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July 14, 1954: The hottest day St. Louis has ever seen
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greta 'ignorance' thunberg
Jan 3, 2021, 6:20:10 AM1/3/21
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ST. LOUIS • The sun rose hard and glaring on Wednesday, July 14,
1954. The temperature already was 85 degrees at 7 a.m. It broke
100 before noon and kept climbing.
The city's streets and old brick buildings, many with tar-
slathered flat roofs, already were baked by a sudden but
withering heat spell in its fourth day. It was 110 degrees on
Monday, 103 on Tuesday. The forecast for July 14 was 105.
The forecast wasn't even close. By 5 p.m., the official
thermometer at Lambert Field hit a scorching 115 degrees, as hot
as it's ever been in St. Louis in more than 100 years of keeping
temperature records.
On that day, many businesses closed by noon. It was too hot for
the performing elephants to shuffle on stage at the Zoo. Streets
buckled and caved in.
At Sefton Fibre Can Co., at 3275 Big Bend Boulevard in
Maplewood, the attic was so hot that the automatic fire-
sprinkler system soaked employees and equipment. Milkmen drew
mobs of grateful kids with gifts of sparkling ice from their
trucks.
St. Louis Chronic Hospital went through four tons of ice a day
making packs for patients. And at St. Elizabeth Hospital in
Granite City, nurses kept thermometers in cold water, lest all
readings be a standard 105 degrees.
St. Louis Municipal Judge Robert. G. Dowd endured a peace-
disturbance case involving the location of a fan the night
before. "I can understand why tempers would flare over a fan.
Case dismissed," he said.
Air conditioning was in its infancy, costing $200 or more for a
window unit — a hefty hit on $4,000 household incomes. So people
found relief as they could. They jammed theaters that boasted of
being "cooled by refrigeration." They slept in parks and
backyards.
Even with few air conditioners, Union Electric Co. posted a
record output of 1.2 million kilowatts — barely one-fifteenth of
today's peak. Back then, the misery index was measured in output
of water for extra showers, backyard pools and sprinklers. On
the day of the record, the St. Louis Water Division pumped 279
million gallons, more than double today's daily average.
The grim number was the death toll. The heat killed 20 people
that day. A cool breeze that arrived before dawn on July 15 gave
only brief respite. By the time the heat broke one week later,
it had taken 104 lives.
St. Louis and its July heat waves
100-degree temperatures are nothing new for St. Louis in July.
Here is a photographic look back at four of the hottest summers
in the city.
1936: The heat of July 1936 had been withering and deadly,
reaching at least 100 degrees on 18 days. It had killed 332
people by July 30, when cooling breezes soothed raw, sweating
faces.
1954: The summer saw temperatures climb to 115 degrees in St.
Louis. A week-long heat wave beginning July 14 took 104 lives.
1980: Temperatures on July 8 hit 101 and would break 100 degrees
on a withering nine of the next 14 days and reach 107 on July
15, the summer's worst.
2012: On July 8, temperatures drop to only 98 degrees, ending a
10-day run of triple-digit temperatures.
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A family from St. Louis spends a night in rural St. Louis County
in July 1936, during a scorching and deadly summer that logged a
record 37 days of high temperatures of at least 100. A first
wave of heat broke on July 30, but the temperature climbed back
to 100 on Aug. 9 and was that hot or worse for another two
weeks. Thousands of people fled their stifling brick homes and
flats and slept for weeks on the grass in city parks and along
quiet country roads. This family tried to find some refuge near
Lindbergh Road. The heat of 1936 killed 479 people in the St.
Louis area, including 29 children. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Children gather at the intersection of Keokuk Street and
Michigan Avenue, one block north of Marquette Park, where heat
buckled the brick pavement in July 1936. Relentless pounding of
the sun caused similar damage throughout the St. Louis area.
(Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Mrs. W.E. Johnson works her shriveled potato patch on the family
farm north of Columbia, Mo., in July 1936. Only one-fourth of
normal rainfall fell that summer, ruining crops and pastures.
The heat wave accompanied a drought that covered much of the
Midwest and Plains until scattered rainfall finally broke
through on Aug. 28. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Mrs. J.S. Sampo of Howard County, Mo., feeds five-day-old
orphaned piglets during the heat and drought of summer 1936. The
sow that bore them had died of the heat. Mrs. Sampo's family
usually fed the piglets with milk, but had to sell their dairy
cows because of the drought. Mrs. Sampo feeds the piglets bread
soaked in water. Helping her are two of her grandchildren. (Post-
Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A Mississippi River ferry is stranded on the St. Louis levee
south of the Eads Bridge in July 1936. The river stayed below
"0" on the downtown gauge for weeks that summer. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
H.J. Beer of Columbia, Mo., fills a tank with water from the
city water works for a farmer from nearby Hinton in summer 1936.
