THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1999 5-D OURCENTURY 1953

ATA GLANCE ‘Forgotten war’ delays city’s industrial decline The negotiators at Panmunjom finally reached agreement, leaving the border be- Tornado, blasts rock West Side tween North and South Korea just about where it had been three years earlier when the Ko- rean War started. Two Clevelanders were Death and destruction come from above and below among the first American prisoners released. All told, 33,629 Americans were killed in the By Fred McGunagle war and 103,284 wounded. Cuyahoga County sent 44,000 of its sons and daughters to war; Louis Balint was watching “I Love 1,161 did not return. Lucy” when he heard the terrible In “The Encyclopedia of Cleveland His- shrieking noise getting closer and tory,” David Van Tassel writes, “There was no closer. He yelled to his wife to pull public rejoicing when the final cease-fire was down the blinds so the glass wouldn’t signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953, just a gen- fly around. eral sigh of relief and an easing of tension. “For Cleveland, the period marked the high “I rushed to Danny’s crib —I had tide of its industrial growth, with steel produc- my hands on it and was touching it,” tion records set in 1952 and 1953. Steel prices he said. “Then it . The wind tore had doubled after a long strike in the spring of the baby right out of my hands. Next 1953, and all apparent signs presaged a bright thing I knew I was under timbers in future for the seventh-largest city in the na- the back yard.” tion. “The impetus of the ‘forgotten war,’ by It was hours later — early on the thrusting it to new levels of prosperity, had de- morning of June 9 — that his W. 117th layed the city’s decline as an industrial and St. neighbors found 3-month-old population center by a few years.” Danny Balint crushed against the wall of a garage five houses away, • where the tornado had hurled him. By then, eight other West Siders were dead. Five, including a 13-month-old baby, were found in the debris of a house on W. 28th St. An Elton Ave. woman died when her back porch fell on her. A Clinton Ave. man was electrocuted by a downed power line. A W. 59th St. man died of a heart at- tack after his chimney was blown off. Three hundred people were in- jured. More than 200 were homeless. Hundreds of cars were damaged by falling trees and poles. But the hu- man toll could have been much worse. The Weather Bureau’s new PLAIN DEALER FILE tornado watch system had alerted ra- PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTOS Anthony Celebrezze and his wife, Anne. dio and television stations, which put out the word at 8:55 p.m., 50 minutes The aftermath of an underground explosion, looking north on W. 117th St. from Berea Rd. The blast lifted the before the tornado was spotted cross- street and tossed cars like toys. Mayor Thomas Burke’s announcement in ing the northwest corner of Cleveland May that he would not seek a fifth term meant Hopkins Airport. sands scattered when the Fun for there would be a wide-open election. Demo- The stations — all but WSRS in Funds Fair was caught in a torrent of cratic Chairman Ray T. Miller put up County water from the skies and from Engineer Albert S. Porter, who was endorsed Cleveland Heights — were knocked off the air when the storm hit. Callers backed-up sewers; some fair-goers by The Plain Dealer. Judge William McDer- had to be rescued from collapsed mott, who had come within 22,000 votes of jammed the phone lines to police, tents. beating Burke in 1951, was backed by the Re- newspapers and the Illuminating Co. publicans and the Cleveland News. The twister had touched down The Red Cross set up an emergency The Press, in front-page editorials denounc- along a route from the airport to the shelter at Sts. Philip and James Cath- ing the “party machines,” called for the elec- lake at E. 40th St., but the worst-hit olic Church on Bosworth Rd. and sent tion of diminutive state Sen. Anthony Cele- areas were between W. 117th and W. mobile canteens through the area brezze, an independent Democrat who had 130th Sts. south of Lorain Ave., and with food for rescue workers and the been born in Italy. In the primary, Celebrezze around Franklin Circle. Downed homeless. Its resources were and Porter were expected to battle for the spot strained; in one of the worst tornado behind McDermott. Instead, Celebrezze ran trees made streets impassable to fire first, sweeping ethnic neighborhoods and win- engines and ambulances. periods in history, 115 had been killed in Flint, Mich., the same day ning 21 of the city’s 33 wards. Emergency rooms were jammed at and 90 died in Worcester, Mass., the In the general election, McDermott focused Lutheran, St. John’s and Fairview next day. his attack on Ward 16 Councilman Jack P. Park hospitals (the last still on Frank- Russell, who had been found in a Parma bar lin Blvd.). With no power, doctors and In the morning, traffic in the area with notorious racketeer Alex “Shondor” nurses worked by flashlight and can- was hopelessly snarled. Buses were Birns. As a Ray T. Martin lieutenant, Russell dlelight. had loyally backed Porter in the primary, but detoured on the Cleveland Transit he endorsed Celebrezze in the general elec- Mayor Thomas Burke called for the System and Lakewood Rapid Transit tion. National Guard and summoned his lines. Thirteen schools had to close McDermott called on Celebrezze to repudi- Cabinet to an emergency session. because of damage. Church steeples AL SCHAEFER/ NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE were toppled and stained-glass win- ate Russell’s support. “I say there is no place Cleveland Police Chief Frank Story The roof and portions of the second story of this house on Cleveland’s in Cleveland public life for a man who con- called out extra patrolmen and toured dows shattered. St. Stephen Catholic sorts with Shondor Birns,” he thundered. Church sustained an estimated