75 Years Later, Flood of 1937 Has Lasting Effect

Downtown Aurora flooded in January 1937. An overhead traffic light can be seen dangling just above the water.

Aurora Public Library District

This high aerial shot shows the Ohio River at the intersection of Indiana (bottom left), Ohio (top center), and Kentucky (far right).

Cincinnati Views

The first floor of the Dearborn County Courthouse in Lawrenceburg was submerged during the great flood of 1937.

Cincinnati Views

Downtown Lawrenceburg building tops peak just above the water.

Cincinnati Views

(Aurora, Ind.) – If you were in downtown Aurora or Lawrenceburg 75 years ago Thursday, chances are you were underwater, or close to it.

The Flood of 1937 marked the worst natural disaster ever for much of the Ohio River Valley from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Cairo, Illinois.

On January 26, 1937, the river crested at an all-time high of 80 feet, nearly 30 feet over flood stage. The magnificent flood claimed 385 lives.

The memories of that year have waded in the memory of Bill McClure. The Rising Sun old-timer turns 92 on Friday, but was a 17-year-old resident of Dearborn County’s Logan Township when the flood hit.

“My Aunt Erma had a beauty shop on Walnut Street (in Lawrenceburg). Word got out that the river was coming up. Everybody came out to help. And so we worked all day,” McClure recalled. “Water was already in the garage so we couldn’t get anything out of it.”

The flood water and non-stop, freezing January rain had worse effects than just dampening everything.

“One of the worst things about the flood was disease,” McClure said. “I talked to a man the other day who was three-years-old. He said, ‘My sister and I slept in the basement. The water put the furnace out. We both got pneumonia and they took us both to the hospital. I lived, but my sister passed away.’”

The river’s reach also contaminated drinking water wells. When the waters receded, mold began to grow on plasterboard walls used inside many homes at that time.

Gary Eldridge, director of the Ohio County Historical Society and Museum, was not around when the flood consumed the valley, but he’s taken great interest in it while assembling an exhibit at the museum.

The water covered the gym floor at the old Aurora High School, now the Aurora Community Center, Eldredge said.

Lawrenceburg High School was under construction at the time and appeared to be in the middle of a lake.

Rising Sun was not severely affected by the flood’s reach, said Eldredge. The city was just high enough where only a couple blocks were swamped.

As residents scrambled to escape the floodwaters, there were plenty of opportunities for folks to be heroes.

“Where the old (Dearborn County) fairgrounds was, where the casino is now, and that is where the water was deep,” McClure said. “We were going along real slow and one of us saw an old lady who had been there all night long in the cold weather. She had sat there all night and she didn’t have but four foot of roof left to stay on.”

McClure and his friend, Pete Lutz, picked up the woman and took her to safety at the Schenley Distillery, which was set up as a temporary hospital.

One could also ask the farm pig McClure saved. The swine was stuck on a mound of dirt made transformed into a small island. McClure and Lutz rowed a small boat to rescue the pig.

“We bumped against that mound of dirt and that big old sow made one jump and hit right in the middle of our boat. She wouldn’t get up, she’d been saved,” McClure laughed.

It took weeks for the Ohio River to fall back below flood stage. People spent several more weeks cleaning up and rebuilding their lives, McClure said.

The Ohio County Historical Museum’s exhibit dedicated to the Flood of 1937 went on public display Wednesday. The free exhibit includes photos, newspaper clippings, and other artifacts.