In St. Louis County, farmers paid 44 cents per 1,000 gallons to
keep their animals alive. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A teamster gives his horse a drink from a bucket on a St. Louis
street in summer 1936, The Humane Society of Missouri gave
buckets to service stations so horses could quench their thirst
during the pounding heat. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 14,1954-- Sallie Bacon (left) and Christine Meyer,
employees of the main library downtown, cool their feet in the
fountain on the shady side of the library, at 1301 Olive Street,
on July 14, 1954. Relief was relative -- the high that afternoon
was 115 degrees. Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
FILE JULY 12, 1954- Thousands fled sweltering homes to try to
sleep in parks. Mr. and Mrs. Pleasant Earls and daughters,
Shirley, 11 and Linda, 6, rest in Forest Park on July 12, 1954,
when the temperature didn’t fall below 100 until 9 p.m. They
were from Hawk Avenue, just east of the park. Floyd Bowser/Post-
Dispatch
Post-Dispatch staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 14,1954--A massive buckling of College Avenue and Emily
Street, caused by heat, draws the sweating curious on July 14.
Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 13,1954--Children at the John J. Cochran public housing
north of downtown happily jostle for relief from the spray of a
fire hose on July 13, 1954. It did beat the heat, as long as the
water was on. Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
1954: Here's an idea: beat The Muny heat by pouring a thin film
of water over the concrete slabs under the seats. This turns out
not to work as well as everyone had hoped, as the combination of
water and St. Louis summers can make things steamy. Still, while
the water runs the performers enjoyed it. Lunch hour brings a
break from the heat to singers Barbara Craven (top), Sara Smith
(seated below Craven), Kaye Geith (left, second row), Harlene
Pomroy (right, second row) and Carolyn Hill (first row). Post-
Dispatch photo
File Post-Dispatch staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
A patient at City Hospital watches an Army Reserve soldier
assemble flexible ducts to bring cool air inside on July 11,
1980. (J.B. Forbes/Post-Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
St. Louis firefighter Steve Singler douses himself with a helmet
full of water at a fire in the 5400 block of Page Boulevard on
July 7, 1980. The high that day was 99, but would reach 101 the
next day and hit triple digits for eight of the next 12 days.
(Karen Elshout/Post-Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Boys try to enjoy the cool draft from water running beneath them
in a stormwater drain near Ninth and O'Fallon streets, on the
north edge of downtown, on July 7, 1980, when the temperature
was 99. The manhole cover had been removed, allowing for their
imprudent tactic. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Sam Leone
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Carolyn Wamhoff (left) treats her daughters and their friends to
ice cream in south St. Louis on July 8, 1980. They are, from
left, Fabrice Cara, Jean Wamhoff, Bob Powers, Carla Kraft and
Donna Wamhoff. The vast trunk of the well-preserved 1963
Chevrolet provided plenty of hot sitting room. (J.B. Forbes/Post-
Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Effie Loggin, a patient at St. Louis City Hospital at 1515
Lafayette Avenue, sweats through the day's heat on July 9, 1980,
when the high was 102 degrees. The hospital's general wards did
not have air-conditioning. There was a smaller air-conditioned
room for patients suffering from heat-related illnesses. (Karen
Elshout/Post-Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
A motorist on July 14, 1980, drives around a buckled section
pavement on Theresa Avenue near Locust Street, west of downtown.
It was one of several breaks in area streets caused by expansion
from the relentless pounding of heat. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Sam Leone
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Sixty-three tons of ice melts on the parking lot of South County
Center during a contest to guess when it would all disappear.
The shopping center had the ice hauled there on July 11, 1980,
and ask patrons to fill out cards predicting when it would melt
away. Raymond Kalbac, of 5745 Mango Drive in Mehlville, won a
deep freezer by guessing the time within nine seconds. He had
guessed the melting could be complete by 6:09:30 a.m. Monday,
July 14. It made him an easy winner. (J.B. Forbes/Post-Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Eric Felder, 10, plays in a fountain on North Main Street in St.
Charles on July 17, 1980, when the temperature reached 97. It
returned to triple digits two days later, and the highs stayed
in the 90s until a thunderstorm finally hit town on July 21.
(Wayne Crosslin/Post-Dispatch)
Wayne Crosslin
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Karen Miller (left) and Liz Bohn take the kids to Ted Drewes
Frozen Custard at 4224 South Grand Boulevard on Aug. 30, 1980,
when the temperature hit 102. There had been brief relief after
a rainstorm on July 21. The high was only 77 degrees on July 27,
but heat soon returned. Six of the first 10 days in August would
record temperatures of at least 100 degrees. (Karen Elshout/Post-
Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
<https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/history/july-14-1954-the-
hottest-day-st-louis-has-ever-seen/article_c0ae15af-7907-527e-
a44c-70df682b8bbc.html>
1954. The temperature already was 85 degrees at 7 a.m. It broke
100 before noon and kept climbing.
