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The Flood of 1949


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#1 courtnie

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Posted 04 May 2005 - 11:31 AM

I have begun to collect photos from the Flood of 1949. Does anyone know where to get photos, or more infomation on what happened. I live in Crestwood and I love researching this topic. I find it interesting that just a year ago in June the flood waters nearly spilled over into the neigborhood..i snapped a bunch of pics..when my husband and I bought our home this year we had to get flood insurance.I alway thought that it was a 50 yr flood plain...apparently i was wrong.... :o

#2 redhead

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Posted 06 May 2005 - 10:21 AM

UTA actually has a photo library with all of the old ST photos plus some private collections. I don't have the number, sorry. They are not terribly user friendly, but they get the job done. You give them your topic and some time, then you go preview what they have pulled. I used them to do homework on the original "American Airways" building at Meacham and some buildings downtown. I'm sure they'll have lots of flood photos!

#3 courtnie

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Posted 06 May 2005 - 01:16 PM

Thanks, I will check them out sometime.

#4 mhill

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Posted 10 June 2005 - 12:36 PM

I have begun to collect photos from the Flood of 1949. Does anyone know where to get photos, or more infomation on what happened. I live in Crestwood and I love researching this topic. I find it interesting that just a year ago in June the flood waters nearly spilled over into the neigborhood..i snapped a bunch of pics..when my husband and I bought our home this year we had to get flood insurance.I alway thought that  it was a 50 yr flood plain...apparently i was wrong.... :D

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#5 mhill

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Posted 10 June 2005 - 12:46 PM

The Fort Worth Public Library has about thirty-three photographs of the 1949 Flood. They can be seen at the Central Library in the Genealogy, History & Archives unit of the Library. They have already been scanned and we can copy them to a CD for you, if you provide an empty CD.

I have a few personal photographs that my mom had. They lived at 3413 W. 7th in 1949 and the flood waters just miss them. There was a flood in 1922, but the lived in the 2400 block of West 7th and they had to escaped the flood and lost many old documents and photographs in the flood.

#6 courtnie

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Posted 10 June 2005 - 01:54 PM

I can provide an empty cd. Where do i need to take it or send it. I only have a few that I found by chance at an antique mall. They are pretty neat. I would like some taken in crestwood as well if there are any. I really appreciate any help I can get. When is the Geneology Department open?


Thanks

Courtnie

#7 fwpcman

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Posted 16 June 2005 - 06:33 PM

The year 1949 also holds the record for the driest weather on record for the city of Fort Worth. From July 8th through November 30th there was zero rainfall.

#8 Doug

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Posted 16 June 2005 - 08:47 PM

Add to 1949 a severe ice storm in January putting many in darkness for several days. As a 5 year old, I do recall all having fun in sledding,etc. with lots of people around because schools were closed and many couldn't go to work. Thank goodness, most houses were heated by gas at that time. 1949 was a rough year.

#9 courtnie

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Posted 21 June 2005 - 03:42 PM

sounds like it was......i was told that most of the houses in crestwood were abandoned after the flood...i know it was up to the windows in my parents house and in my house it was completly submerged...hope that doesnt happen again

#10 Doug

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Posted 21 June 2005 - 07:55 PM

Benbrook Lake was put into place as a preventative measure. It was completed in 1957 and was expected to take a year or two to fill, however (I think we had 15 inches of rain in April and 15 more in May) it was filled in 2 months months or so. Surely the water works and MW along the Clear Fork could have been hit again.

#11 Mark S

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Posted 21 November 2008 - 08:48 AM

QUOTE (courtnie @ May 4 2005, 11:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I have begun to collect photos from the Flood of 1949. Does anyone know where to get photos, or more infomation on what happened. I live in Crestwood and I love researching this topic. I find it interesting that just a year ago in June the flood waters nearly spilled over into the neigborhood..i snapped a bunch of pics..when my husband and I bought our home this year we had to get flood insurance.I alway thought that it was a 50 yr flood plain...apparently i was wrong.... smile.gif


I know this message thread is ancient now, but anyone interested in seeing '49 flood photos will find a few
here. My folks had just moved to Ft. Worth, and the photographs were taken by my father.


