Freak Winds

Souvenir booklet, 1938

Dartmouth dodged the bullet of Irene. For the most part the campus was spared any major damage, though the Dartmouth community is suffering. Neighboring communities were hit hard by the storm, and many staff and faculty are dealing with damaged homes, roads, and bridges. Even more are without power. For many, it was a pleasant surprise to arrive on campus yesterday after navigating through scenes of destruction to find the Green unscathed and awash with sunshine.

From Freak Winds

The campus did not get off so easily in 1938. "The Long Island Express" ripped through and tore out trees, damaged buildings and crippled campus just as the Fall term was about to begin:

Set in the midst of a shattered and desolate countryside, Dartmouth awoke this morning under serene skies to look on a pitiful spectacle of wreckage on its campus which nevertheless gave no index of the wide confusion and destruction surrounding Hanover and extending over the whole northeastern tip of the United States.

To learn more about the '38 Hurricane's impact on campus, ask for the Vertical File "Hurricane, 1938."