The Hurricane of 1921 — which struck nearly a century ago — was the most destructive storm to hit Florida since 1848. It made landfall with sustained winds of 115 mph as a Category 3 hurricane, near Tarpon Springs, on Oct. 25, 1921.
Maxine Gause was one of only 10 students attending school that day in Elfers. She was safe inside the brick school building built in 1914.
Gause remained in the classroom with her mother, who was a substitute teacher.
She shares her experience in an account published by Fivay.org, a website that contains a wealth of information about Pasco County history.
She describes the storm blowing open the classroom door.
“So we had to take turns standing against it, a few at a time, until the storm finally eased up. We were frightened!” Gause recounts.
On the same website, Pauline Stevenson Ash recalls her day at school when the storm passed through Elfers: “During that hurricane, most of the windows blew out, and we took turns sweeping out the water, for almost seven hours!”
The Hurricane of 1921 was at its worst in Dade City later that same day, nearly 95 years ago.
The Dade City Banner published headlines that read “Dade City in Path of Tropical Storm,” and “San Antonio Old Times Never Saw the Like.”
(Doug Sanders/Photos)
The newspaper was forced to abandon its offices during the storm “…as the building became too tipsy to be comfortable.
“The boys did what they could to protect the stock and cover the linotype,” the newspaper reported.
West of Dade City, the hurricane demolished one of the oldest churches in Pasco County. The Mt. Zion Methodist Church had been built in 1872 with “hand-hewn timbers and sawed rough boards” according to the historical marker erected in 1980.
The Masonic Lodge had used the church’s second floor as a meeting place.
The storm also flattened the church at Prospect, but, according to the Dade City Banner on May 12, 1922: “The people of the neighborhood have just completed the rebuilding of the edifice and on Easter night had their first service.”
With only 18 telephones of the Pasco Telephone Company still in use, damage reports came in from across the county.
In Odessa, The Lyon Pine company mill reported $15,000 in roof damages. The Dowling Company mill estimated damages of $30,000 after six of its smokestacks crashed to the ground.
Dade City’s ice and power plant also reported that smokestacks were toppled by the hurricane winds.
High winds blew down a turpentine business and a large stand of trees in Darby.
And, a hotel in Zephyrhills lost part of its roof.
When the Hurricane of 1921 reached San Antonio, it shattered buildings, uprooted trees and flattened the water tanks at Holy Name Academy.
A few lucky families had food and shelter at the St. Charles Inn. Holding a lantern at night, owners guided guests to their rooms.
Yet, Sunnybrook Tobacco Company, in Dade City, reported the biggest storm damage, losing nine large barns and 110 acres of shade-grown tobacco. The damage was estimated at $100,000.
Established in 1897, Sunnybrook was the largest employer in Pasco County with 500 acres. (Ironically, the company would close its doors after suffering additional losses from the black shank tobacco fungus, and a fire in 1924 that burned up 150,000 pounds of fine wrapper tobacco valued at $200,000.)
The Dade City Banner, on Oct. 28, 1921, also reported $1,000 in damages to the south end of the Dade City packing house and offered this gloomy assessment: “The citrus crop is more than half on the ground, and growers have suffered a great loss.”
Area travelers also encountered fallen utility poles and streets littered with storm debris for several weeks, as well as destroyed bridges, cutting off traffic.
“The Atlantic Coast Line by Trilby was practically the one way out,” according to a Dade City Banner report, published nearly a century ago.
By Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders has a penchant for unearthing interesting stories about local history. His sleuthing skills have been developed through his experiences in newspaper and government work. If you have an idea for a future history column, contact Doug at .
Published February 24, 2016
