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F4 tornado strikes near Gap and Ercildoun, Pennsylvania

When
1877
Where
Ercildoun, Pennsylvania
Episodes
1

The July 1877 "Ercildoun Tornado" was a violent storm that affected Chester County, Pennsylvania. Its severity was notable enough to be the subject of a lecture at the French Academy of Sciences in 1878. The event destroyed fourteen buildings in the area.

Episodes

  1. July 1877 · Ercildoun, PennsylvaniaTornado of 1877

    The violent July 1877 Ercildoun Tornado destroyed fourteen buildings and was discussed at the French Academy of Sciences in 1878.

Background and detail

Background. Ercildoun is an unincorporated community in East Fallowfield Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a population of about 100. Parkesburg is a borough in Chester County, originally known as the Fountain Inn, a tavern built around 1734. These locations were affected by the violent tornado that occurred in July 1877.

Impact. The tornado caused significant destruction in Chester County, specifically destroying fourteen buildings. The violence of the storm was notable enough to be the subject of a lecture at the French Academy of Sciences in 1878. Specific casualty counts and damage figures beyond the building destruction are not supported by the supplied passages.

Sources

  1. Ercildoun, Pennsylvania Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-20
  2. Parkesburg, Pennsylvania Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-04

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.