On the afternoon of March 18, 1925, the aptly named Great Tri-State Tornado entered Gorham at 2:26 p.m. Gorham was completely destroyed and 37 residents were dead within seconds. Just eight minutes later, at 2:34, it entered Murphysboro and began its havoc in the town of 10,000. 234 souls lost their lives in Murphysboro and 40% of the town was destroyed as it moved through the town and on to Desoto where 4 minutes later, at 2:38, it had destroyed 30% of the town and killed 69, 30 of the dead were children attending school.
Until now, there have been no memorials to the 340 dead, no historical markers erected in Jackson County to commemorate the death and destruction wrought by the historic storm. The Jackson County Historical Society is seeking contributions in pursuit of correcting this negligence. Your Tax Deductible Contribution will be used to place a monument listing the names of each Jackson County resident that perished in the Tri-State Tornado. In addition, we hope to sponsor historical markers set in each of the three towns devastated by this event.