A while back we looked at the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, but about 8 months before that the city of Mansfield had to deal with another natural disaster that closed businesses and put a halt to normal daily life. The Great Flood of 1913 destroyed more than twenty thousand homes and took the lives of 428 people in the state of Ohio. Many parts of Ohio normally experienced flooding this time of year, but heavy rains exacerbated conditions in March of 1913. The most severe conditions were along the Great Miami River and Dayton took a great deal of damage. [1]
While Mansfield was not hit as hard many, local businesses reported losses from the flood. Fred Kuenzli, a stonemason, reportedly drowned in the flood, his body was found two days later at the Valve works on North Adams streets, near Sixth.[2] Another obituary in The Mansfield News attributes the death of 8-week-old Harold Franklin Wise to the flood, saying he died from exposure when his parents fled their home at Fifth and Franklin the night of the flood.[3]
![mar 26 losses News](https://theshermanroom.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mar-26-losses-news.jpg?w=750)
Losses as reported 26 MAR 1913 in The Mansfield News
After the disaster “Governor James M. Cox supported [a] plan, helping to gain passage of the Vonderheide Act, which is also known as the Ohio Conservancy Law, in 1914. The law gave the state the authority to establish watershed districts and to raise funds for improvements through taxes. Although the Vonderheide Act was challenged in both the state and United States supreme courts in Orr v. Allen (1915 and 1919), the law was upheld. In 1915, the Miami Conservancy District was created in response to the Vonderheide Act. It became the first major watershed district in the nation.”[4] The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) was created on June 3, 1933.[5]
Below are some images from after the flooding, click on image for a lager version and description.
Sources:
[1] http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/1913_Ohio_Statewide_Flood
[2] The Mansfield News, 26 MAR 1913, p 7.
[3] The Mansfield News, 25 MAR 1913, p 2.
[4] http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/1913_Ohio_Statewide_Flood
[5] https://www.mwcd.org/get-to-know-us/history