Paducah Postcards + Miamisburg Marker

One reader’s query leads to solving a Kentucky mystery; another reader invites viewing of a new historical marker on the 1913 flood in Ohio 

Out of the blue the morning of June 2, 2018, this email message arrived:

Ms. Bell. I stumbled upon your blog a couple of years back while trying to identify a group of flood postcards I have. I thought they were from Paducah, KY, but didn’t know the year. Turns out 

This scene during the 1913 flood is one of seven mystery postcards received from Mike Kunz. It is of downtown Paducah, Kentucky: specifically, Broadway seen from Second Street. The water flooding the city was deep enough for boats.

they were from 1913, and show some of the ‘Water Carnival’ in that city. I have collected and sold cards for years, never being aware of the importance of the 1913 flood. I have read all of your past blogs and have told a number of collectors and dealers at shows about the site. I have 

All seven postcards from Mike Kunz
correspond to scenes depicted in
this souvenir booklet, with a few
minor differences in the way images
were cropped.

gained much from this sight and I have enjoyed it’s educational value. To thank you for your efforts I would like you to have these Paducah cards. I would rather see them go where they would be appreciated than to someone for resale. I’m not trying to sell you something. If you want them, just send me an address, and will send them to you.

Keep up the good work. Mike Kunz, Petersburg, Tn.

South Third Street from Broadway in 

Paducah; at left is the Citizens Savings

 Bank and at right is First National Bank.

In this and other images, the faint vertical
marking that seems disembodied in the
sky is actually a streetlight hanging from
electrical wires.

The “water carnival” to which Mike Kunz referred was the appalling belittling of the horrific magnitude of the 1913 flood in Paducah, Kentucky, recounted in this blog’s September 2014 post “Spurning Disaster Aid.” 

At the time I wrote that post—indeed, until last month—I had never seen photos of the 1913 flood in Paducah as the city newspaper then did not publish images.

South Fourth Street from
Broadway. At left in the
foreground is the dry goods
business W. M. Rieke & Co.,
and in the background is
City Hall. At right in the
foreground is the Paducah
Banking Co.

Immediately, I wrote back to Mike, thanking him and accepting his generous offer. A few days later, seven black-and-white postcards arrived by mail. 

All of them showed flooded street scenes of a city with a few people in distant boats. The postcards were lithographed: they had a halftone screen dot pattern, suggesting they might have been printed for mass distribution or sale (as opposed to being real photographic prints made from a glass negative in an enlarger). None of them had been used; none had any printed caption; a few had cryptic handwritten identifying markings on the front (clearly on the original negative).

Broadway Avenue looking
east from Fourth Street.
The City National Bank
is at the left.

When I asked Mike what led him think they were of Paducah, he responded:

Trudy, the one card depicts the 3 Links Bldg, and I have had another view of that building that identifies it from Paducah. Also, the street names match some in Paducah. I have tried to find info on the store names visible on the images, but had no luck. You probably have access to better sources than I, so that might help. I have been able to pinpoint other locations that way. I think these cards were probably printed by a newspaper or local printer, but it unusual for them not to be identified as such. Please let me know what you come up with. Good luck with your search, Mike.  

Map of Paducah, KY, showing where
the seven postcard images were
photographed during the 1913 flood.

His guess triggered a memory of another blog post I wrote, “Grisly Souvenirs,” on the commemorative booklets—including booklets of postcards—published in many cities of local Great Easter 1913 flood and tornado devastation. The very first image in that post was of just such a booklet for Paducah, which at that time (November 2015) I had never seen and could not find online.

North Fourth Street from
Broadway Avenue.

Well, sometime in the intervening two-and-a-half years, images of the booklet’s interior pages made their way onto the internet. 

Broadway Avenue between
Fourth and Fifth Streets. The
author of the souvenir booklet
spins reality by noting that the
scene shows “johnboats of every
description in which the citizens
enjoyed the Water Carnival.”

Those pages definitively revealed that all seven postcards indeed were of the 1913 flood in Paducah depicted in the booklet, including identifications of the street locations. No name is given for the booklet’s author, but the photographs were credited to Paducah photographers Sacra & Cook.