The city's streets and old brick buildings, many with tar-
slathered flat roofs, already were baked by a sudden but
withering heat spell in its fourth day. It was 110 degrees on
Monday, 103 on Tuesday. The forecast for July 14 was 105.
The forecast wasn't even close. By 5 p.m., the official
thermometer at Lambert Field hit a scorching 115 degrees, as hot
as it's ever been in St. Louis in more than 100 years of keeping
temperature records.
On that day, many businesses closed by noon. It was too hot for
the performing elephants to shuffle on stage at the Zoo. Streets
buckled and caved in.
At Sefton Fibre Can Co., at 3275 Big Bend Boulevard in
Maplewood, the attic was so hot that the automatic fire-
sprinkler system soaked employees and equipment. Milkmen drew
mobs of grateful kids with gifts of sparkling ice from their
trucks.
St. Louis Chronic Hospital went through four tons of ice a day
making packs for patients. And at St. Elizabeth Hospital in
Granite City, nurses kept thermometers in cold water, lest all
readings be a standard 105 degrees.
St. Louis Municipal Judge Robert. G. Dowd endured a peace-
disturbance case involving the location of a fan the night
before. "I can understand why tempers would flare over a fan.
Case dismissed," he said.
Air conditioning was in its infancy, costing $200 or more for a
window unit — a hefty hit on $4,000 household incomes. So people
found relief as they could. They jammed theaters that boasted of
being "cooled by refrigeration." They slept in parks and
backyards.
Even with few air conditioners, Union Electric Co. posted a
record output of 1.2 million kilowatts — barely one-fifteenth of
today's peak. Back then, the misery index was measured in output
of water for extra showers, backyard pools and sprinklers. On
the day of the record, the St. Louis Water Division pumped 279
million gallons, more than double today's daily average.
The grim number was the death toll. The heat killed 20 people
that day. A cool breeze that arrived before dawn on July 15 gave
only brief respite. By the time the heat broke one week later,
it had taken 104 lives.
St. Louis and its July heat waves
100-degree temperatures are nothing new for St. Louis in July.
Here is a photographic look back at four of the hottest summers
in the city.
1936: The heat of July 1936 had been withering and deadly,
reaching at least 100 degrees on 18 days. It had killed 332
people by July 30, when cooling breezes soothed raw, sweating
faces.
1954: The summer saw temperatures climb to 115 degrees in St.
Louis. A week-long heat wave beginning July 14 took 104 lives.
1980: Temperatures on July 8 hit 101 and would break 100 degrees
on a withering nine of the next 14 days and reach 107 on July
15, the summer's worst.
2012: On July 8, temperatures drop to only 98 degrees, ending a
10-day run of triple-digit temperatures.
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A family from St. Louis spends a night in rural St. Louis County
in July 1936, during a scorching and deadly summer that logged a
record 37 days of high temperatures of at least 100. A first
wave of heat broke on July 30, but the temperature climbed back
to 100 on Aug. 9 and was that hot or worse for another two
weeks. Thousands of people fled their stifling brick homes and
flats and slept for weeks on the grass in city parks and along
quiet country roads. This family tried to find some refuge near
Lindbergh Road. The heat of 1936 killed 479 people in the St.
Louis area, including 29 children. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Children gather at the intersection of Keokuk Street and
Michigan Avenue, one block north of Marquette Park, where heat
buckled the brick pavement in July 1936. Relentless pounding of
the sun caused similar damage throughout the St. Louis area.
(Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Mrs. W.E. Johnson works her shriveled potato patch on the family
farm north of Columbia, Mo., in July 1936. Only one-fourth of
normal rainfall fell that summer, ruining crops and pastures.
The heat wave accompanied a drought that covered much of the
Midwest and Plains until scattered rainfall finally broke
through on Aug. 28. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
Mrs. J.S. Sampo of Howard County, Mo., feeds five-day-old
orphaned piglets during the heat and drought of summer 1936. The
sow that bore them had died of the heat. Mrs. Sampo's family
usually fed the piglets with milk, but had to sell their dairy
cows because of the drought. Mrs. Sampo feeds the piglets bread
soaked in water. Helping her are two of her grandchildren. (Post-
Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A Mississippi River ferry is stranded on the St. Louis levee
south of the Eads Bridge in July 1936. The river stayed below
"0" on the downtown gauge for weeks that summer. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
H.J. Beer of Columbia, Mo., fills a tank with water from the
city water works for a farmer from nearby Hinton in summer 1936.
