The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937

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.

Panoramic Views of St. Rose

Tonight I was experimenting with adding links to videos that I made -- my latest project. In the process, I "googled" St. Rose Church.  I followed a link to a site that belongs to Ron Rack.  If you click on the title for this post (Panoramic Views of St. Rose),  you will be linked to his site. You can also click on the link at the bottom of this post.

On his site, he has some panoramic views of St. Rose Church.  You can actually put your cursor inside the picture and virtually travel around the interior of the Church.  He has several other "panos" of Music Hall, Union Terminal, etc.  You have to have a couple of plugins installed on your computer like QuickTime, but he even has links to the plugins in case you need to download them.

I hope you have as much fun on this site as I did. 

Link to Ron Rack's site

Edith Jones Breving

We finally made it to our parents' generation.  One of the joys of doing genealogy is when you get to find out about and share some real gifts you've never seen before.  One such gift was seeing the beautiful wedding picture of Edith Jones and Frederick (Fritz) Breving.  I never had the opportunity to meet Uncle Fritz.  He died a year before I was born.

Edith and Fritz were married on June 15, 1932.  Fritz was 32 years old and Edith was 22.  Their witnesses were the brother of the groom, Jim, and the woman he would later marry, Gladys Goldsmith.  The two beautiful flower girls were the sister of the bride, Margaret Ann, and Alice Riedy.  They were married at St. Rose Church by Fr. Robert W. Schutte.  This gives me the excuse to post one more picture of St. Rose Church.

Frederick John Breving was the son of German immigrants, William Breving and Ameliz Stortz.  He was born on September 14, 1899 in Cincinnati.  Rose tells me that being of German descent, that he valued thriftiness.  When he and Edith were married they lived for a year at 2444 Eastern Ave. until he was able to pay cash for their home in Mt. Lookout. Rosemary was baptized at St. Rose Church.

Fritz was a electoplater working for the Rapid Electric Co.  He worked with lead every day on his job. His death certificate says he died of bronchiectasis, a lung disease that can lead to serious consequences.  He died at the age of 49 leaving a young widow with three children -- Rosemary, Fred and Bob.  I was able to find a copy of his draft card for World War I.  Rosemary told me he was never drafted because he did not have vision in one eye. Notice that he was living on Columbia Ave., as were the Joneses until they had to move for the construction of Columbia Parkway.

Edith was the oldest of five children of Fred and Norine.  I like to say that I come from a long line of strong women, and she was obviously one of them.  Widowed at the age of 39 and having lived with a sick husband prior to his death, she certainly had her hands full trying to raise three young children alone.  Rosemary gave me a picture of Edith at six months.

Edith attended St. Rose School, of course.  Rose tells me she has a copy of a picture of her mother that is housed in the St. Rose Archives.  I'm going to borrow it so we can upload it.  You can refer to a picture in the blog posting for September 2, 2009 on the "Perfect Family minus One" to see a teen-aged Edith.  I'm going to meet with Rose and scan in some other pictures of Edith in the near future.

Edith was a caretaker and a homemaker, very much cast in the mold of her mother.  Not only was she the first-born and a young widow of three, but she became the caretaker for her father, Fred, giving him a home after Norine's death.  It couldn't have been easy.  They lived in a two-bedroom home.  Both Edith and her Dad suffered from macular degeneration as they became older, losing their vision for all intents and purposes.  Edith became a member of Rose and Don's family.  Edith died of breast cancer on March 9, 1991 at the age of 80.  Both she and Fritz are buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston.

Living on the Ohio

St. Rose Church
From the Collection of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Recently I've tried to solve the mystery of exactly where Elizabeth Kinley Jones (widow of Alexander) and her family lived on the banks of the Ohio. Family stories as well as the 1880 Census and numerous Cincinnati City Directories showed the family living on Lumber St. off of Eastern Ave. Lumber St. is right next to St. Rose Church which was built in 1867. It was originally known as St. Rosa and was built to serve the German population of the area.

A few years back I went to the Hamilton Co. Recorder's Office and did a property search. I discovered that the property occupied by St. Rose Church was originally part of the George Torrence Estates. He divided his property among his children, and his daughter Nancy inherited Lots 10 and 11. The Church is on Lot 11.

The deed states that Nancy Torrence sold Lot 11 for $10,000 to Bishop John Purcell. She then donated $1000 back to help fund the construction of the Church. This was in 1867. No mention was made of any part of the property being used for a home.

This had frustrated me for years because Elizabeth Jones, widow of Alexander, is listed in the 1868 City Directory as living in a house, east of Lumber St. The 1880 Census lists Elizabeth and her children as the only residents on Lumber St. besides the three priests serving St. Rose and their housekeeper.

Last Thursday, my husband Bill and I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Graver, volunteer for the Cincinnati Historical Society. He showed us a map with the house located 250' from the southeast corner of the Church on the river bank. The house was a two-story frame house with an iron chimney. It was located on Lot 10 of the Torrence Estate on property that is currently occupied by the Cincinnati Water Works Pumping Station and owned by the City of Cincinnati.

Note:  Map should read Cincinnati Water Works, not Cincinnati Gas Works.

Last Thursday evening my brother Tim, sister-in-law Dusty and I went with tape measure in hand to find the exact location of the "Jones Homestead." The river level in 2009 is much higher than the level in 1880 but you can get a distinct feel for their closeness and love for the Ohio.

Tim marking the spot where the house was located.

Riverbank as it looks now with a wall surrounding the Water Works plant to prevent flooding.

View from St. Rose Parking Lot.