Door County established Tornado Memorial Park in November 1927 at the site of the Village of Williamsonville, a community of 77 people on October 8, 1871. Pioneers there struggled through trial and tribulation, poverty and loneliness, cold and fire, so that their children might gain a competence. Williamsonville was blotted out by a tornado of fire, and 60 people who sought refuge in an open field surrounding this spot were burned to death. The dead included families at Williamson's Mill and many other named and unknown victims, with four unknown bodies found in the woods and river.