Patrons stuck at John's Bar
FORWARD TWP — Ed Kosich, owner of John’s Bar on Mars-Evans City Road, will never forget May 31, 1985.
“It was a normal Friday night until 20 minutes to nine,” Kosich said. “That’s when the freight train came through,”
Kosich, a young man in his 20s when his late father, John, owned the bar, said the horrific noise was accompanied by falling ceiling tiles and everything in the bar and restaurant eerily shaking.
“No one knew what was going on,” Kosich said. “Then you look outside and everything has changed. In two minutes.”
A violent tornado had rolled up the material on the building’s flat roof, torn off the large overhang in the front, knocked the air conditioning unit off its perch on the roof, and flung his father’s pickup truck down the hill behind the business.
“But everything was still left on the tables where it was sitting,” Kosich said of the tornado’s unpredictable path of destruction.
He explained in detail, even though 30 years have passed, that the tornado traveled across Mars-Evans City Road from west to east, went around the bar/restaurant, and flattened a three-story machine shop behind the building before crossing east once again and leaving two people dead.
Many of the 70 or so patrons in the bar that night were stuck there because the phone and electric lines were down, and the road was blocked by trees and debris.
“A lot of people sat here and drank,” Kosich said. “They couldn’t do anything else at that time.”
He said the National Guard appeared and remained in the area for several days. They blocked Mars-Evans City Road from May Lane to Watters Station Road to clean up the massive debris field, Kosich said.
John’s Bar was closed for six weeks, but family, friends, neighbors, patrons and strangers arrived during the weekend to help.
“So many good people came, saying ‘What can we do?’” he recalled.
The first order of business was to apply tar paper to the damaged roof to keep the rain out. Cleanup and repair of the bar and restaurant followed.
While the Kosich family, which has owned the bar since 1967, was upset about the destruction, they know many others suffered direct hits.
“It got worse after it left here,” Kosich said.
He said although the bar’s televisions were on before the tornado struck, no alerts appeared.
Of all the memories created by the tornadoes of 1985, Kosich said he will never forget the generosity and selflessness of the locals who arrived to help.
“When disaster strikes, everyone shows up to help,” Kosich said. “A lot of good people.”
