touched the ground before retreating back into the darkest part of the cloud. As we pulled away from the toll gate to return to the office for the third time a tail came out of the cloud, but this time it made it to the ground and started its devastating destruction.
The tornado appeared to be about two miles North West of Ed Dorado and headed for a community called Oil Hill. Oil Hill was a Cities Service oil Company creation that consisted of about fifty company houses, a restaurant, the El Dorado District production office and the East Kansas Division Production office. As we pulled up to the office there were small whirl winds picking up dust and leaves. The wind was blowing forty to fifty miles per hour and seemed to be increasing. By this time the Tornado was less than a mile to the North West and appeared to be headed directly toward Oil Hill.
It was bedlam around the office as cars raced by blowing their horns and people sticking their arms out the window waving and yelling TORNADO, TORNADO, TORNADO. You had to be careful pulling out into the traffic, or some hair brained driver would send you to your maker before the tornado got to you.
I pulled away from the office and could see the tornado in my rear view mirror and it looked as if it was headed directly for the Cities office. Our home was about one mile from the office and when I pulled into the drive the tornado appeared to be where I was when I left the Cities Office and headed directly towards our house.
Just As I arrived home Ruby was pulling the garage door up to leave the house. She was aware of the tornado and had put Dee, who was seven and Donna who was four, in the car and was preparing to leave. The only thing missing was Sandy the dog. The last time she was seen, she was standing near our neighbor’s car while they were getting in their car to leave. The tornado appeared to be in the middle of destroying Oil Hill and headed for where we were standing. It was time to leave and only hope the dog would be OK. We all got in the front seat of my company car and I backed out of the driveway and we headed for down town El Dorado and would take Highway seventy-seven north to get away from the Tornado…
As we pulled away from the house I told Ruby to take one last look as it may not be there when we returned. The previous month I had been promoted to District Superintendent and we were schedule to move to Madison, Kansas. We had sold our home and closed the sale. Only the contents belonged to us and the house belonged to the buyer.
As we headed for town I ran a few stop signs and red lights. I only slowed down to make sure I wouldn’t meet someone in the middle of the intersection. We turned north and had driven about a mile when it started to hail. Small pea size first then marble size then golf ball size. We pulled over to the side of the road as ice had covered the ground. Just as we pulled over base ball size hale stones started to pound the car. This only lasted about a minute but it was long enough for the hood and top of the car to look like some one had used a hammer to pound on the car. As soon as the hail stopped a torrent of rain started and probably two or three inches in about fifteen minutes. This cleared the ice from the road and we started back towards home to see if we had a home.
When we left the house the tornado was about one half mile away and appeared headed straight for our house. As we turned onto Rado Avenue it was obvious things had been slightly rearranged. There were a few shingles missing, small limbs everywhere, but none of the houses were gone. Inspection of our house revealed a few shingles missing and a few marks on one side of the house, due to the hail. Our dog, Sandy, was nowhere to be found.
It appeared the tornado missed our house by about two blocks. The new owners would probably get a new roof and a new paint job. Considering what I thought we would be coming back to it was a bargain.
When I left Oil Hill I was sure it was directly in the path of the tornado and would be completely destroyed. After seeing the neighborhood where we lived had been spared and had suffered very little damage it was time to check on our friends that lived in Oil Hill and surrounding area.
As we drove toward Oil Hill the path of the tornado was clearly evident. The trees were either gone or twisted in grotesque shapes and homes had been stripped to their foundation. When we left our home it looked as if it was directly in the path of the tornado. About three blocks from our home the tornado altered its direction slightly and tore across the American legion Golf Course instead of coming through our addition. After Crossing the Golf Course it entered another addition of El Dorado, destroying many more homes before pulling back into the clouds. The tornado was on the ground only a few minutes and traveled about three miles, but had destroyed over one hundred homes and we would later learn had killed fifteen people.
As we drove through Oil Hill it was just as I had left it only a few minutes earlier, very little damage to the buildings and nobody was injured. The Tornado had missed Oil Hill but struck an addition two blocks to the south west. This was a new subdivision of El Dorado and many of the homes had just been completed. Many Cities employees lived in this addition.
One of the Passengers in the car headed for Wichita, Virgil Hughey, lived in this addition and arrived home as the Tornado was entering the addition .His wife unaware of the tornado was getting ready to take a shower. They only had time for her to put on a Robe and run to the home of their neighbor, Bill Melton, and get into cellar he had installed during construction. When they opened the cellar door and came out, only the foundation was left. The house was gone. Hughey’s home was also complete destroyed His wife would have been one of the casualties if we had decided to go on to Wichita. All the Hughey’s had left was a lot, the foundation where theirs house was and the clothes on their back. They we’re only two of many that lost everything in a matter of a few minutes. As we drove through the wreckage Bill Caldwell and his wife accepted an offer to stay at our home until they could make other arrangements.
Our only loss was our dog. She was still gone the next day. The last time she was seen, she was walking around our neighbor’s car as they were preparing to leave the house before the tornado came through our addition. Ruby decided to walk across the street and see if they had seen her. When they said no Ruby asked them to look in their car and see if she might be there. When they opened the door of the car she hoped out. In their rush to leave they did not know she was in car and their excitement of leaving the area they never realized she was in the car.
There were two things that became evident after the tornado had passed through El Dorado. It changed direction slightly before entering our addition, then tore across the American Legion Golf Course doing little damage, and entered another addition continuing its destruction. Also the timeing was critical. If it had occurred after dark the fatalities would have increased substantially.
-L.D. Todd
