Tornado over St. Paul

Though not the most devastating tornado to hit the Twin Cities area-six dead, eleven injured-the Lake Gervais twister of July 13, 1890, became one of the most famous. When it struck, a photographer happened to have his camera set up on a bluff overlooking St. Paul. He captured dramatic images that were published as souvenir cards, which the Norwegian-born Minneapolis house painter Julius Holm used as the basis for this painting, created three years later.

Credit: The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund