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June 17, 1882, was a hot and steamy summer day in ������ý. Students at ������ý College were finishing up their end-of-semester work and preparing for Commencement. 

At that time, no system was in place to warn residents about the severe weather headed their way. But to the west, a violent storm was brewing, and it was bearing down on ������ý.

A little after 8:30 p.m., two tornadoes converged upon the town, meeting at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and Broad Street, the heart of the ������ý College campus. The storm left wreckage where campus buildings, homes, and businesses had been just a few minutes earlier. 

Both of ������ý College’s major buildings were destroyed, and 39 people died, including two college students, Bingham Burgett and Burritt Chase. Other students were spared because the ������ý baseball team was in Tama, Iowa, where they were playing an out-of-town game in defiance of President George Magoun’s edict against away games for ������ý’s sports teams.

Seventy-three homes in ������ý were destroyed, and many more were damaged. The downtown area was largely spared.

Three days, later, Commencement went on as planned, thanks to President Magoun’s determination to continue as normally as possible. Magoun’s address to the graduates was titled “God Was in the Whirlwind.”