Description: Roofs dot the landscape as floodwaters rise. 1937 remains the wettest month ever recorded in Ohio. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Illinois, one million were left homeless, with 385 dead and property losses reaching $500 million. The disaster struck during the Great Depression and just a few years after the Dust Bowl. By the second day of the flood as many as 18,000 WPA workers were on hand to aid families. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F04_003_012_008
Subjects: Floods; Natural disasters; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Original description reads: "This picture shows the Canal Lock west of the Aqueduct taken in March 23, 1911." This photograph shows a gate leading into a lock on the Miami and Erie Canal located near Dayton, Ohio. The Miami and Erie Canal connected the Ohio River in Cincinnati, Ohio and Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio and was completed in 1845. The locks were used to raise and lower boats between stretches of water that were of different levels. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F06_018
Subjects: Canals--Ohio; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Locks (Canal); Dayton (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.--Pictorial works; Geography and Natural Resources; Transportation--Ohio--History.; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows Xenia, Ohio, rescue workers searching through bricks after the April 3, 1974 tornado. The unidentified workers are inside a structure searching through rubble (loose bricks and sections of brick wall). Some of the workers appear to be National Guard members wearing uniform and helmets. The tornado "super outbreak" of April 3-4, 1974, resulted in 148 tornadoes in 13 states. The Xenia tornado caused the most deaths of any tornado in the outbreak. The tornado touched down at 4:30 p.m. nine miles southwest of Xenia and entered the city about ten minutes later. It continued northeastward on a path of 32 miles through Xenia and Wilberforce into Clark County. The tornado killed 32 people from Xenia to Wilberforce. About half of the buildings in the city of 27,000 were damaged, and 300 homes destroyed. Nine Xenia churches were destroyed, as were seven of the twelve schools in the city. Fortunately, the tornado occurred an hour after classes had been dismissed. The roof and windows were blown from the Greene County Courthouse. A train passing through Xenia was struck by the tornado and 7 of the 47 cars were blown over, resulting in the blockage of Main Street. More than 1,300 people were treated for injuries at Green Memorial Hospital. Restaurants that were not destroyed handed out thousands of free meals to residents and rescue workers in Xenia. Convoys of generators, floodlights, bulldozers, and dump trucks arrived overnight from nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The tornado also struck Wilberforce University and Central State University, destroying many buildings and injuring several people on each campus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05947
Subjects: Tornadoes--Ohio--Xenia; Xenia (Ohio)--History; Natural disasters; Greene County (Ohio)
Places: Xenia (Ohio); Greene County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1930-1939, this photograph shows the Ohio River Trail at Alms Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, in Hamilton County. The Frederick H. Alms Memorial Park is located at 710 Tusculum Avenue on Mount Tusculum, in Cincinnati, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River. The park was given to the Park Board by Frederick Alms' wife in 1916. Alms was born in Cincinnati on February 26, 1839 and died July 25, 1898. A former solider and successful businessman, Alms is best remembered as an extraordinarily generous philanthropist. He married Eleanora C. Unzicker on November 9, 1870. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. 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_B04F01_026_01
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Parks; Alms, Fred H.; Geography and Natural Resources; Hiking trails; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Mapmaker John Melish created this map of Ohio around 1812. The map shows the land office districts in Ohio, including the Virginia Military District, and Ohio Company and the Western Reserve lands. The border of the American Indian lands in the northwest part of the state is drawn on the map. It is hand colored and measures 9.45" x 9.45" (24 x 24 cm). Originally from Scotland, Melish was an important figure in early United States cartography, or mapmaking. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1529_1169180_001
Subjects: Geography and Natural Resources; American Indians in Ohio; Maps--Midwest--Ohio
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Midget City constructed outdoors in Milan, Ohio, was an attraction in the 1940's visited annually by thousands of people. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F01A_014_1
Subjects: Expositions and fairs; Geography and Natural Resources; Rocks; Gardens
