Despite the fact that the new St. Benedict's Hospital boasted of a modern heating system, an operating room, two private rooms, wards, and a kitchen, only ten patients were received during the first two months. The sisters began to worry about their hospital project until a cyclone swept over St. Cloud and the neighboring towns killing 58 and injuring hundreds. It wrecked all in its wake but the hospital which became the center for rescue work. The sisters toiled for 48 hours before relief came from the Twin Cities and neighboring towns. The catastrophe broke down the prejudice against hospitals and, thereafter, St. Benedict's Hospital did not lack patients; at the close of the second year of service, the number of patients received reached 400. When over-crowded conditions forced the sisters to build a new hospital, St. Benedict's Hospital was converted to an academy of art and music (Saint Benedict's Monastery Archives , McDonald, page 254).
Damaged and overturned flat cars are seen in foreground with surviving and damaged grain mill and freight storage buildings in background. This scene was captured after the cyclone of 1886.
Barto, A. (signer); Merriman, O. C. (signer); Szalbury, Channing (signer); Buckman, C. B. (signer); Cooper, John (signer)
Date Created:
1866-07
Description:
Detailed report on the organization of relief activities, fund-raising, emergency assistance, policies for distribution of relief funds and supplies, and summaries of relief work undertaken and distributions made following a cyclone that devastated the vicinity of Saint Cloud and Sauk Rapids on April 14, 1886.
Joe Lommel Jr. was painting his father's tavern in Luxemburg and decided to a take a dip in nearby Beaver Lake. The message to his father says it all: "Too Hot Went to Lake."