Thank you, Mike Kunz! 

Fifth and Kentucky Avenue, showing the
Three Links Building.

This post reproduces all seven of the postcards he kindly gave to me, identifying their locations.

 

Miamisburg 1913 flood marker

Meantime, a couple of weeks earlier, on May 22, 2018, another reader emailed: 

Hard to believe it's been 5 years since we recognized the 1913 flood in Miamisburg.  If you are in the area on June 19, 10:00 am Riverfront Park, we are dedicating an Ohio Historical Marker. Would be nice if you could be there.  Carol O'Connell, Miamisburg Historical Society
 

When it turned out that the dedication was to be “merely a pause in the many activities” that day celebrating the bicentennial Miamisburg (southwest of Dayton), and that I live 200+ miles away diagonally across the state, Carol promised to send me a copy of the program after the event.

She was as good as her word, supplemented by photos of the historical marker by local photographer Jay Robinson. Jay’s images of the front and back of the marker are here; additional images he took of the entire unveiling of the marker are on Facebook.

When I asked Carol what her role had been in securing the historical marker, she replied:

I completed the application for the Ohio History Connection marker.  It's akin to writing a research paper.  It was my donation to Miamisburg's Bicentennial celebration. It was unveiled at the site that was inundated by the flood. The land is repurposed as Riverfront Park. The marker stands in front of the levee along the Great Miami River constructed by the Miami Conservancy District.
  

Historical images of Miamisburg during the 1913 flood appear on the city’s website.

Thank you, Carol and Jay!

Speaking of historical markers…

After hearing from Carol, I wondered what other historical markers might commemorate the 1913 flood. A quick Google search revealed that another one was installed a year ago (June 2017) by the Indian Lake Historical 

Society. It is in Russells Point, OH (Logan County) along the Great Miami River—only about 75 miles northeast of Miamisburg, in case someone wants to visit them both in a day. Both photographs of the Indian Lake marker were taken by Rev. Ronald Irick.

Installation of historical markers commemorating the widespread Great Easter 1913 tornadoes and flood 

in any state is the type of news I would love to feature in this research blog. Heck, I’d love simply to learn the locations and see images of long-existing historical markers that describe a landmark that existed until destroyed by the Great Easter tornadoes or flood, even if the disaster itself is not the main focus of the marker…

It’s always fun to hear from readers with queries, updates, images, leads to new information, or invitations to speak or to attend relevant events, so please contact me!  

©2018 Trudy E. Bell

Next time: Desperate Medicine

Selected references

The 1913 flood is commemorated in some paintings in floodwall murals—see “Magnum Opus.” 

Bell, Trudy E., The Great Dayton Flood of 1913, Arcadia Publishing, 2008. Picture book of nearly 200 images of the flood in Dayton, rescue efforts, recovery, and the construction of the Miami Conservancy District dry dams for flood control, including several pictures of Cox. 

(Author’s shameless marketing plug: Copies are available directly from me for the cover price of $21.99 plus $4.00 shipping, complete with inscription of your choice; for details, e-mail me), or order from the publisher.

Grisly Souvenirs

After the Great Easter 1913 tornadoes and flood, big money was made by selling photographic souvenir booklets portraying death and destruction

[Note: Apologies for being a few days late with this post. I was unable to complete and upload it by the first of the month because of intense work on a major—and grim—investigative special report on the California drought for an engineering magazine, to be published near the end of December. (Strange to write on the drought after having been so imbued with flood literature!)]

During the centennial of the 1913 flood in 2013, I closely examined more than half a dozen “instant books” that were churned out by dodgy authors, usually 

Photographic flood souvenir booklets, such as this one from Paducah, KY, were issued by the thousands just a few weeks after the devastating Great Easter tornadoes and flood. This particular one I have not seen and would be very grateful to assistance from readers in locating a copy. see description below under Kentucky. Image credit: Worthpoint.

writing under pseudonyms, who played fast and loose with copyright laws (see “Profiting from Pain”). A year later, I showed how marketing wizards took advantage of the national calamity to push products ranging from movie cameras to tornado insurance with an astounding tin ear for human suffering (see “Advertising Disaster”).

