1913
Flood
Trudy E. Bell, M.A,, now considered the foremost
national authority on the Flood of 1913, in describing the effects
of the flood is quoted as saying—
"This mammoth storm system with its ferocious
tornadoes and floods set records for fatalities and flood heights
that still stand today - and which dwarfed both Sandy and Katrina
in geographical extent - created institutions that evolved into
today's United Way, Red Cross, Rotary, IBM, and Cox Communications."
PO1.1004
Click on map to view larger image. |
If
you enjoy the images on these Webpages, there is a book that has
high resolution images with descriptions that will interest you.
With over 400 photographs and 200 pages, the new book-A Pictorial
History of the Buildings of Niles Ohio offers a pictorial history
of Niles buildings from 1895 through the present day.
Follow this link
for information on ordering your book.
Newspaper account of 1913
Flood.
Flooding from the four-day rain that began on Easter,
March 23, 1913, however, was unprecedented and never to be equalled
in the century that followed.
“It was attributable solely to an almost unceasing rain of
four days and four nights, something akin to the biblical deluge,”
Joseph Butler wrote in his first-hand account of the event.
Although Mahoning River dwellers were forced to flee their homes,
“it was the industries that suffered worst,” wrote Butler,
the industrialist who founded the Butler Institute of American Art
in Youngtown.
“All of these located in the river valley were
put hopelessly out of operation, the water standing many feet deep
in the mill buildings and covering the machinery.”
Immediately after the 1913 flood, the Ohio Legislature allowed the
formation of conservancy districts and authorized counties to form
three-member boards to construct and maintain flood-control structures.
In the Mahoning Valley, the Lake Milton dam was completed
in 1916, forming the lake that would increase Youngstown’s
industrial water supply and begin the creation of water-storage
capacity to alleviate flooding here.
In the decades that followed, dams were built to create and regulate
the water levels of Berlin, West Branch, Mosquito and Shenango River
Lake reservoirs. Those lakes became part of a vast U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers-managed network of water-storage lakes that would reduce
downstream flooding, help maintain consistent river water depths
and provide recreational boating opportunities.
Each fall, the Corps reduces water levels in these lakes to increase
their capacity to store snow melt and spring rains, and thereby
reduce downstream flooding.
“It was officially called the ‘reservoir
design flood,’” for Berlin, Mosquito and West Branch,
said Werner Loehlein, a hydraulic engineer with the Corps
in Pittsburgh. Those lakes and dams were designed to withstand a
recurrence of the 1913 flood, but with some water going over the
dams’ emergency spillways, he explained.
“From a volume standpoint, it was a record flood,”
Loehlein said. The 1913 flood consisted of “a bunch of intense
rainstorms with short periods of little or no rain in between,”
he added. Over the four days, the Mahoning Valley got between 7
and 9 inches of rain, Loehlein said, adding that rainfall averages
were 8.8 inches in the west branch basin of the Mahoning River,
7.15 inches on the river’s main stem and 8.35 inches along
Mosquito Creek, which flows into the river in Niles. — By
PETER H. MILLIKEN | milliken@vindy.com |
Gilmore
Restaurant and Manhattan Hotel on South Main Sreet and Water Street
during the 1913 flood.
Visible are people watching from second floor windows
and standing on roof. The building is dated 1892.
PO1.1023 |
Damage
to the Pitts house located on East Federal Street right by Mosquito
Creek.
1913 Flood.
PO1.1005 |
Main
Street looking south from Mill Street during flood, March 1913.
PO1.1021 |
The
streetcar waiting station on Robbins Aveenue during the 1913 flood.
Kestner & McIntyre photographers.
PO1.1012
|
The
streetcar waiting station on Robbins Avenue during the 1913 flood.
Kestner & McIntyre photographers.
PO1.1016
|
Pennsylvania
RR station after the flood.
Kestner & McIntyre photographers. 1913.
PO1. 1015
|
East
Park Avenue bridge over Mosquito Creek and rear of buildings on
ast. State Sreet.. 1913 flood.
PO1.1017 |
South
Main Street Niles, Ohio looking north from Penna. RR during flood
March 1913.
PO1.1018 |
Looking
north up Main Sreet. from bridge
1913 flood.
PO1.1019 |
Looking
south up Main Street from bridge. 1913 flood.
PO1.1020 |
Along South Main. 1913 flood.
PO1.1022 |
South
Main Street iron bridge was extensively damaged during the flood
of 1913.
