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14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



September 21, ^911. 



View of One of Peter Reinberg's Rose Sections After Cyclonic Storm September 18, 1911. 



CYCLONE HITS BIG GSOWEBS. 



Biggest Blow in Chicago's History. 



For the first time since greenhouse 

 area came to be measured by the acre, 

 an answer has been given to the many 

 times repeated question as to what 

 would happen if a really vicious storm 

 were to strike one of the modern 

 ranges; and the answer, like the rec- 

 ord in the traveler's order-book, has 

 been written in triplicate, for three of 

 the many big plants that have made 

 famous in the trade the district north 

 of Chicago lay, Monday morning, Sep- 

 tember 18, in the path of a cyclonic 

 gust that did in one brief moment 

 damage that will take months to repair. 



It was at 1:35 a. m. that the storm 

 broke. The wind was high all through 



the district, where there are dozens of 

 big greenhouse establishments, but its 

 fury was centered on a strip possibly 

 200 feet wide and scarcely three blocks 

 long. Practically every foot of its 

 journey was across the roofs of green- 

 houses built on the ridge-and-furrow 

 plan that is the typical style of con- 

 struction in the Chicago section. 



The Peter Beinberg place lies between 

 North Bobey street and North Seeley 

 avenue, stretching out for nearly a 

 half mile north and south. West of it, 

 parallel, between Seeley and Hoyne ave- 

 nues, lies the establishment of George 

 Beinberg. North of Balmoral avenue 

 the latter 's Beauty houses cover a width 

 of two blocks, and on the southwest 

 corner, so that thev are surrounded on 

 two sides by George Beinberg 's ranges. 



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Houses to Left of Shed in Above View, Photographed From the Other End. 



stood the six houses owned by Amelia 

 M. Schafer and leased to Charles Han- 

 del. The storm traveled from north- 

 west to southeast, across these three 

 places. It clipped a house and a half 

 oflf the George Beinberg Beauty range 

 at its west end, then crossed Balmoral 

 avenue, striking down practically the 

 whole Bchaf er-Handel place, and 

 plunged into the big row of houses of 

 George Beinberg beyond. Here a path 

 nearly 200 feet wide was cut through 

 a range of twelve houses,, all devoted to 

 Bichmond roses. Though the rear 

 ends of some of the houses stood, and 

 the front ends of the others, the 

 storm, in its diagonal course, prac- 

 tically destroyed the north eight'^ouees. 

 The ninth and tenth houses in the 

 range were not greatly injured, and 

 south of these little damage was done. 

 After crossing George Beinberg 's 

 range the cyclone leaped Seeley avenue 

 and plunged into the establishment of 

 his brother, Peter Beinberg. Here the 

 storm center appeared to widen out, 

 though it did not diminish in force. 

 There are twenty-three houses in the 

 two city squares between Balmoral ave- 

 nue on the north and Berwin avenue on 

 the south, and not one escaped 8«me 

 damage. Across the center of the 

 range, where Summerdale avenue is 

 covered by a greenhouse work shed, the 

 destruction was greatest. Almost all 

 the glass was taken out of the two 

 houses south of the shed, but the sash- 

 bars stood. At ttMMast end of the next 

 two houses a goa^lTany ^bars were torn 

 loose, and ati)4he west* enA ^Itd same 

 thing happeneaMio six higiiises. JN^arth of 

 the .shed a gdbd ^ii|'' of -gtass was 

 broken, but in only one pFace did any 

 considerable number of sashbara give 

 way. ' At the north end of the bl»ck, at 

 Balmoral avenue, the end house get a 

 slap that broke things up pretty badly, 

 but none of Peter Beinberg 's houses 

 went down under the force of the 

 blow. Growers and greenhouse build- 

 ers who visited the scene in the morn- 



