Museum to commemorate Killbuck Flood of 1969
Killbuck Valley Museum board members Linda Frenette, left, Owen Mellor and Bob Porter place one of the Flood of 1969 markers in Killbuck.
Exactly 50 years ago the great flood of 1969 came through Holmes County, leaving a path of destruction in its wake that has been talked about ever since.
As a way of remembering that moment in the county’s history, the members of the Killbuck Valley Historical Society, operators of the Killbuck Valley Museum and Holmes County Historical Society recently teamed up to give a presentation on the flooding that took place on July 5, 1969.
The presentation will receive an encore on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. in the Duncan Theater as part of the Early American Days celebration, which will be Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. The presentation is a slide show with various people speaking, but because it also includes the sharing of stories from anyone who would like to speak, stories may be shared that weren’t spoken about in the first presentation.
“We were really thrilled with the turnout for the first one,” said Bob Porter, Killbuck Valley Museum board president. “We never know how many people will show up, but we had to add extra rows of chairs in the theater. This is the kind of thing where people start talking about it and sharing stories, and the stories just keep coming because of the impact the storm had on our community.”
The results from that flood left a mark on the local landscape, especially in Killbuck, where flood waters reached extremely dangerous heights. At its peak the flood was marked at 11 feet, 4 inches on a bridge near state Route 60 just outside of Killbuck. Various buildings still have markings that show how high the water rose, some as high as 4 feet in town.
To commemorate the flood and to give patrons of Early American Days some inclination as to just how high the water rose during that fateful flood that claimed the lives of two Killbuck residents, the museum board hatched a plan that will allow people to easily identify exactly how high the water rose throughout town.
Utilizing white PVC poles and blue “1969 Flood level” signs, there will be water levels from the flood marked all along Main Street, Railroad Street and on to Water Street to signify just how high the water rose during the flood.
A quick walk down Main Street will show people the water rose high enough to swallow up the fire department vehicles. Homes had water halfway up first-floor windows, and one couple scrambled up on their countertops to escape the rushing torrents that came sweeping right down Main Street.
The stories shared during the presentation will paint a picture of the total chaos and destruction from a storm that dumped more than 1 foot of rain on Killbuck during the night and will include rescue missions and tales of the fear that accompanied the event.
Owen Mellor was the Killbuck marshal during that time, and he said the chaos, destruction and even the smell of the aftermath are all things people will never forget.
“There was damage everywhere, and it took forever to clean it up,” Mellor said. “The smell was horrible, and we didn’t have any clean water to clean anything up with. The worst part was we had no idea it was coming. The water rose unbelievably high in about an hour.”
Linda Frenette, who had a 1-year-old child at that time, said emergency clean-up crews wouldn’t allow people back in town unless they had a very good reason to be there.
Having lived through the flood and the ice storm of 2003, Frenette said there was no comparison between the two.
“The flood was far worse,” she said. “We lost community members, and the devastation was just incredible.”
The height of each of the markers was created by using GPS tracking, and while Porter said the heights around town are accurate, those who experienced the raging waters will tell you the water was actually higher.
What makes the PVC poles intriguing is a person can stand on the square by the Duncan Theater, look down the north side of Main Street and get a really great idea as to exactly how devastating these waters would have been, with home owners forced to move all of their belongings to the second floor as the water level rose rapidly.
“It’s an amazing story, and the posts will provide a really good visual as to the water level people faced,” Porter said. “People have shared that there was just a wall of water that came roaring down Main Street.”
The markers will be placed and left up throughout Early American Days. Killbuck Valley Museum, located on Front Street, will be open throughout Early American Days.
Duncan Theater is located at 110 N. Main St. in Killbuck.