Description: This is a photograph showing North 4th Street and the Masonic Temple in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. Also seen in the photograph are the Bailey Drug Company, Bell's Restaurant, Herron Drugs, and the Fergus Electric Company. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F05_1
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters; Zanesville (Ohio)
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the new B&O Bridge in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F05_2
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters; Zanesville (Ohio); Bridges; Railroads--Ohio;
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing 5th Street in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. Also visible in the photograph are Watts & Son Jewelers, Hills Bros. Dentists, and the Zanesville branch of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, among other shops and offices. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F05_3
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters; Zanesville (Ohio)
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing damaged homes in Columbus, Ohio, during the 1913 Flood. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and water levels all over Ohio rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns, including Columbus, suffered disastrous flooding. The statewide extent of death and destruction in the Flood of 1913 exceeds all other weather events in Ohio history, justifying the title of “Ohio’s greatest weather disaster.” Rainfall over the state totaled 6-11 inches and no section was unaffected. The death toll was 467 and more than 40,000 homes were flooded. Approximately 100 died in Columbus when the Scioto River reached record levels and poured 9 to 17 feet deep through neighborhoods. Many Columbus residents escaped to the safety of rooftops and trees. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P339_B05F02_06_01
Subjects: Floods; Climate and weather; Natural disasters; Scioto River (Ohio)
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph showing the homes on Linden Ave. in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were over-topped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F06_1
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters; Zanesville (Ohio)
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph showing floodwaters covering homes in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were over-topped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F06_2
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters;
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the A.E. Starr Company in Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were overtopped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F06_3
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters;
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: In January and February of 1937, weeks of heavy rainfall caused the Ohio River to flood parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky, causing $500 million in property damages, and displacing and killing hundreds. By the end of January, the Ohio River measured 80 feet deep in Cincinnati, one of the areas most affected. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dispatched thousands of relief workers from the Works Progress Administration to rescue flood victims and restore affected cities. Taken January 23, 1937, this photograph shows the Incinerator Plant and Steubenville Plant of the Wheeling Steel Corp, looking south. The Wheeling Steel Corporation, founded in 1920, was located at 227 South Third and Bates Streets and was one of the largest plants of its kind in the Ohio Valley. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F06_008_001
Subjects: Steubenville (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Wheeling Steel Corporation; Floods; Natural disasters; Ohio River; Works Progress Administration
Places: Steubenville (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Picture of firemen putting out flames after the 1974 Xenia tornado in the area just west of the Greene County Courthouse. Adair’s furniture store opened up onto S. Detroit Street on Route 68. As of 2014, the building was occupied by several stores, including the Hospice of the Miami Valley and Coldwell Banker Heritage Realtors. On April 3, 1974, an F5 category tornado struck Xenia, Ohio. The tornado that struck Xenia was just one of at least 148 tornadoes that occurred in the South and Midwest in a twenty-four period. This was the worst outbreak of tornadoes recorded in the twentieth century. The tornado that struck Xenia had maximum winds of three hundred miles per hour. It destroyed more than one thousand homes and businesses. Hardly any buildings remained standing in Xenia's downtown. Thirty-three people died in the storm, with approximately another 1,150 people injured. President Richard Nixon visited Xenia a week following the tornado. He stated, "It's the worst disaster I've ever seen." Xenia rebuilt quickly. By April 3, 1975, eighty percent of the destroyed homes and forty percent of the businesses had been rebuilt. It would take until 1984 for all structures to be repaired or rebuilt, but as bumper stickers that appeared within days of the tornado stated, "Xenia Lives!" View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07694
Subjects: Tornadoes--Ohio--Xenia; Tornado damage; Natural disasters; Xenia (Ohio)--History
Places: Xenia (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Collected for use in the Ohio Guide, this photograph shows the large crowd gathered at the Dayton Flood Prevention fundraiser. To the left of the Old Courthouse façade is a giant cash register with a sign above that reads “Flood Fund $2,000,000” and a sign below which reads “I am a policy holder in the Flood Prevention Fund.” A note on the back of the photograph documents the Flood Prevention Fund donations totaling $2,150,000. Dayton, Ohio, was one of the many Ohio cities impacted by the Great Flood of 1913, a result of several major rivers throughout central and eastern United States overflowing due to heavy rainfall from March 23-26. Once the levee failed, the Great Miami River flowed across Dayton, killing nearly 430 people statewide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F06_015_001
Subjects: Dayton (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Floods; Natural disasters; Great Miami River (Ohio); Ohio Federal Writers' Project; Works Progress Administration
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph showing an elevated view of Zanesville, Ohio, following the flood of 1913. In late March 1913, an unusually heavy rainstorm moved into Ohio. It rained steadily for five days and the water levels rose rapidly. By the third day of the downpour, levees were over-topped and many towns suffered disastrous flooding. When the flood waters receded, tons of mud and debris covered the streets, homes, businesses and factories of towns like Zanesville, where the Muskingum River had crested 27 feet above flood stage and water was 20 feet deep at several downtown intersections. The death toll for the disaster stood at 361, and property damages were well over $100,000,000 and 65,000 were forced to temporarily leave their homes. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P28_B05_F06_4
Subjects: Climate and weather; Floods; Natural disasters;
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photograph of the floodwaters on 4th Street in Uhrichsville, Ohio, during the 1913 flood. This photograph was taken on March 26, 1913. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B14F01_009_001
Subjects: Tuscarawas County (Ohio); Floods; Natural disasters
Places: Uhrichsville (Ohio); Tuscarawas County (Ohio)