The Great Flood of 1937 Collections Essay

Home , January 1937

his January marks the seventieth anniversary of the worst natural disaster in the history of the Ohio Valley. Heavy rains in early 1937 led Tto extensive flooding along the Ohio River and numerous tributaries. Although hundreds of communities suffered, the Great Flood of 1937 struck particularly hard in Cincinnati and Louisville. In Cincinnati, the river stayed above flood stage from January 18 until February 5 and reached its crest of 79.99 feet on Tuesday, January 26. Schools, stores, theaters and factories closed. Authorities ra- tioned electricity, suspended streetcar service, and shut off the water supply except for four hours dai- ly. In Louisville, the Ohio stayed above flood stage for twenty-three days. On January 27, the river crested at 57.1 feet, almost thirty feet above flood stage. More than 60 percent of the city was under water and about 230,000 of Louisville's 350,000 residents had to evacuate their homes. Property damage exceeded fifty million dollars. The flood resulted from unprecedented Jan- uary rain throughout the region. January 1937 was the wettest month in Ohio since 1866 with a state average of 9.57 inches. Normal January The Jan. 25,1937 Cincinnati Enquirer notified its precipitation is two to three inches. The highest readers that "the City Manager officially declares that Ohio rainfall was 14.88 inches in Fernbank, just an emergency exists in Cincinnati and it is absolutely essential that all citizens cooperate with public and west of Cincinnati, but rainfall in Louisville sur- private agencies to conserve all of the community's passed even that total. Louisville's January precip- resources."ciNCiNNATi MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL itation was a record 19.17 inches. SOCIETY LIBRARY Both The Filson Historical Society and Cincinnati Museum Center have extensive collections that document this disaster, including photo- graphs, books, pamphlets, maps, diaries, reports, newspapers, and correspon- dence. As you look at the illustrations presented here, keep in mind the scale of this disaster.

RIGHT: Up a pole at third and River Road in Louisville. WHAS radio announcers Foster Brooks (the future comedian) and Pete Monroe reporting on flood conditions over shortwave radio. Radio was the voice of the emergency, with regular updates, reports, emergency calls, etc. An NBC broadcast over WAVE radio on Feb. 7,1937, proclaimed radio as the "tenacious horseman that rides the crest of the flood from the headwaters of the Ohio to the mouth of the mighty Mississippi."

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OHIO VALLEY HISTORY

The Damage

This map showing the flooded areas of Louisville was part of a certificate of appreciation that Mayor Neville Miller presented to volunteers. It illustrates the extent of the flooding, as well as the surprising areas near the river that were high enough to avoid inundation, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Houses on Shelby Street in Louisville's eastern downtown area awash in flood waters. THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

62 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY This aerial view of the Cane Run area in western Louisville, bordering the river, looks like a huge lake—except for the buildings and trees dotting its surface, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Copy for a Jan. 22,1937, WAVE radio broadcast • • over the NBC network proclaiming Louisville to be a "dark city" that night, with its lights out and i|« streets deserted, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Thirty-fifth and Rudd Streets in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville. The flood devastated Portland and other neighborhoods in western Louisville. Almost that entire area of the city and county were under water, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

63 Bystanders on Cincinnati's Ludlow Avenue viaduct looked almost hopeless as the water level reached 79.99 feet on Jan.26,1937. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY

A gondola it's not, but this man seemed to be poling his little craft quite successfully in the 1700 block of South Third Street in the Old Louisville neighborhood south of downtown. Just four blocks from The In this well-remembered view of the Abraham Lincoln statue outside the Filson's current location, this is more than Louisville Free Public Library at Third and York Streets/'Father Abraham" two and a half miles from the river. appears to be walking—or at least standing—on water, THE FILSON HISTORICAL THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY SOCIETY

64 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY ABOVE: After the floodwaters receded, evidence of the incredible force of the water was everywhere. In Lawrenceburg, Indiana, a house was turned upside down. LEFT: Fire struck in Cincinnati during the flood and burned houses to the water line. BOTTOM LEFT: In one Cincinnati neighborhood, a garage ended up stuck between two houses at the second story. CINCINNATI MUSEUM

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RIGHT: A quarantine pass dated Feb. 2,1937, issued to Sidney Pierce, allowing him to cross the quarantine line officials had established in order to better manage the disaster and control the spread of possible diseases expected in the wake of the flood. Management was effective and there were few problems with disease, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

