Disasters of Onondaga County

by Neil K MacMillan

The city of Syracuse and Onondaga County have a long and storied history of natural and man-made calamity. Although often considered a moderate weather region, Mother Nature has not spared it from destruction. A tornado devastated picturesque Longbranch Park in 1912, and the rare Hurricane Hazel reached Onondaga's borders in 1954. A fire ravaged Syracuse's famed Bastable Block building in 1923. During a children's concert and festival, the floor of the Central Baptist Church collapsed, tragically claiming scores of lives and injuring more than one hundred. Author and historian Neil MacMillan charts the history of Onondaga County catastrophes.

Genres: Historical, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published July 10, 2017

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer]

I’m actually giving this 3 1/2 stars. MacMillan’s writing style is dry and factual, with little of the eyewitness and personal accounts that would have given it more of an emotional impact. Nevertheless, I found it interesting, as I’d never heard about most of it. I wish more books like this would be written for other counties in New York State. Recommended for people who live in the area.

[Jenn]

2.5 Stars. While I was not very impressed with the writing and I did challenge the author's use of the word "disaster," (the disasters talked about in this book were not disasters, but tragedies), I had a lot of fun reading this book and learned a lot of interesting things about Onondaga County that I did not know.