Places: Milan (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio)
 

Description: Built due to the River and Harbor Act of 1935, this roller dam is located 9 miles south of Gallipolis, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F06_005_1
Subjects: Geography and Natural Resources; Dams; Rivers
Places: Eureka (Ohio); Gallia County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption on reverse reads: "Rim of the world - Glouster. Athens Co." Glouster was named after Gloucester, United Kingdom, but was misspelled by a clerk when the name was telegraphed to Washington, and the misspelling stuck. The community was one of a number of area villages established to serve the coal-mining industry, and once featured several active deep mines. A wave of immigration at end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries brought men and then their families from the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe to the villages in the area. Glouster had a very active train station in the "downtown" area which was closed and now serves as a community center. Significantly, area schools were consolidated in the 1960's into the Trimble Local School district View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F02_004_001
Subjects: Dwellings; Housing; Geography and Natural Resources; Trees; Landscapes--Ohio--Pictorial works; Athens County (Ohio)--History; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Glouster (Ohio); Athens County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this photograph shows a waterfall and small building along the Ohio and Erie Canal near Circleville, Ohio. Today a three mile stretch of the canal remains near Circleville. Work began on the Ohio and Erie Canal on July 4, 1825, at Licking Summit, just south of Newark, Ohio, and was completed in 1833. The Ohio and Erie Canal cost approximately ten thousand dollars per mile to complete, and the Miami and Erie Canal cost roughly twelve thousand dollars per mile to finish. The canals nearly bankrupted the state government, but they allowed Ohioans to prosper beginning in the 1830s all the way to the Civil War. Many recent immigrants to the United States, especially the Irish, survived thanks to jobs on the canals. Other people, like the residents of the communal society at Zoar, also helped construct canals to assist the survival of their community. Many of Ohio’s communities today, including Akron, began as towns for the canal workers. Most canals remained in operation in Ohio until the late 1800s. There is a short stretch in the Muskingum Valley near Zanesville still in operation today. By the 1850s, however, canals were losing business to the railroads. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. 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_B10F13_001_001
Subjects: Canals--Ohio; Circleville (Ohio)--History; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Geography and Natural Resources; Transportation--Ohio--History.; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Circleville (Ohio); Pickaway County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image shows the inside of the Ohio Caverns near West Liberty, Ohio. The caverns were formed thousands of years ago when an underground river cut through ancient limestone and created rooms and passageways that later filled with a vast quantity of crystal stalactites. The most famous formation in the Ohio Caverns is the Crystal King, one of the biggest and most perfectly-formed stalactites ever known. The caverns are the largest in the state, with over two miles of surveyed passageways ranging in depth from thirty feet to the deepest point of one hundred and three feet. The exact age of the caverns is unknown. The Columbus Grey Limestone in which the caverns are carved is some 400 million years old, and the oldest crystal is estimated to be 250,000 years old. The Ohio Caverns serve as a major tourist attraction in Logan County, along with the Zane Caverns and the Lake State Park. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06497
Subjects: Caves--Ohio; Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Crystals; Tourism; Geology--Ohio
Places: West Liberty (Ohio); Logan County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of hikers in Conkles Hollow, Hocking County, Ohio, June 1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02685
Subjects: Hocking County (Ohio); Ohio History--Natural and Native Ohio; Hocking Hills State Park (Ohio)
Places: Hocking County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated 1937, this photograph shows the stoplight at Center and 4th Streets in Ironton, Ohio, during the 1937 Ohio River flood. A note on the photograph reads “'F.W. Woolworth's Co. 5 and 10 cent store' 'Florsheim Shoes' 'Arch Preserver Shoe' 'Klein's Lunch, Soda' Along the right: 'Edelson Clothing'." 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. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. 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_B15F04_003_012_018
Subjects: Floods; Natural Disasters; Ohio River; Storefronts
Places: Ironton (Ohio); Lawrence County (Ohio)