Montpelier Flood 80th Anniversary

The following post is from Claire Gilbertson who oversees Kellogg-Hubbard's Vermont collection.

November 1927-2007, 80th anniversary of the 1927 Flood

Eighty years ago a natural disaster happened in Vermont that still marks it as a major event in Vermont's history. People in the community who remember the 1927 flood say it's something you won't ever forget.

Two storms, a cold one from the west and a warm one from the south locked over Vermont. The rain they produced after a very wet summer and fall caused 10 to 12 feet of water at the corners of State Street and Main Street in Montpelier. The Kellogg Hubbard Library has a medallion next to the adult circulation desk that marks the height of the water in the library on the first floor, over 5 feet.

Many of Vermont's rivers overflowed their banks and caused an incredible amount of damage, roads washed out, houses pushed off their foundations, lives lost. But the pictures speak for themselves. We've blown-up 5 historic postcards of the flooding in Montpelier. They are set-up in the room that houses the Vermont Collection at the library.

Just in time for the 80th anniversary, Deborah and Nicholas Clifford published an incredible book on the flood, 1927-1931. They have the pictures and first-hand narratives but also include an analysis of what it took to get Vermont back to normal. This important work explains how the flood changed the landscape and the people of Vermont.

For information on the flood, the following is a list of some of the items the library has.

VERMONT 974.3 C Clifford, Deobrah Pickman. The troubled roar of the waters: Vermont in flood and recovery, 1927-1931. Lebanon [NH]: University Press of New England, 2007.

VERMONT 551.489 M Minsinger, W.E. M.D. The 1927 Flood in Vermont and New England November 3-7, 1927, an historical and pictorial summary. Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory and Science Center, 2003.

VIDEO VT 551.489 V Vermont Public Television. Vermont's great flood. [videorecording]. Vermont Public Television, 2003. "In 1927, a huge flood swept away houses, roads, railways and farms. Torrential rains flooded the rivers, which rushed through towns as high as 18 feet above normal…"

VERMONT REF 974 K623 Kinnison, Harvey Banks, 1890- The New England flood of November, 1927. Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1929.

CD VERMONT 551.48 R Remembering hell and high water: the flood of '27: the 75 anniversary radio special. Using interviews of people who experienced the 1927 flood and author Pat Belding, Michael Thurston retells what happened during the flood and how people were affected by it.

VERMONT 551.489 J Johnson, Luther Burnham, 1869- The '27 flood. Randolph Center, Vt.: Greenhill Books, 1996, c1928.