A series of dramatic photographs from the Dayton Daily News archive documents in gritty black and white the devastation left in Xenia by a 1974 tornado. A man looks at damage due to a tornado on Wagner Ford Road in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday, May 28, 2019.

1:08:04. Dayton, Ohio: Tornadoes Strike by The Daily Beast. 1:27. Fullscreen. A look back at the three most deadly tornadoes in Ohio history, including 11 tornadoes in 24 hours in 1965, the Xenia tornado of 1974 and the Montgomery/Blue Ash tornado of 1999. Albert Cesare. As the tornado entered Riverside, damage began to lessen in intensity but plenty of damage consistent with EF1 wind speeds was noted before the tornado lifted just west of the Greene County line. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The Memorial Day Tornado Outbreak was a natural disaster of historic proportions. WATCH: Aerial view of tornado damage in Dayton, Ohio by KHOU 11.

The nastiest of the 15 Memorial Day tornadoes that assaulted the Dayton area trashed the roof of Joe Castellano ’s historic restaurant, blew out its windows and damaged an exterior wall. 15 tornadoes left two people dead and $1 billion in damage. Constructed in 1910, restaurant’s building survived a flood, fire and now a tornado.

The tornado continued southeast through Dayton and Northridge, crossing I-75 and into the Old North Dayton Area, where heavy damage continued to homes and businesses.