Students Cannelton

The Flood of 1937 and the Flood Wall

There is a flood wall along the banks of the Ohio River that was built to keep the flood waters from coming up into the rivertowns of Cannelton, Tell City, and Troy. The flood wall was built in the 1940s, after the terrible 1937 flood (January 1937). The wall was erected and completed in September of 1950. Here is a bit of history of the flood of 1937:

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In 1937, when Cannelton celebrated its 100th anniversary, the city was in good financial condition despite the fact that the nation was in a depression. Then came the terrible flood of January 24, 1937. It was on a Sunday, later to be called "Black Sunday" Many buildings in Cannelton, Tell City, and Troy were water damaged or destroyed. Some of the smaller buildings even just floated away. It took several days to clean up and cost the towns a lot of money. This flood, along with others that followed, made the towns decide that a flood wall was needed.

We interviewed some townspeople about the flood and this is what they had to say:

Mr. Michael Rutherford, Perry County Historian:

"I will tell you what I remember of the flood of '37. One thing I remember...for people to get back and forth there was a guy who rented a rowboat. That was a lot of fun. Also, we were out of school for five weeks and the town didn't have electricity for three weeks. So, we were there in the dark...if that were to happen today, everyone would die. Back at the time a lot of people used lamps, and everyone burned coal because there weren't any electric furnaces or gas furnaces...so that kept the heat up. One thing that helped the town is that most everyone used gas for cooking. The gas kept working so they were able to cook. Window boxes, were handy, because in the winter time you could keep your food cold in the winter time."

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Mr. Ray Ham, Cannelton Schools School Board President:

"In 1937, that was the biggest flood we ever had...we did not have the flood wall. When I was a boy, where Marvin's Market is now, that is where our house was. We had seven acres of land that we lived on. When the flood came, the water rose up so fast! It got in our house five feet! My mother had to go to town...she had to walk because we did not have a car. When she left...she was gone for about two hours...and that water raised two feet during that time...when she came home we were already moving furniture out of the house! The water rose up so high, people could not get into town from that end of 7th Street.

The city built two big boats that you had to oar...they put one on 7th Street and the other on St. Louis Ave. That was a big help. Young boys would pull people across so they could get into town to get their groceries and such. I don't remember, but I believe the water got pretty close here to the school. I was only 9 years old at the time. I would assume that we were out of school at least a month or so. All the schools along the river were closed, for the same reason. I do not recall having to make any of those days up."


by Nakaa M. and Ragon Y.

Credits/Resources: Information from Cannelton Indiana Sesquicentennial Commemorative Book- copyright 1987

Photos: Mr. Rutherford (Mrs. Goble's class), Mr. Ham (Mrs. Goble's class), flood picture- courtesy of Charly Gerber