Fridley Residents Remember Devastation Of 1965 Tornadoes
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They called it the "longest night" for good reason: tornadoes killed 13 people and, in Fridley alone, one in every four homes was damaged or destroyed.
Folks have come together Wednesday to remember that fateful night exactly 50 years ago.
Sitting on the back deck of their Fridley home, Art and Norma Swanson can remember their city in ruins like it was only yesterday.
"The houses that had been destroyed, the people had taken whatever furniture they could save, put it out on front lawns, then it just poured on it," Art Swanson said.
Swanson was at his grocery store, just blocks from home. He sheltered his customers in the store's meat locker, but he walked home to find his wife and six kids. His neighbors' homes were gone.
Archival film captures the devastation: 1,100 homes, businesses, schools and a hospital heavily damaged or destroyed.
At the local library, the memories are in black and white, a big piece of Fridley's history no one can forget.
"Everybody helped each other," Renee Baggenstross remembered. "The neighborhoods didn't have power. Somebody might have had a grill and had everybody over to eat."
May 6, 1965, will forever be a reminder of nature's fury. But to Art and Norma Swanson, it's also a reminder of the kindness of people who put lives and neighborhoods back together.
"You never see a sky with green in it that you don't have full recall," Norma Swanson said.
Besides the Wednesday night commemoration event, there's also a wonderful display of artworks inspired by the tornadoes. It's at the Banfill Center for the Arts on East River Road.