On Thursday, September 29, 1927, a multi-state tornado outbreak struck portions of the central USA with at least 15 significant tornadoes across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. The deadliest tornado of the outbreak was the St. Louis, MO–East St. Louis, IL tornado, which tore through the neighborhoods in St. Louis around 1:00 PM CST just north of downtown. Among the heavily damaged structures was Saint Louis University High School, though fortunately no students were killed. The tornado carved a 7 to 12 mile long path up to 600 yards wide, destroying more than 200 city blocks and killing 79 people (sources vary, reporting 72–84 deaths), with at least 550 injured. It remains the second-deadliest tornado in St. Louis history and was once the second-costliest in U.S. history.
Elsewhere in the Ozarks region, additional tornadoes caused severe damage: Checotah, Oklahoma (McIntosh County): A tornado northwest of town destroyed farm buildings and homes, injuring eight people. Rudy, Arkansas (Crawford County): A tornado damaged or destroyed about 30 homes and a school. Five students were injured when a wall collapsed and some students fell from the second floor to the first, and overall about 20 people were hurt. French, Arkansas (Fulton County): A violent F3 tornado destroyed much of the small village, killing one person and injuring about 25. Brookfield, Missouri (Linn County): A weaker tornado caused localized damage, including the destruction of a barn.
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