WINTER 2006 Chicago Did II! San Franeisco Did It! Now Watch Louisville! Fire! Fire! FIRE! Chicago in 18T1 was a blazing inferno! Within a few short days almost the entire city of Chicago was a barren waste of charred timbers and The Response smoking ashes. Bui was Chicago really destroyed? No, only the buildings! Men and women make a city . . . not buildings. Those Chicago men and women laughed in the face of disaster! They rolled up their sleeves and went to work. On the cold ashes of their old Chicago they built a greater Chicago . . . the second largest city in America! Earthquake! EARTHQUAKE! Wide-eyed with terror the citizens of San Fran- cisco rushed from their homes. The world seemed coming to an end! Buildings crumbled and crashed about them! Fire lashed its hungry tongue on every side! Mad, stark horror stalked the trembling streets'. In 1906 the entire city of San Francisco was in ruins. But was San Francisco really destroyed? No, only the buildings! Men and women make a city . . . not buildings. The pioneer spirit which had built San Francisco could not be shaken even by an earth quake! The citizens of San Francisco rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Over the ruins of their old San Francisco they built a greater San Francisco. . . the greatest city in the West! Chicago did it! San Francisco did it! Now watch LOUISVILLE! The disaster which has befallen us is small compared to She Chicago Fire ... it is small compared to the San Francisco Earthquake. The Federal Government has appropriated seven hundred and ninety million dollars for flood relief! The United States Army has come to help us. The great American Red Cross has placed its entire organization in our service. The whole nation is giving us every possible agaist ;mce. We have at our command every modern method for building a better and a greater city. Now, watch LOUIS- VILLE! Has Louisville been destroyed by flood ? No, of course not! Has any part of Lou- isville been destroyed by flood? No, only some buildings. The men and women of Louisville are really Louisville . . . not the buildings! We are Kentuckians! We are Louisvillians! Onr forefathers built this city out of logs and they fought the Indians off while they were building it. The eyes of the entire world are npon us. They are wondering if we have the courage of our forefathers or if we are weaklings'. The world is a place of ups and downs . . . it's a place of gains and losses. Some men are brittle. They are like the pitcher that goes to the well, hits a stone and is broken to pieces. Some men start out in life gaily until they hit the first stone. Then they're done for. They might do very well in a world filled with cushions but they are not much good in a world filled with stone. Too many men get into the world who should never have left the nursery. They go through Hfe snivelling, "Somebody hit me." If you want people to believe you are a real man, you roust prove that you will not break under pressure. You must make it clear that you are not a piece of wood painted to look like sturdy iron. You must expect life to be a conflict, not a parade or a pink tea. You must have the courage, the determination, to outlast disaster. Bill Russell, a photographer for the You must be like the mythical Phoenix. The Phoenix was a sacred bird that lived in Arabia. Every five hundred years it went to a certain temple in Egypt and burned Cincinnati Times Star, climbed a pole to itself on the altar. Then, just when everybody thought it was dead, it sprang out of photograph the flood in Cumminsville, the flames all renewed. It rose from the ashes of its dead self and lived for five hundred years longer. along the Mill Creek. CINCINNATI MUSEUM Yes, if we are real men, if we are real Kentuckians, if we are real LouisviUians, CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY we'll be like the Phoenix . . . we'll rise up renewed, determined, unconquerable! By courage, by faith, by working together we'll build a better aad a greater Louisville! Chicago did it! San Francisco did it! Now watch LOUISVILLE!

The eighty-eight person Cincinnati long distance office with every position filled.CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY

OHIO VALLEY HISTORY The river stage was 72.8 feet on Saturday, January 23 when this photograph was taken in downtown Cincinnati on Broadway Street, looking north to Third. The river would rise another 7.1 feet. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY

Cincinnatians were rescued by every means possible— this woman was carried from her home near Freeman and Eighth St. in the West

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Even in the worst disasters, people will find some diversions. CINCINNATI MUSEUM

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WINTER 2006 ABOVE:The flood essentially washed away Shippingport,the little town on the island between the Louisville and Portland Canal and the Ohio River, and between downtown and Portland. Its few remaining residents were relocated and the remnants of the town razed, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BELOW: As flood waters rose, relief efforts in Louisville were organized. Issued on Jan. 26, 1937,"Relief Bulletin No. 1" listed sites, personnel, and telephone numbers of emergency services for the Crescent Hill area. Located east of downtown Louisville, Crescent Hill's higher elevation largely spared it serious flooding. It became an important staging and relief area, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Federal agencies like the Works Progress Administration provided important flood relief assistance by setting up soup kitchens and other services, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Oil and gasoline tank wagons, milk tank trucks, and even cement trucks delivered water. Cleveland sent water trucks to Cincinnati to help with water distribution.CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI

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OHIO VALLEY HISTORY ABOVE: The Point neighborhood, along the river just upstream of downtown Louisville, was essentially destroyed by the flood. The George Fitz family were refugees from the Point and took up temporary quarters in one of the city's refugee camps, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

BELOW: This aerial view looking north to the Ohio River shows the devastating flooding in Louisville's west end. Block after block of houses and businesses were evacuated as the waters rose and spread farther and farther until more than 60 percent of the city had been inundated and some 65 percent of its population evacuated, THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

' *A A „. . In his book on the flood, the noted journalist Lowell Thomas praised Cincinnati City Manager Clarence A. Dykstra for maintaining order in the city. He noted that "Officials from Numerous publications Washington, reporters from New York and Chicago went to Cincinnati during its darkest appeared after the flood.This hours.They marveled to find a smooth, unruffled machinery moving without a hitch to particular Photo Story" could be cope with that stupendous emergency.The answer, everybody agreed, was Dykstra." mailed for one and a half cents Lowell Thomas, Hungry Waters: The Story of the Great Flood (Philadelphia: John C. Winston if no writing was added to the CO., 1937), 39. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY inside.CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER,

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Anita Brooke's Jan. 26, 1937 letter describes her flood experience up to that time. Her apartment in the Old Louisville neighborhood was just blocks away from the man afloat on his makeshift raft on Third Street. THE FILSON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

70 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Dear Folks:

By this time you surely musthav ve heard a lot about the horrible flood. You can be thenkful you are away from Cincinnati now for it is a night- mare. The river is up to the third step on our front porch and extends about half-way back in our side yard. Our cellar is flooded and our only means of escape is out the back way and up over the back streets to Elberor? Avenue.

The roar of the water is something we will never forget. We saw houses lift from their foundations and rush downstream, end we even sew a factory topple over and float away. Yesterday I was looking out of the window and our telephone poles fell over, dragging the wires with them. My mother saw two men disappear out in midstream in a skiff, and houses and furniture end everything imaginable drifts by. You simply cannot imagine the horror of this flood. The constant rosr of water passing the house end hitting it and the drift coming downstream and passing so close to the house have been keeping us in a constant state of worry. However, I believe the worst is over and now that the river is falling we feel very much reassured.

Cincinnatian Alma Budd described the flood in a letter she wrote on Jan. 28,1937 to Herbert F. Koch, executive vice president of the Cincinnati Morris Plan Bank and her boss. CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER, CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY

Scout Executive's Report - 1S37 Presented at Annual Meeting - Cincinnati Council February 5, 1938

The year 1937, for which this report is written, will be memorable above all things for the service rendered by Scouts and Scouters in the Great Flood.

Details of Ohio River Flood at Cincinnati

River reached height of 79.99 Tuesday, January 26, 1937. Highest previous record was 72.88,

Newspapers estimated 200,000 flood refugees. (Enq.1-39).

It is estimated 30,000 to 40,000 moved by water transportation. Approximately 850 boats and 1000 workers in the Emergency Flood Fleet. No lives lost - no boats lost in these operations.

There was no increase in disease.

There were only 3 casualties in Cincinnati which could be attributed to the flood,

3600 Scouts participated in flood duty and an estimated total of 650 Scouters, "Too busy feeding stomachs to count noses," one leader reported.

Samples of Scout Service

Scouts carried house to house fire warnings for Fire Chief. Guarded oil and gasoline supplies and kept smokers out of danger areas of inflamrcables. Assigned to guard and use, if necessary, fire-extinguishers at Red Cross Headquarters. Conducted house to house canvass for clothing and canned goods. Cots and mattresses for refugees during first few days came from Scout Camp. Handled traffic in several areas, particularly on Black Sunday and other acute disaster periods. Assisted in providing hot coffee and sandwiches to police and firemen. Aided in distribution of drinking water at tanks and homes. Guided drivers in transport service to unfamiliar areas. Conducted constant 34-hour map service for transportation. Twenty-four-hour service in 8-hour shifts as messengers and handlers of clothing, foods, hardware and canteen, boiling water. Loading and unloading supplies. The Boy Scouts of Cincinnati Used troop trucks to haul people and goods. Operated and repaired boats in rescue work. worked hard during the Helped families and store-keepers move. emergency.Their annual report Operated 5 retre short-rave sets transmitting instructions alow water front. described the assistance they provided.CINCINNATI MUSEUM

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