In St. Louis County, farmers paid 44 cents per 1,000 gallons to
keep their animals alive. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1936
A teamster gives his horse a drink from a bucket on a St. Louis
street in summer 1936, The Humane Society of Missouri gave
buckets to service stations so horses could quench their thirst
during the pounding heat. (Post-Dispatch)
staff photographer
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 14,1954-- Sallie Bacon (left) and Christine Meyer,
employees of the main library downtown, cool their feet in the
fountain on the shady side of the library, at 1301 Olive Street,
on July 14, 1954. Relief was relative -- the high that afternoon
was 115 degrees. Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
FILE JULY 12, 1954- Thousands fled sweltering homes to try to
sleep in parks. Mr. and Mrs. Pleasant Earls and daughters,
Shirley, 11 and Linda, 6, rest in Forest Park on July 12, 1954,
when the temperature didn’t fall below 100 until 9 p.m. They
were from Hawk Avenue, just east of the park. Floyd Bowser/Post-
Dispatch
Post-Dispatch staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 14,1954--A massive buckling of College Avenue and Emily
Street, caused by heat, draws the sweating curious on July 14.
Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
July 13,1954--Children at the John J. Cochran public housing
north of downtown happily jostle for relief from the spray of a
fire hose on July 13, 1954. It did beat the heat, as long as the
water was on. Post-Dispatch photo
Staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1954
1954: Here's an idea: beat The Muny heat by pouring a thin film
of water over the concrete slabs under the seats. This turns out
not to work as well as everyone had hoped, as the combination of
water and St. Louis summers can make things steamy. Still, while
the water runs the performers enjoyed it. Lunch hour brings a
break from the heat to singers Barbara Craven (top), Sara Smith
(seated below Craven), Kaye Geith (left, second row), Harlene
Pomroy (right, second row) and Carolyn Hill (first row). Post-
Dispatch photo
File Post-Dispatch staff
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
A patient at City Hospital watches an Army Reserve soldier
assemble flexible ducts to bring cool air inside on July 11,
1980. (J.B. Forbes/Post-Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
St. Louis firefighter Steve Singler douses himself with a helmet
full of water at a fire in the 5400 block of Page Boulevard on
July 7, 1980. The high that day was 99, but would reach 101 the
next day and hit triple digits for eight of the next 12 days.
(Karen Elshout/Post-Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Boys try to enjoy the cool draft from water running beneath them
in a stormwater drain near Ninth and O'Fallon streets, on the
north edge of downtown, on July 7, 1980, when the temperature
was 99. The manhole cover had been removed, allowing for their
imprudent tactic. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Sam Leone
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Carolyn Wamhoff (left) treats her daughters and their friends to
ice cream in south St. Louis on July 8, 1980. They are, from
left, Fabrice Cara, Jean Wamhoff, Bob Powers, Carla Kraft and
Donna Wamhoff. The vast trunk of the well-preserved 1963
Chevrolet provided plenty of hot sitting room. (J.B. Forbes/Post-
Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Effie Loggin, a patient at St. Louis City Hospital at 1515
Lafayette Avenue, sweats through the day's heat on July 9, 1980,
when the high was 102 degrees. The hospital's general wards did
not have air-conditioning. There was a smaller air-conditioned
room for patients suffering from heat-related illnesses. (Karen
Elshout/Post-Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
A motorist on July 14, 1980, drives around a buckled section
pavement on Theresa Avenue near Locust Street, west of downtown.
It was one of several breaks in area streets caused by expansion
from the relentless pounding of heat. (Sam Leone/Post-Dispatch)
Sam Leone
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Sixty-three tons of ice melts on the parking lot of South County
Center during a contest to guess when it would all disappear.
The shopping center had the ice hauled there on July 11, 1980,
and ask patrons to fill out cards predicting when it would melt
away. Raymond Kalbac, of 5745 Mango Drive in Mehlville, won a
deep freezer by guessing the time within nine seconds. He had
guessed the melting could be complete by 6:09:30 a.m. Monday,
July 14. It made him an easy winner. (J.B. Forbes/Post-Dispatch)
J.B. Forbes
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Eric Felder, 10, plays in a fountain on North Main Street in St.
Charles on July 17, 1980, when the temperature reached 97. It
returned to triple digits two days later, and the highs stayed
in the 90s until a thunderstorm finally hit town on July 21.
(Wayne Crosslin/Post-Dispatch)
Wayne Crosslin
Look Back: Heat wave of 1980
Karen Miller (left) and Liz Bohn take the kids to Ted Drewes
Frozen Custard at 4224 South Grand Boulevard on Aug. 30, 1980,
when the temperature hit 102. There had been brief relief after
a rainstorm on July 21. The high was only 77 degrees on July 27,
but heat soon returned. Six of the first 10 days in August would
record temperatures of at least 100 degrees. (Karen Elshout/Post-
Dispatch)
Karen Elshout
<https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/history/july-14-1954-the-
hottest-day-st-louis-has-ever-seen/article_c0ae15af-7907-527e-
a44c-70df682b8bbc.html>
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