Goliad Tornado of 1902

A warning went out that morning. At 12:15 p.m. the Galveston weather office forecast squalls and occasionally high winds for the western Gulf, and Beeville, thirty miles southwest, took heavy wind damage that afternoon. The tornado is believed to have touched down near Berclair, then wrecked the steel bridge over the San Antonio River and the brick factory. Dr. Louis Warren Chilton, whose daughter was lifted into the funnel and survived, ran the courthouse hospital, then built a house with an underground shelter. At the time it was the fourth deadliest tornado in the United States.

What the plaque says

Goliad Tornado of 1902 A cyclone, considered one of the two most disastrous in Texas history, struck Goliad on Sunday, May 18, 1902. The twister touched down on the south side of the San Antonio River at 3:35 p.m. Sounding like a heavily loaded freight train, the storm ripped a mile long, half-mile wide path across the northwest section of town, destroying over 100 homes and leaving an official death toll of 114. At least 50 members of a black Methodist church died when their sanctuary was razed. After the disaster, the Goliad County courthouse served as a temporary hospital and morgue. (1978) Incise in base: Marker sponsor: Goliad Rotary Club, 1978

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The Hanging Tree — steps away
• Santa Anna's Surrender Ratified — steps away
• Bull Durham Advertisement — steps away
• Regulators of Goliad County — steps away