The 1899 New Richmond tornado was an estimated F5 tornado which formed on the early evening of Monday, June 12, 1899 and tore a 45-mile path of destruction through St. Croix, Polk and Barron counties in west-central Wisconsin. It left 117 people dead, twice as many injured, and hundreds homeless. The worst devastation brought by the tornado was at the city of New Richmond, Wisconsin, which took a direct hit from the storm (in which brings the name of such). Over half the town was left in ruins by the tornado, which also caused minor damage to several other communities in the area. More than $300,000 (USD) ($ in ) in damage was reported. As of 2019, it ranks as the ninth deadliest tornado in United States history, as well as the deadliest ever recorded in Wisconsin. Event description June 12, 1899, was the day of the Gollmar Brothers Circus, which drew hundreds of visitors in addition to the town's 1,600 inhabitants. Around 3:00 p.m., clouds began to build, and the sky became dark. As the circus ended for the day, around 4:30 PM a heavy rain with some hail began to fall. The rain let up around 5:00 PM, and people began to head home for the day. By 6:00 PM, the streets of New Richmond were full of tourists, travellers and residents. The tornado was reported to have first touched down around 5:30 PM, about five miles south of Hudson, on the eastern bank of Lake St. Croix. The tornado was described as a "boiling cloud" which seemed to skirt the hills to the east of Lake St. Croix and then began moving off to the northeast. Passing clear of Hudson and following both the Willow River and the Omaha Railroad, the tornado swept away several farms near the rural communities of Burkhardt and Boardman as it travelled northeast. Four fatalities were reported at Boardman. 55-year-old Kate Heffron was the first reported fatality, as she was killed when the tornado demolished her home and farm. The home and farm of 70-year-old Louisa Hurd also sustained a direct hit, as Ms. Hurd and 13-year-old Gertie Wears were both killed when her home was swept away. Wears had stopped in along with her father and brother to visit, both of whom managed to reach the cellar before the storm hit. John Neitge, a young farmer from Deer Park who had