1898: Heavy hailstorm strikes Chicago

Hail storms regularly strike the mid-west in the summertime. Most modern office buildings in Downtown areas are fitted with glass that can withstand the weight and destruction of the ice balls from the sky. This has not always been the case and paths of destruction were experienced as the storms producing the hail moved though. Years of suffering the consequences have led to new safety standards and technology for the glass. One the most notorious hail storms to hit an American city before the advent of better glass techniques occurred on July 28, 1898 in Chicago. According to the Morning Herald-Dispatch “Thousands of windowpanes were broken during a heavy hailstorm in the city. The rain which fell in torrents for an hours after the hail stones had done their work did great damage to the interiors of apartment building and school houses. Most of the damage to windows and skylights occurred on the north and west side where north windows of nearly every prominent building were broken. Horses pelted by the hail rain away in ever direction but no person was seriously injured. The shrubbery in Lincoln and Washington parks was cut up and greenhouses badly damaged. The building in the Downton district had glass broke in the upper stories. In the suburbs the trolley wires were down in many places and the streets made impassable by backwater from the sewers. Many horses were killed by contact with live wires.”

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