One of the first known tornado photographs was taken near Howard, South Dakota.
The image was made by F. N. Robinson on August 28, 1884, during a destructive tornado outbreak in what was then Dakota Territory. Robinson stood in or near Howard while the tornado passed approximately 20 to 22 miles west of the town. The photograph shows the large funnel and additional cloud features, making it an unusually striking record of a nineteenth-century tornado.
Howard is the key location in the historical account, even though the funnel itself was outside the town. That distinction causes occasional confusion: the town identifies the photographer’s vantage point and the event’s commonly used name, while the tornado’s track lay west of Howard.
The photograph was once widely called the oldest known tornado image. That claim has since been challenged by evidence for an earlier photograph near Westphalia, Kansas, on April 26, 1884. Howard therefore remains the correct answer for this particular famous photograph, but not necessarily for the first tornado photograph ever made.