#12 danny

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Posted 21 November 2008 - 05:27 PM

QUOTE (Mark S @ Nov 21 2008, 08:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (courtnie @ May 4 2005, 11:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I have begun to collect photos from the Flood of 1949. Does anyone know where to get photos, or more infomation on what happened. I live in Crestwood and I love researching this topic. I find it interesting that just a year ago in June the flood waters nearly spilled over into the neigborhood..i snapped a bunch of pics..when my husband and I bought our home this year we had to get flood insurance.I alway thought that it was a 50 yr flood plain...apparently i was wrong.... smile.gif


I know this message thread is ancient now, but anyone interested in seeing '49 flood photos will find a few
here. My folks had just moved to Ft. Worth, and the photographs were taken by my father.

i do remeber the water stain on the wards building
lake bridgeport was also built from 29 31 for flood control in fort worth


#13 austlar

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 03:16 AM

I remember two things about the flood of 1949. I was just 3 years old. The first memory is one of being amazed to see the parkland stretching out below our house converted into a kind of lake. I am referring to Forest Park. We lived on Winton Terrace in Park Hill. The river spilled over into the park and, I believe, into the zoo also. I don't know what, if anything happened to the animals in the zoo.

The second, and more painful memory, is one having to get typhoid shots because the water supply had been contaminated. This is back in the days when you went to the doctor's office and they came at you with a big glass syringe that had a big old needle on it. I think we had to get something like two shots over a period of a couple of weeks.

#14 cajunmike

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 06:46 AM

I have seen many pictures of the flood and talked to people who have lived through it.. I would like to state that you are right on as a kid in those days they did use HUGE glass syringes and needles that seemed like they were the size of a railroad spike. Can you imagine having to be stuck with a needle that has been used over and over. No disposables in those days. I had an Aunt who was a R.N. and worked at a doctors office and she would love to stick you. My mother told me that I kicked and screamed and even kicked the doctor in the head when he was coming at me with that needle.
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#15 Owen

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Posted 22 November 2008 - 10:53 AM

I do remember that flood; I was living on Calmont in Arlington Heights at the time. Don't remember getting any shots (though I do remember the large syringes and needles from elsewhere). I remember olive-drab water trucks coming around to dispense water, and having to really skimp on water usage. We went out to the Humble station on Camp Bowie (at Lancaster, I think); it was on a kind of elefated land, which had become an island in the flood.

#16 FortWorthLowrider

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Posted 11 August 2009 - 04:55 AM

My grandmother was a child when the flood hit. Living in Linwood at the time she told me stories of the damage. Then in 2000 the tornado raged through. she happen to be at my house house in Linwood that day.
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#17 EwingFTW

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Posted 11 August 2009 - 10:11 AM

We lived on El Campo in 1949. Just married. Wife worked downtown in the Fair Bldg. and I worked at Kimbell Milling on South Main. Our route to work was around to the North Main Bridge and/or around south by Benbrook Dam. Maybe there was an easier route, but at that age, who knows!

#18 cbellomy

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Posted 11 August 2009 - 11:16 AM

Courtnie, I think the big Crestwood flood you mentioned actually occurred in 1957. The 1949 flood was the result of a huge downpour over the Clear Fork watershed -- Lake Worth and the West Fork weren't greatly impacted. (Though it's possible that the Clear Fork flood pushed floodwaters back up the West Fork.) The 1957 flood devastated the neighborhoods adjacent to the West Fork, including Crestwood and the area around Burton Hill Elementary School.

#19 hankjr

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Posted 21 August 2009 - 08:21 AM

QUOTE (cbellomy @ Aug 11 2009, 11:16 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Courtnie, I think the big Crestwood flood you mentioned actually occurred in 1957. The 1949 flood was the result of a huge downpour over the Clear Fork watershed -- Lake Worth and the West Fork weren't greatly impacted. (Though it's possible that the Clear Fork flood pushed floodwaters back up the West Fork.) The 1957 flood devastated the neighborhoods adjacent to the West Fork, including Crestwood and the area around Burton Hill Elementary School.



#20 hankjr

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Posted 21 August 2009 - 08:31 AM

correct about the 1957 flood. My parents lived in Westworth village, and water in vicinity of Burton Hill School got up to Santa Clara and Dennis Av. Parents had two ft. water in house for a short period of time. Only repair necessary was refinishing the floors. Also had pest control treat underside of house. Carswell AFB came with their trucks and personel to take funiture to base and store it.