Another type of post-disaster publication for sale were souvenir photographic pamphlets or booklets produced within a few weeks of the disaster(s). Ranging from 16 to 64 pages, many were small, about the size of a postcard (3.5 x 5.5 inches), saddle-stitched with the staples on the short side so that each page is horizontal. Usually one photo was shown per page, although some of the booklets also had text. Others were larger with significant text, all the way up to a full letter-sized sheet of paper (uncommon). The photos were usually lithographed halftones not of great quality.

Some of these photographic souvenirs were produced and sold by newspapers with images and information compiled from their local coverage 

The Omaha tornado was as much a subject for booklets published in Nebraska as the flood was in different cities in other states. See description below for the Gideon booklet from Omaha.

of the tornadoes or flood. If sales claimed are to be believed, sometimes a single newspaper could sell out printings of 10,000 in just a matter of weeks. Most ranged in price from 10 to 50 cents, the equivalent today of a few bucks to about $25.

Like calendars or playbills, the pamphlets were printed in great numbers and so were once common, but many were also discarded. Thus, it’s an irony of history that throwaway items once so commonplace are now so rare (just try now to find a direct-mail calendar of the year you were born!).

Below are nearly a dozen that I’ve found referenced, listed alphabetically by state and city, with links to digital copies online where available. Where I have not seen a copy of a work myself, I would love to hear from libraries or individuals with copies. I strongly suspect this listing is not complete—so if readers know of other 1913 tornado or flood souvenir booklets not listed, please make me smarter—please email me!

INDIANA

At least two souvenir booklets were published in the Hoosier state. One is  

Terre Haute’s Tornado and Flood Disaster: March twenty-three to thirtieth, nineteen hundred and thirteen, published by the Terre Haute Publishing Co. Digital scans are available from both Indiana State and the Vigo County Public Library.

The other booklet I have not yet seen in any form: Twelve Views of the Indianapolis Flood of March 1913, taken by a daring photographer during the 

worst of the horrible catastrophe. Worldcat says it was published by C.A. Tutewiler. The closest I’ve come to it is this tiny image of the cover from an ebay seller.

KENTUCKY

Flood Souvenir, Paducah, Kentucky, is another elusive booklet (see opening image at the top of this post). I’ve seen two slightly differing covers, one from ebay and one from Worthpoint, but there is no information for the document in Worldcat. The Worthpoint seller indicated it was 6.25 x 8.25 inches, but did not give a page count. I’m especially curious as to whether the booklet portrays the flooding of Paducah as the calamity it was, or downplays it as merely a “water carnival” (see “Spurning Disaster Aid”).

NEBRASKA

One 32-page pamphlet with a dramatic photographic cover, published by the  

Omaha Bee, was The Track of the Tornado that struck Omaha at 6 P.M. Easter Sunday March 23, 1913. This one I consulted in a library.

A competing booklet was published by The Omaha Daily News, which made up for its plain red cover and stark word Tornado by having 64 pages and being slightly larger than most of these souvenirs. Printed by the Mogy 

Publishing Co., it is also one of the few that claims an author, in this case, Charles B. Driscoll. The title page differs slightly from the cover, reading Complete Story of Omaha’s Disastrous Tornado. This one I consulted in a library, which itself had only a photocopy.

A third competitor, published by the Omaha Tribune, was a 40-page German booklet with the English title Omaha Tornado – Album. This one I consulted 

in a library, but all the German pages plus an English translation appear at the Mardos Memorial Library of Online Books and Maps (from where I also obtained this cover image, which is better than my copy). 

A fourth pamphlet was The Omaha Tornado, Easter Sunday, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. March 23, 1913, published by John L. Gideon (see second image near the top of this post). You can read a not-great Google scan online, but not download a PDF with the illustrations.

OHIO

No surprise, entrepreneurs in hard-hit Ohio produced numerous souvenir photographic pamphlets and booklets, some of them very informative. 

The 24-page postcard-sized pamphlet Flood Views of Chillicothe, Ohio, March 26, 1913 was published for the Chillicothe News Co. by the Emmel Publishing 

Co. It consists of 22 images and minimal introductory text. I consulted a library copy.

