A Flood of Images: A small sample from 1916, 1920, and 1993

Spring has once again brought rising waters for our local rivers. We are currently very fortunate to not have experienced the major flooding that the western part of our state has gone through in recent weeks.

As we wait for a new crest (and then new flood photos) on the Mississippi River; we thought we would share a few images from previous floods that have not been shown before on our blog.

Ice jams and snowmelt during late winter into spring of 1916 created two floods. One in February and the other in May. The May flood crested at 15.6 feet on May 5-6, 1916. The image below shows LeClaire Park with flood waters near the iron railing. The bare trees indicate the photo was most likely taken in early spring.

To learn more about the Flood of 1916, please click here and here.

1998-18 Levee Commission Photos 064

April 19, 1920, brought another flood crest from the Mississippi River. This time at 17.1 feet. We love the automobiles and people in this photo taken on April 8, 1920, near the ferry landing in downtown Davenport.

2008-28 Box 11. Crowds looking at water level near Main Street, Davenport, Iowa. April 8, 1920.

Our final image is unique in that the black and white image was put on a postcard. It is the interior of the Municipal Baseball Stadium (now called Modern Woodmen Park) during the flood of 1993. This flood remains the top flood stage of the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam 15. Coming in at 22.63 feet with a crest on July 9, 1993. To see more images of the flood of 1993, please click here.

Postcard Collection – Buildings – PC067.

We will be charging our camera batteries for a potential crest next week at Lock and Dam 15. In the meantime, if you would like to look through our previous blogs relating to flooding through the years, we invite you to type the word “floods” into our search box on the upper right side of our blog homepage. 

(Posted by Amy D.)