#21 fortworthman

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Posted 23 October 2009 - 12:31 AM

QUOTE (cbellomy @ Aug 11 2009, 12:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Courtnie, I think the big Crestwood flood you mentioned actually occurred in 1957. The 1949 flood was the result of a huge downpour over the Clear Fork watershed -- Lake Worth and the West Fork weren't greatly impacted. (Though it's possible that the Clear Fork flood pushed floodwaters back up the West Fork.) The 1957 flood devastated the neighborhoods adjacent to the West Fork, including Crestwood and the area around Burton Hill Elementary School.


No. I am sorry. You have part of that incorrect. Crestwood was not flooded in 1957. The Trinity levies were in place at that time. I lived at the top of Bailey street in Crestwood in 1947 before the levies were built. Lower Crestwood was underwater. Some houses were flooded over the roof. I remember walking down Bailey street daily, with my parents to see if the water was getting higher or going down.

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#22 Funkdoobiest

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Posted 04 January 2010 - 01:51 AM

I remember Leta(Leta's Burgers) telling us before she died how she'd been in Stockyards for something like 50 years and her original burger joint was further east in Stockyards and got damaged in the flood of '49. She said something like it floated away. So then she set up shop there on 25th across from the Police Station. And you's better not ask her for fries!! Chips only!

#23 waywr

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Posted 12 January 2010 - 07:40 AM

I remember my parents and grandparents talking about it. Before my time though.
But I do remember a picture of it in Kleinschmidts (sp?) Bakery on 7th street. They had a bunch of pictures of birthday and wedding cakes they had made through the years. In that mix was a picture of someone standing outside the bakery shooting toward Montgomery Wards and downtown. You could see the water up to the second floor of Montgomery Wards.
I liked that bakery. Glad Harper's is still around because I don't know of any others, might be some in Dallas.

#24 detail larry

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Posted 24 July 2010 - 03:22 PM

hi , i have a lot of pics ot the 49 flood , and my detail shop is right in the middle of the flood area, iam right accross carroll from montgomery plaza , classic detail.

#25 history girl

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Posted 16 March 2011 - 01:34 PM

I just bought this picture. It's of Seventh Street at Trinity Park I was told.

Posted Image

#26 Brian Luenser

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Posted 16 March 2011 - 02:23 PM

Wow! Like the best flood pic ever.

As I have never seen that photo, is it an original? Sometimes on E-bay you buy a one-of print and sometimes you buy a print that is one of a thousand. If this is an original you really have something value. If it is a copy you just have a great print.
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#27 Phil Phillips

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Posted 16 March 2011 - 02:39 PM

From the location of the old grain silos on the left, I would say this was taken looking east on Lancaster from near University Dr. I tried to locate an old photo I have looking east on Lancaster around this spot but can't find it to confirm.

#28 WCS59

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Posted 16 March 2011 - 04:21 PM

The second, and more painful memory, is one having to get typhoid shots because the water supply had been contaminated. This is back in the days when you went to the doctor's office and they came at you with a big glass syringe that had a big old needle on it. I think we had to get something like two shots over a period of a couple of weeks.


I remember going to the Mrs. Baird's bakery on Summit Avenue to get a typhoid shot -- it was on high ground, and the city, the public health service, or some such body was giving out shots. I was only 4 and it didn't seem like a very good idea to me.

#29 Brian Luenser

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Posted 16 March 2011 - 04:32 PM

From the location of the old grain silos on the left, I would say this was taken looking east on Lancaster from near University Dr. I tried to locate an old photo I have looking east on Lancaster around this spot but can't find it to confirm.


I was going to swim across the flooded plain but never made it past the Liquor and Beer.
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#30 RD Milhollin

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Posted 17 March 2011 - 07:31 AM


From the location of the old grain silos on the left, I would say this was taken looking east on Lancaster from near University Dr. I tried to locate an old photo I have looking east on Lancaster around this spot but can't find it to confirm.


I was going to swim across the flooded plain but never made it past the Liquor and Beer.


I agree that this scene is of Lancaster Av. looking east. It looks like cars are stopped and turning around on the Trinity River bridge (1938-39) in the background. My father went swimming in that floodwater and got impetigo.

#31 John T Roberts

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Posted 17 March 2011 - 03:05 PM

This is definitely Lancaster Avenue. The grain elevator was just north of the street. The Stayton is sitting on part of the elevator site.




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