In another of Herbie Theis's Legacy stories, we'll first hear about the old road that used to pass between the barn and the house on the Theis family homestead. Then Herb will give his families first had version of the tornado that hit Cold Spring on June 27, 1894. His great grandmother was standing, holding the front door shut as the tornado wiped out the barn not more than 200 feet just to the south of the house.
The tornado moved on to take the Grasshopper Chapel, the Fuchs farm across the Sauk River, the Jacobs Prairie church and eventually caused extensive damage at St. John's University in Collegeville. Someone in Collegeville, over 10 miles away from Cold Spring, found a grain sack that had blown from the Theis family farm. The sack had the Theis family name on it and it was returned to the family a few days after the storm.
Herbie chokes up as he talks about how close his family came to being swept away by this massive storm cloud. If the tornado had changed its path just 200 feet to the north it would have wiped out his entire family... meaning he would never have been born to be able to pass this story on to all of us.
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