75 years later: Remembering the 1937 flood

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In 1937, flooding spilled far enough into Jeffersonville to reach the Quadrangle on 10th Street, which is now the site of Jeffersonville City Hall. File photo
The Ohio River crested 430 feet above sea level in January 1937, sending flood waters into the streets. In downtown Jeffersonville, along Spring Street, water rose nearly to the rooftops of some businesses. File photo
Men worked on cleaning up businesses and streets in downtown Jeffersonville after the flood waters started to recede in 1937. File photo
This 1937 aerial photograph shows the Colgate-Palmolive building surrounded by floodwaters. Historian and author Rick Bell, who delivered a presentation on the 1937 flood at the Jeffersonville Township Public LIbrary on Saturday, said hundreds of people were stranded at the facility during the 1937 flood. File photo
Rick Bell, author of “The Great Flood of 1937: Rising Waters, Soaring Spirits,” signs books at the Jeffersonville Township Public Library following a lecture on the flood Saturday. Bell will speak at another event Feb. 26 at the Howard Steamboat Museum. Staff photo by David Mann

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January 30, 2012

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon Jan 30, 2012, 12:28 AM EST

JEFFERSONVILLE — January of 1937 greeted America with a bit of optimism.

“Prohibition had just ended,” said Rick Bell, a Louisville historian. “A lot of the social programs of the new deal were beginning to have an impact.”

However, for the Louisville metro area, circumstances started to look much more ominous when two huge cold fronts settled both above and below the Ohio Valley. Rain began to fall. Water began to rise. And a wary group of river towns from Pennsylvania to Arkansas experienced a disaster that has yet to be rivaled.

“The amount of rain was unparalleled,” said Bell, author of “The Great Flood of 1937: Rising Waters, Soaring Spirits.”

Bell spoke Saturday at the Jeffersonville Township Public Library to a packed room of history buffs. Using both his research and many of the famous photos and stories that came out of the event, Bell painted a picture of what happened to the area during those worrisome days 75 years ago, this month.

The river reached 430 feet above sea level in Jeffersonville. Region wide, 435 people were killed, a number which Bell admits was low considering the gravity of the event.

Scores of people up and down the river were forced to evacuate their homes and live in tent cities. Life in those temporary structures was made even harder by daytime temperatures in the 30s and nighttime lows in the teens.

Communities found innovative ways to deal with the circumstances. In New Albany, a pumper truck was put onto a raft and floated up and down streets to fight many of the fires that occurred as a result of floating oil slicks. Bell said New Albany still has that truck and is in the process of restoring it.

In Louisville, a pontoon bridge was constructed using 14,000 empty bourbon barrels to get people stranded downtown to the safety of the highlands neighborhood.

“What other community has 14,000 empty wooden barrels,” Bell asked, getting a few laughs.

Hundreds of people were trapped at the Colgate-Palmolive Co. Building in Clarksville.

“Fortunately among the people stranded were two butchers,” he said.

They made use of a couple of dairy cows that had been washed into their vicinity in order to keep everyone fed.

The American Red Cross took on a military posture, becoming the lead agency in the rescue effort. Bell said prior to the flood there were 30 Red Cross staff members in Louisville. That number rose to more than 1,500 before the event was done. Bell said the agency provided aid to more than 1.5 million people nationwide during the time.

As the rain fell WHAS radio remained on the air for 187 consecutive hours.

“This marked the first 24-hour news cycle in media history,” Bell said.

Many of their stories were short dispatches about places where people were stranded or needed supplies. The airwaves carried the news for miles, bringing in aid to the area from all over the country and even the world at large.

Smaller communities were at a disadvantage because they lacked the infrastructure and manpower that larger cities utilized. The town of Leavenworth, down river from Jeffersonville, was completely destroyed. Residents there chose to rebuild away from the river.

Farther down the river, about three quarters of the town of Cario, Ill. fled and didn’t come back, Bell said.

Bell, originally from the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, remembers hearing his family tell stories about the flood from the time he was a child. His book has been a local bestseller since it was released about five years ago.

In that time he’s done many speaking engagements on the topic around the area.

“I thought it was very informative,” said Walter Lee, a resident of Clarksville.

He said he remembers his family talking about the flood growing up, so he thought he’d come by and check out the lecture.

And, he added, “I’m kind of a history buff.”

A picture of Jeffersonville’s Quartermaster Station submerged in water hangs at Jeffersonville City Hall. That got resident Dave Heavrin thinking about the flood.

“I just wanted to be more informed about the area,” he said.

Bell’s book can be found online at butlerbooks.com. He also has another speaking engagement coming up at 2 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville. For more information on that event check out steamboatmuseum.org.

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75 years later: Remembering the 1937 flood

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