The 1937 Flood Revisited

A few years ago, I wrote about the impact of the 1937 flood on my Dad and his family who were living at 2424 Eastern Ave. (now Riverside Drive). It included family pictures that had been passed down to us. Three years later, I acquired additional pictures from the Cincinnati History and Archives Library at the Museum Center. They are in possession of a scrapbook of flood pictures that were collected from a variety of individual collections. One of the pictures was one I recognized from the collection of Mary Pharo Meldon, who loaned it to me for inclusion in the Blue Room Belch.

The search led to additional pictures that featured my Dad's house. John Thomas Jones was 16-years old at the time of the flood. I remember him telling stories about the house being accessible only through an attic window by boat.

This is my Dad's house on the left. We do not know the identities of the men in the boat.

From this view, you can see that the water level got up just below the attic. The house is still standing in 2015. 

This view is from the railroad tracks above the house. I have no idea why there is a car on the tracks.
Dad's house is the small one on the left. Note all of the furniture stacked next to the tracks.

Finally, Mary Pharo Meldon's collection included this great picture of people from the East End trying to acquire drinking water after the Cincinnati Water Works pumping equipment failed.

From the Collection of Mary Pharo Meldon

Dad's House in the 1937 Flood

2424 Eastern Ave. (now Riverside) from the 1937 Flood

Yesterday, Bryan Phillips, owner of the East End facebook page, texted me that there was a video on you tube that had a picture of my Dad's house 2 minutes and 30 seconds in.  I couldn't wait to check it out.




Brian Gordon posted this video on facebook in April, 2010. Here is how he described it.

I contacted Brian Gordon for permission to embed the video and a "snip" of Dad's house on this blog. He graciously agreed. Although we have a picture of Dad's house in the flood, I don't think it does justice to just how bad the flood was for the Jones family. I'm also grateful for Brian Gordon's description of everything on this video.

I guess it gives a whole new meaning to "A River Runs Through Us."

Just My Luck!

I have a new-found friend, Bryan Phillips, who has a facebook page on Cincinnati's East End, Columbia-Tusculum and Linwood. If you have an interest in this old Cincinnati neighborhood, his site is a gold mine.  Since meeting him I've been able to have a few lunches with other "old" East Enders who have helped me get a better understanding of the neighborhood that defined four generations of my family.

People from the neighborhood are constantly sending Bryan pictures and information for his page.  Bryan knows I have a wish list:

• Locating a picture of my great-grandfather's house on Gladstone.
• Any pictures on Eastern Avenue (Riverside Drive) from the 2200-2500 block.
• Pictures of the old homes on the street that now is Columbia Parkway.
• A picture of the house on the riverbank behind St. Rose Church.

Today he struck gold!  A follower of his page, Gary Sunday, made five more 1937 flood pictures available for the site. A short time later, I got a phone call from Bryan. He knew this picture would get me going.

1937 Flood - Pictured is Highland School
My grandparent's home is to the far right with the chimney in view.
Photo Credit:  Gary Sunday and Bryan Phillips

When I first saw the picture, I thought the house was the building just behind the telephone pole.  My brother, however, recognized an unmistakable pattern in the brick work of the chimney. I still remember being shown the "line" about four inches below the ceiling that marked the crest of the flood.  Paint could never completely cover it. Other pictures that we've seen of the flood show water levels that are not nearly as high.

Gary had some other priceless pictures in his collection.

St. Rose Church and School
My Joneses lived on the river bank BEHIND this church in the 1870s.

At the  height of the flood, the city was no longer able to pump water to the residents.
This building is now surrounded by an unattractive wall 3' higher than the high water level of the '37 flood.

From Torrence Rd. looking west on Eastern Ave.

Looking west with St. Rose steeple on the far left.  All of the houses no longer exist.

There are a few more pictures on my "wish list". Why do I feel so hopeful?  It takes a community.
Thanks Bryan and Gary.

The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937

Note:  This is a copy of a post printed on the Jones Family Matters blog on January 26, 2012. Since it had such relevance for "A River Runs Through Us" I chose to reprint it here.

View of 1937 Flood Looking East on Eastern toward St. Rose Church

Seventy-five years ago today the Ohio River crested in the Great Flood of 1937.  Over a million people were displaced from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois.  My Dad was 16 years old when it flooded and yet I feel like it is part of my DNA.  Their house was directly across the river and the water got up almost to the second floor.  I heard stories of them using a row boat and going into a second floor window.

My Dad's house across from Highland School at 2424 Eastern Ave.

The area covered by the flood was extensive.  The Cincinnati Post published this aerial view.

At one point, the city even lost it's water supply as flood waters submerged much of the Cincinnati Water Works pumping station on Eastern Ave.  One East End resident recently told me that they gave everyone a half hour notice that the water supply would be stopped.  Everyone was instructed to fill containers, tubs and anything they had before the water was turned off.  He said that he was a child at the time, came in and saw the tub filled with water and decided to give his dog a bath.  Somehow he didn't get the message.

One of my favorite childhood memories was when Dad would take us behind St. Rose Church so that we could see where they recorded each flood's crest on the back of the church.

Although you can't see the numbering from this distance, imagine the 80' crest at the top of the white rectangle on the back of the church.  The river had a normal pool stage of about 13' in 1937.  Changes to dams in the river have increased the normal pool stage to about 26' today.  Recall that our earliest Joneses lived 250' of the southeast corner of that church.  Their house on the river bank flooded every spring.  Good thing they were long gone before this disaster.

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County is sponsoring a wonderful commemoration of the flood and its impact on Ohio and surrounding states.  You can check out their wiki here.