WOU Repository

The Columbus Day Storm on October 12, 1962, hit the West Coast with up to 120 mph winds along 1,000 miles of coastline. It caused a large amount of damage to various locations along the coast and especially to our own University. This exhibit shows the effects on the buildings, and people of the University due to the storm.

On October 12, 1962, a raging storm hit the West Coast with up to 120 mph winds along 1,000 miles of coastline. It caused a large amount of damage to various locations along the coast as well as Western Oregon University.

These strong winds caused the famous bell tower atop Campbell Hall to come crashing down. Wes Luchau, a student at the time, was lucky enough to catch a shot of the tower in mid-fall.

The photo became a sensation and was featured in numerous newspapers locally and nationally. Fortunately, the bell happened to not be in the tower the day the tower fell.

The Grove and Campbell Hall were among the most affected on campus.

Campbell Hall lost its famous bell tower, and the South Wing suffered enough damage that it was later razed. Faculty offices that once resided in the building were temporarily moved to nearby buildings such as Swindell Barn. The Humanities and Social Science building now stands in the bell tower's place.

Storm damage to the Grove consisted of approximately 35 felled Douglas Fir trees. Due to the abundant rainfall in the area, the tree roots were not deep, making it very easy for the trees to be blown over in the storm. Many of the trees were chopped down.

"...When I emerged, it was like a war zone..."

- 50 commuter students were unable to get home and stayed the night in the College Center.

     - Todd Hall and Cottage residents were moved to sleep overnight in Arbuthnot Hall.

     - 720 students were served dinner that night.

     - Many students volunteered to help clean up the debris and assisted local residents with damage clean up.

President Leonard Rice praised student's reactions by saying in a statement: "The good humor, maturity and group spirit of the students and huge adjustment to the storm are what had the greatest personal impact on me. A lot of people who share views that college students are 'rowdies' should have watched our students...it is a thrill to see students respond better than adults; it was a marvelous thing to see them stand up and be counted; the response was wholesome, with no hysteria whatsoever."

"The blow down of the Grove stands out in my mind as the trees were bent so spectularly, limbs flew away far down wind, and the trunks were shattered." (Ray Brodersen)

"We were in an Economics class...the wind blew, the lights went out and we heard a siren. Pretty soon we heard a crash and the professor said, 'There goes Campbell Hall.' Class was dismissed and we ran across the hall window to look, the tower was gone." (OCE Student)

"I was teaching a class located on the South side of the now-replaced south wing of Campbell Hall...As the winds increased, branches broke through the windows, showering glass in the back of the room...After class I left the building and happened to be standing behind student Wes Luchau when he took the now famous photograph of the toppling Campbell Hall tower." (Gary Huxford)

"Notice of the ominous building wind was barely at the conscious level by most around the campus until the resounding crack of a tree more than two feet across, breaking midway up the trunk, tanked the presence of the storm into full reality...Trees, swaying desperately, began to break apart, dropping their tops over Monmouth Avenue. Several people rushed in an attempt to move cars parked along the street where the trees were falling. Some were locked and the owners, considering the risk, watch helplessly as the vehicles became almost buried under large branches...Trees fell with resounding crashes against the south wall. The building was abandoned; several people with hard hats checked the many rooms and alcoves of Campbell -- they could sense the old building's distress." (Bud Smith)

Wes Luchau, a student photographer, took a picture of the falling bell tower which was featured in newspapers and publications around the country and internationally.

Time magazine paid Luchau $400 to use it in a 2-page spread about the Columbus Day Storm, and the picture was then distributed via the Associated Press. Altogether, the photo won six hundred dollars worth of awards, prizes and fees.

Publications across the country that featured the photograph:

• Los Angeles Herald Examiner – Oct 13, 1962
• New York Journal American - Oct 13, 1962
• New York Mirror - Oct 14, 1962
• Syracuse Herald-Journal - Oct 13, 1962
• Schenectady Union-Star - Oct 13, 1962
• New York Herald Tribune - Oct 14, 1962 (2)
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Oct 13, 1962
• Toledo: The Blade - Oct 14, 1962
• OCE Lamron – November 1, 1963
• The Atlanta Journal – October 13, 1962
• East Oregonian – October 13, 1962
• Portland Reporter – October 15, 1962
• The Milwaukee Journal – October 13, 1962
• The Salt Lake Tribune - Oct 14, 1962
• The Kansas City Star – October 13, 1962
• The Detroit News – October 13, 1962
• St. Louis Post – Dispatch – October 13, 1962
• Lincoln Evening Journal and Nebraska State Journal – Oct 13, 1962
• Longview Daily news – October 13-14, 1962
• The Oregonian – October 22, 1962
• The Oregonian – October 13, 1962
• Los Angeles Times
• Polk Country Itemizer Observer – Oct 25, 1962 (2)
• Polk Country Itemizer Observer – Oct 18, 1962
• Chicago Daily News – Oct 13, 1962
• Walla Walla Union-Bulletin – October 14, 1962
• The Washington Post – October 14, 1962
• Santa Barbara News Press – October 13, 1962
• The Yakima Daily Republic - October 13, 1962
• Lewiston Morning Tribune – Oct 15, 1962
• Boise, Idaho – October 15, 1962
• The New York Times – October 14, 1962 (2)

Despite its devastating effects, the storm also brought about discoveries and cherished memories.

     -- "I met my husband during the storm; we were married March 20, 1963"

     -- "I became engaged the day the tower crumbled and fell"

     -- "A special bond seemed to be formed between people who had previously not known each other."

The Class of 1904 plaque was found by a workman while cutting down a fallen maple tree in front of Campbell Hall. The plaque is now a part of the Western Oregon University Archives Collection.

A log of one of the cut down trees of the Grove was saved and the presented as a parting gift of the Senior Class of 1967. It still resides in the newly formed Grove on the South side of the Humanities and Social Science building.

In May 1965, a Carillon was placed atop the Humanities and Social Science building to commemorate the fallen Bell tower. It sits in approximately the same place that the bell tower once was.

The razed South Wing of Campbell Hall called for new construction of Bellamy Hall to replace classroom and office space lost. This also included the Humanities and Social Science building to be constructed as well.

"[The Grove and Campbell Hall] were the symbol of a well established intitution of higher learning, the symbol of permanence, integrity."

"[The grove and Campbell Hall] had been symbols of OCE since the beginning...how sad to think two days out of our history could change a place so drastically"

"The campus never seemed the same again - foreign somehow"

"It never did seem the same. the beautiful Grove and stately tower were no longer there. To me they had been a sumbol of the excellence of the college. The storm had torn the 'heart' our of the beauty that represented OCE, it had been a pictureesque small college campus"

The image scanning, research and exhibit creation for "Columbus Day Storm" was completed by Kalea Borling, WOU IDS student/WOU Archives student employee. Editing was provided by Stewart C Baker.

Original Omeka ID:/collections/show/18