The 64-page 6 x 9-inch A Pictorial History of the Great Dayton Flood March 25, 26, 27, 1913 by Nellis R. Funk—another of the few that claimed an actual 

author—was printed by the Otterbein Press. I consulted a library copy. A high-quality scan is online at archive.org. 

Dayton: Being a story of the great flood as seen from the Delco Factory is a 32-page booklet from the viewpoint of the factory employees trapped inside 

for several days, but also seeking to rescue others in neighboring buildings. The text only is online at Dayton History and a centennial edition including all the images was published by Frank Miller in 2013 (details in my January 2015 roundup of books). I consulted a library copy of the original plus have the Miller reissue (which has a significantly different format).

The 52-page Great 1913 Flood, Dayton, Ohio by K. M. Kammerer and published by the Specialty Photograph Co. is horizontal like most of the 

photographic souvenirs, but about double postcard size, about 5 x 8 inches. It can be found online at archive.org. With the exception of the first two pages, it is all images.

Historical Souvenir of the Fremont Flood March 25–28, 1913 is a 48-page booklet published by the Finch Studio that also says it was “Approved by the Relief Committee.” Online at archive.org the images look okay online but are 

disappointingly low-res in the PDF. Fremont was one of the areas hard-hit in northern Ohio, and half the booklet is text. I’ve not examined a copy in person, but it appears to be perfect-bound and even hardbound, which makes it unusual among these photographic souvenirs.

The city of Hamilton, downriver of Dayton, had only a quarter of Dayton’s population but suffered at least as many deaths—very likely many more, considering the violence of the flood. The Flood Disaster 1913 (Illustrated), 

available online through HathiTrust, has a title page that reads Flood Souvenir: View of Hamilton, Ohio During and after the Disastrous Flood of March 1913. It was printed by the Republican Publishing Co. Although it was only postcard sized, it has close to 100 images.

Photographic reproductions of the terrible flood of 1913: showing scenes in many Ohio and Indiana cities is a 32-page booklet with minimal text and with coarse halftones, but they include flood scenes from Buckeye Lake, Columbus, Dayton, Delaware, Hamilton, and Zanesville; despite the title, 

all the locations seem to be from Ohio (unless some were misidentified). The booklet was published by the Pfeifer Show Print Co. I wonder whether it might have been printed more than once, as the Delaware County Historical Society shows it having a green cover whereas the cover I photographed (shown here) was buff.

Zanesville in the Flood of 1913 by Thomas W. Lewis is a 96-page booklet. The 

digital scan on archive.org is of a photocopy, not or an original.

PENNSYLVANIA

The only souvenir pamphlet I’ve found for Pennsylvania is the Official Souvenir History of the Shenango Valley Flood March 25, 26, 27, 28 1913, by C.B. Lartz and Z.O. Hazen, available online as a high-quality scan at archive.org (from which this image comes). This is one of the few that was printed in large 

format (8.5 x 11 inches) and had 40 pages of text of substantial length as well as photos. Interestingly, it is formatted like a yearbook, with ads sold against the text—obviously a money-making proposition, given the notation on the front cover than “only” 10,000 were printed.

One wonders what happened with the proceeds. Did they all go to the publisher (and perhaps authors)? Or did any portion of their sales get devoted to relief efforts? Some photographic souvenirs claim the money went to relief funds, but others are utterly silent on the question.

I hope this appeal to readers inspires some digging through grandparents’ attics—please do let me know what you find!

©2015 Trudy E. Bell

Next time: Crisis Communications in a Communications Crisis

Bell, Trudy E., The Great Dayton Flood of 1913, Arcadia Publishing, 2008. Picture book of nearly 200 images of the flood in Dayton, rescue efforts, recovery, and the construction of the Miami 

Conservancy District dry dams for flood control, including several pictures of Cox. (Author’s shameless marketing plug: Copies are available directly from me for the cover price of $21.99 plus $4.00 shipping, complete with inscription of your choice; for details, e-mail me), or order from the publisher.