Historical Albion Michigan
By Frank Passic

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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.

1913 TORNADO AT THE MALLEABLE

Morning Star, June 21, 2008, pg. 8

Again a friendly reminder that my latest book “Growing Up in Albion” would make a great addition to your Albion High School class reunion this summer as a door prize or just to have at your event for people to read. If you are on your class reunion committee, why not suggest getting a copy? FYI: I am currently working on another book. It will not be ready until next year, however, because I am still in the process of gathering photographs. I’ll let you, my readers, know when it is ready.

The recent possible tornado in the vicinity of Albion College and the Five Points area reminds us that Albion has been fortunate in its history to have been spared major disasters from tornadoes. There have been some that tore up portions (mostly trees) of Riverside Cemetery and in Victory Park. Others missed the city and struck in neighboring rural areas.

One exception was a tornado that struck our town on March 21, 1913. This twister hit the Albion Malleable Iron Company. The pattern room was destroyed, as well as a few nearby railroad cars which were crushed.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present two postcard views of the damage from the Malleable Tornado.


Two postcard views of the damage from the Malleable Tornado of 1913

Next: ALBION 100 YEARS AGO--JULY 1908


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All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic  |  Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026

Frank Passic Albion Historian Frank Passic — Albion Historian

An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page.

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Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops.

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Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine.

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