PO1.1025
|
Downtown
area during the flood. 1913
View is of Water Street with the Manhattan Hotel on the left.
PO1.1011
|
1913
flood. Along South Main.
PO1.1022
|
South
Main Street, Niles,Ohio looking north from Penna. RR during flood
March 1913.
PO1.1018
|
Pennsylvania
RR station after the flood of 1913.
Credit to Kestner & McIntyre photographers.
PO1.1015
|
Pennsylvania
passenger and freight stations in Niles during the January
1904 flood.
Photo by Cook and McIntyre.
PO1.1802
|
South
Main Street looking north during the flood of 1913.
The tall building in right background is the Hartzell Building
at Main and State Streets.
PO1.1026
|
A
photo of the Manhattan Hotel as seen from the northeast during
the flood of 1913. Notice rowing boat in the foreground.
PO2.33
|
Looking
northwest from South Main Street bridge. The steeple of St. Stephen's
Church can be seen at the upper right of photo.
PO1.1032
|
Pennsylvania
RR station after the flood of 1913.
PO1.1014
|
Mosquito
Creek bridge over West Federal Street. At the height of the 1913
flood, the water was over the floor of the bridge.
PO1.1029
|
Postcard
view of the 1913 flood that created havoc up and down the state.
Taken from the Main Street bridge over the Mahoning River facing
south. The building at the upper right is the Eagles Lodge building.
PO1.1639
|
A
photo of the South Main water tower on the right.
The tower was located on Water Street.
PO1.2092
|
Ohio
Galvanizing & Mfg. Co.during 1913 flood.
PO11.19
|
The
old Russia Sheet Mill during the 1913 flood.
PO1.1006
|
The
frame streetcar waiting station on Robbins Avenue, along Mosquito
Creek on the north side of the street, just east of the overpass
for the railroad. Note the streetcar barn in the background.
PO1.1805
|
Niles
Firebrick in the 1913 flood.
PO1.1030
|
Flood
as it affected the Niles Firebrick Plant
Employees got a vacation without pay. 1913 Flood.
PO1.1010
|
A
postcard photo of the 1913 flood as seen from the rooftops of
Main Street looking south from town.
Southside Pesbyterian is visible in the far right.
PO2.349
|
Empire Iron and Steel in the background. Railroad cars were placed
on the county bridge at right to keep it from washing away.
1913 flood.
PO1.999
|
The
old Empire Steel Mill on the south side of the Mahoning River,
during the January 1904 flood, in the area of
today's Ohio Edison plant
Photo by Cook & McIntyre.
PO1.1803
|
January
1904 flood in Niles .
West view along the Pennsyvania tracks from Main St. The city
water works is in the left background.
PO 1.1804
|
A
general view of the 1913 flood.
PO1.1607
|
An
Erie Train sneaking out of Niles Ohio
The streetcar waiting station can be seen under the trestle.
1913 Flood.
PO1.1031
|
Erie
railroad bridge at Church Street in Niles during the Flood of
1913 in March.
PO1.1719
|
The
Southside Presbyterian Church during the 1913 flood.
PO1.1024
|
Third
Street School, or Garfield School as it was known. 1913 Flood.
PO1.1002
|
Sam
Parks farmhouse in the background.
Bridge was located on West Park Avenue in Niles.
The "Red Bridge" or high iron bridge. 1913 Flood.
PO1.1034
|
A
photo of a view from First Street looking across the river to
the north during the 1913 flood.
PO1.2093
|
The
Mahoning River in full spate from the south side of Niles looking
north toward St. Stephen's Church & school. 1913 flood.
PO1.1000
|
The
streetcar waiting station on Robbins Avenue during the 1913 flood.
The street cars are marooned on Robbins Ave. 1913 Flood.
PO1.1013
|
Marooned
by flood on Park Avenue Niles Ohio March 26th, 1913.
Credit for photo is given to Kestner & McIntyre
PO1.1003
|
In
the flood of 1913, this was one of the houses along the river.
PO1.1033
|
A
postcard photo from the 1913 flood, showing Mill St. (now W. State
St.). The Flory boarding house is located in the center rear at
the corner of Chestnut and State.
PO1.2351
|
Picture
of home in South side during the flood 1913.
PO5.50
|
The
location of the Niles Daily Times in later years, this is the
corner of West State & Arlington.
Credit for photo given to Kestner & McIntyre.
1913 Flood.
PO1.1007
|
State
Street during 1913 Flood.
PO1.1001
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|