The story of the tornado that ripped through Sharon Township in 1890

No one can discuss the history of Sharon without talking about the tornado that ripped through the township on the evening of April 8, 1890.  It touched the lives of several Wall relatives, killed a man and his dog and severely injured the man's wife.  Never before or since has there been a storm like it in Sharon Township.  The Walls and relatives that suffered damage from the cyclone were Uriah and Sarah Wearstler son-in-law and daughter of Isaac Wall, Frank and Gertrude LaCroix son-in-law and daughter of John Wall, Christian F. Wall and Reason Wall both sons of Charles, and Joshua Hartman an in-law.

That morning there had been a storm with the sky becoming unusually dark, but with little rain.  About five in the afternoon distant thunder was heard in the northwest and a thunderstorm moved in the direction of Sharon, but stalled northwest of the village.  Just before seven P.M. it started to rain.  A few minutes later a black funnel dropped from the clouds on the Uriah Wearstler farm.  Witnesses described it as resembling a large (hot air) balloon swaying side to side.  Jacob Derr, later mayor of Wadsworth living on the old Isaac Wall farm, was milking in his barn with his hired hand when they noticed the approaching storm.  Derr sent his hand to the house to tell his wife and daughter to get in the cellar.  He joined them for a few seconds and then foolishly went upstairs to see what was happening.  It almost cost him his life.  He stepped to the back porch just in time to have the door blown out of his hand, throwing him through two rooms and over a sewing machine, badly bruising him.  The kitchen and back porch were completely blown away and the house moved from its foundation.  The west end and roof of the barn were torn away and Derr's buggies were wrecked.

It next hit Joshua Hartman's barn tearing the roof off one end.  The funnel traveled east and laid an orchard flat.  It then lifted and moved towards the southeast and again touched down in the woods.  It laid flat more than 500 sugar maple trees, twisting them off or blowing them over, and destroyed Arthur Beech's sugar house.  It swept along towards the southeast taking fences and trees until it reached the Crane farm where it leveled the orchard and blew down the north part of the house, crossed the road, took the south roof off R. M. Brown's house and demolished the barn, covering the livestock with debris.  Dick Brown was in his barn with Eugene Fulmer and seeing the barn begin to give way told Gene to "git."  The wind carried them along until Brown caught onto an old stub and held on until the storm was by.   Later, several large timber beams of the barn had to be sawed apart to free the animals that were still alive. 

The tornado then struck Frank and Gertrude (Wall) LaCroix's barn, crushing it and destroying a buggy and wagon.  It hit Isaac Brown's place blowing a lumber pile to pieces and ripping slate tiles off the roof of his new barn.  The twister continued southeast and cut a swath of destruction down back of the Chandler, Conrad, Bodine and Joseph Waltz farms.  It then turned east up over a hill and swept down on Christian Wall and destroyed everything on the farm except the house.  Christian's new bank barn was blown into a pile of rubbish and pieces of it were distributed over a half a mile around.  The funnel turned northeast, swept up over the hill tearing down trees and everything in its path and hit Reason Wall's house, moving it from its foundation and causing it to lean so that no one could stand up straight in it and destroyed several buildings on the place.  It next hit Mathew Bramley completely wrecking everything except his granary.  Near by Frank Bramley and his family got into their cellar just as the storm hit their house tearing it away from over their heads and setting it on fire.  It swept on towards the last house in Sharon, gathering itself as if for a last dreadful act of devastation.  Mowing a narrow swath of trees up the hill in back of the Hughes Franks house.  It tore the house from its foundation and what seconds before had been a place of peace and comfort was a pile of rubbish 70 feet wide and 200 feet long and barely three inches deep.  It exited Sharon Township and next hit the Henry Wall farm in Copley Township blowing over his barn before lifting and doing no more damage until it was well east of Akron. 

Residents of Sharon outside of the storm track were startled to hear the church bells of the town ringing immediately after the storm passed.  To them the storm seemed only unusually heavy.  As the people of Sharon came running to the town center they were told that Richard Brown's barn was down and all of his stock inside.  Someone came from Doctor Cassidy's with the news that Matthew Bramley's barn had blown down had he was badly hurt.  Someone else brought the news that Christian Wall's barn was down and all his stock inside.

It seemed bad news was coming from all over but the worse was still to come.  Soon someone arrived saying that Hughes Franks' house was blown away and Mr. Franks could not be found.  Men immediately mounted horses and rode east toward the Reason Wall and Matthew Bramley farms where they were met with the terrible news that Mr. Franks had been found dead in the road and terribly mangled.  His wife was found several yards away from where the house had been, badly injured and their dog dead beside her.  Mrs. Franks survived but was crippled the rest of her life from her injuries.

The Methodist Church on the left, looking north west from the Sharon Center area towards the Crane and LaCroix homes located near where the Sharon Center school was built a few years later.

The remains of Christian Wall's barn located near the intersection of Rt. 44 (old State Road) and Rt. 162 the Sharon-Copley Road.

The tornado damage on Christian Wall's farm, which fortunately spared the house.

Ronald N. Wall

Modified: 10 August 2020