Fire Chief James L. Dungey and City Building Inspector Henry Sullins spent Saturday afternoon, part of Sunday, and Monday checking damage. Hundreds of homes had damage to chimneys and many buildings had walls cracked.
Insurance agency offices were deluged with calls from property owners inquiring about their insurance, only to learn that damage by earthquakes was not included in their coverage. One agent explained that earthquake insurance is available to holders of homeowners’ policies upon payment of extra premiums for a special earthquake insurance endorsement, but the rarity of earthquakes makes it doubtful whether the purchase is justified, in the opinions of most property owners.
Schools Damaged
Damaged buildings included several schools which were inspected before classes resumed Tuesday morning. The city officials warned home owners to have chimneys inspected and damage repaired before firing furnaces heavily.
Apparently the most seriously damaged school building was the McKinley School on North Court Street, where concrete facing fell from the top of the wall over the school’s east entrance. The area around the entrance was roped off before school opened Tuesday to prevent anyone approaching that area. The second story portion of the south wall was cracked and slightly budged, but there appeared to be no immediate danger.
The Lincoln building on West Cherry and South Vicksburg Streets had a cracked chimney, and plaster in some of the rooms was damaged.
Some of the other school buildings had cracks in plaster walls.
Courthouse Clock Leaning
The clock tower atop the courthouse appeared to be leaning after the quake, and an inspection was to be made today to determine its condition.
Interior walls of the courthouse were cracked in several places. The wall separating the courtroom from the grand jury room was ruptured by a thin crack that was visible in both rooms and in the stairwell leading from the grand jury room. Plaster fell from the walls in some places, and a window pane was broken in the office of Associate Judge Lan Haney. A pier on top the fruit wall of the city hall building was leaning slightly outward.
Brick were shaken from the top of the north wall of the two-story Eagles lodge building on North Market Street.
A chimney on top of the Hotel State building was damaged and there appeared to be a crack in the north wall.
Stone ledges on top of a firewall of the First Baptist Church educational building were dislodged and a chimney was cracked. Mortar was shaken out of areas of wall at the First Christian Church which had some damage to plaster interior walls.
Brick from a ledge along the top of the Dunston Building at the comer of South Market Street and the Public Square were thrown to the sidewalk.
The walls left standing after the recent fire which destroyed the New Marion Hotel Building on West Main Street withstood the earth-quake, but were later town down as a precaution against injury to the public.
Chimney Leaning
At the home of Harold Chase, 601 E. Thorn St., an L. D. Fern Construction Co. power crane was employed Sunday morning to remove the top of the brick chimney shaken by the quake. The top of the chimney was balanced precariously on two or three bricks midway in its length where it posed a threat to the roof below.
Inspection failed to reveal any serious structural damage to the food markets where the scattering of canned goods and glass-packed food items caused the appearance of the greatest destruction.
There was some ceiling damage at Bays; Kroner’s and Mr. Ed’s Big Star Store, and plate glass windows were broken at Small’s on East Main Street, Bracy’s on West Main and the Dollar General Store on East Union Street.
The earthquake shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday sent people running from their homes, stores and other buildings into the streets asking each other what had happened. The excitement was all the more puzzling to persons in automobiles who reported they did not feel the shock of the earthquake and were startled to see people running from buildings. Men at work in coal mines reported the did not feel the quake.
Every Room Damaged
Every room was damaged in the Robert Cooksey home at the southwest corner of East College and South Madison streets. The ceiling and walls were cracked and in some room the baseboard was away from the walls. A tile-faced fireplace was minus its tiles.
Mrs. Edith Davis, 412 South Calumet, reported that some heirloom dishes and glassware, that had been the property of her mother, were broken when a hutch in her living room fell, during the quake.
The earthquake on Nov. 9, 1968, was centered near Carmi and registered as a level five quake, according to Williamson County Emergency Disaster Coordinator Tom Redickas.
(Article extracted from Marion Daily Republican, 11/12/69)