West Side were removed by the 1953 tornado. This photo appeared in the the West Side, directing operations. book “Thunder in the Heartland.” Though the Democratic Party refused to Firefighters searched the rubble for $200,000 to $500,000 damage. Serv- contribute to Celebrezze’s campaign, he won more victims. ices were moved to the school. in November by 56,000 votes to become Cleve- room,” he said. “There isn’t any Ave. Here, concrete chunks 20 feet land’s first foreign-born mayor. Press Editor Streetcars and buses were trapped It took a week to clear all of the dresser or bedroom anymore.” long and 10 feet wide were tossed Louis B. Seltzer emerged as the city’s king- by fallen trees and utility poles. Other streets and months to repair struc- about like jackstraws.” maker. streetcars were stranded on the lower tural damage, estimated at $50 mil- level of the Detroit-Superior High lion. Louis Balint mourned that he • A resident of an apartment building • Level Bridge when power went off. didn’t even have pictures of his son. Three months after death and de- at W. 117th and Detroit Ave. narrowly It was ’s year. The Indians’ third On Vincent Ave. downtown, thou- “They were in the dresser in our bed- struction from above, the West Side escaped injury when a manhole cover baseman hit a league-leading 43 home runs, was struck from below. On Sept. 10, came crashing through his fourth- breaking Hal Trosky’s record of 42, and drove at the peak of the evening rush hour, floor flat. Another cover sailed in a league-leading 145 runs. He missed the an underground explosion hurled through the roof of a two-story house triple crown by one point, batting .336 to pavement and cars into the air along and landed in the kitchen, just miss- Mickey Vernon’s .337, and became the first W. 117th St. from Lake Ave. to Berea ing a woman who was preparing din- player since to be named the Ameri- Rd. on the Lakewood-Cleveland bor- ner. can League’s Most Valuable Player by unani- der. A second explosion an hour later mous vote. sent manhole covers flying at W. The “Big Three” had another good year — “Autos were crushed under chunks 104th St. and Clifton Rd., but no one 21 wins for , 18 for Mike Garcia of concrete and manhole covers. was injured. Once more, the West and 17 for , and re- Sidewalks disappeared. Water from Side was caught in a gigantic snarl as bounded from his first losing season to win 10. broken mains flooded the area,” The homebound motorists were stopped But Casey Stengel’s New York Yankees won Plain Dealer reported. their fifth straight pennant. For the third dead. So did trains on the Nickel Plate straight year, Al Lopez’s Indians finished sec- A Parma woman was killed when Railroad. her car was crushed by falling debris. ond. Despite tension between Lopez and Vice The Red Cross came to the aid of President , Lopez was given a Fifty-eight others were admitted to West Siders again, sending a tank new two-year contract. St. John’s, Lakewood, Lutheran, Fair- truck to a gas station at W. 117th and • view Park, City and Berea Commu- Franklin. Neighbors came with pails, nity hospitals. A woman was trapped kettles and cooking pots to carry wa- Before the season, Mickey McBride sold the in her car when another car landed ter home. Browns to a group headed by David Jones for on it; a priest gave her last rites while $600,000, the most ever paid for a professional firefighters worked to free her. Investigators ruled out sewer gas sports franchise. Coach Paul Brown traded a as a cause of the explosion. Suspi- defensive back named Don Shula, but he “W. 117th looked like the aftermath cions centered on industries that drafted a linebacker named Chuck Noll. Both of a bombing,” The Plain Dealer said. could have dumped chemicals into later would be listed among the game’s great “The pavement was alternately lifted the sewer system. coaches. and sunken 5 or 6 feet. A deep trench The team won its first 10 games en route to Railroad tracks and streets caved in after the mysterious explosion along W. was blasted out from a point 100 McGunagle is a Cleveland free- its eighth straight division championship. 117th St. yards south of Berea Rd. to Madison lance writer. Against San Francisco, Otto Graham was knocked out of the game by an elbow from the 49ers’ Art Michalik. It took 15 stitches to sew up the cut, but Brown told trainer Morrie LOOKINGATAYEAR Kono to make a shield that would allow Gra- ham to continue. Graham came back in the second half to complete nine of 10 passes, en- March 5: Russian dictator Josef June 2: New Zealand mountaineer brings an end to that nation’s 3-year- Born: Tim Allen, Michael Bolton, gineering a Browns’ victory. Stalin, 73, dies of a massive brain he- Edmund Hillary and his guide be- old war. Marcia Clark, Mary Matalin. But for the third straight year, the Browns morrhage suffered four days earlier. come the first people to scale Mount Sept. 12: Sen. John F. Kennedy Died: Ohio Sen. Robert A. Taft, lost the NFL title game — the second in a row March 26: Dr. Jonas Salk’s vaccine Everest. marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. American playwright Eugene O’Neill, to the Detroit Lions. This one was a heart- against polio tests successfully in June 18: Spies Julius and Ethel Sept. 30: California Gov. Earl War- Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, American breaker, with Bobby Layne throwing a touch- both adults and children. Rosenberg are executed for revealing ren is chosen chief justice of the astronomer Edwin Hubble, American down pass to Jim Doran with two minutes left May 4: Ernest Hemingway wins the America’s atomic bomb secrets to the United States. athlete Jim Thorpe, U.S. Chief Justice for a 17-16 Lions win. Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Old Soviet Union. Dec. 10: Winston Churchill wins Frederick Vinson, country music star Man and the Sea.” July 28:A cease-fire in Korea the Nobel Prize for literature. Hank Williams.