This digital story was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.
Recorded by Lawrenceville High School students, Illinois, 2016.
Sisters Sue Gerhart and Rose Gerhart Robison recall the flood in 1943 when their family evacuated in the middle of the night. They talk about how much water came in their house, how it was removed and the damage that remained. They also mention horses being put in a church because they didn't have time to evacuate them. The financial cost of flooding is also explored.
Sue Gerhart (00:03): Well, my name is Sue Gerhart. And my very first flood was the 1943 flood and I was seven years old. And at that time, my home was not very far from the river. And I actually slept on a straw mattress. I can remember, and I know that my family was very concerned because they had lots of rain and the high waters were coming up on the levees, and they were afraid of it breaking, but it hadn't broken yet. And in about 2:00 in the morning, mother and daddy came in, and woke me up, and said, "We are leaving." That the levees had broken. And I actually remember that day or that night. And mother and I guess Rose and... I don't remember anybody else but me. We went over Aunt Rosie's house, which was about two miles away.
Rose Gerhart Robison (01:04): Okay, my name is Rose Gerhart Robison. And I lived in the same house she did. I was four years old, and I don't know whether I made this up, but this has always been at the back of my mind. I remember mother getting us kids in the car. We had a '38 Chevy and I was in the backseat standing up and I was looking out the back window to see if the floodwaters was coming around the corner. I guess, I thought it was going to come by the road.
Sue Gerhart (01:30): If you know where we live out north of Lake Lawrence. it's called Allison Prairie. And so it's really a flat land, so the water can easily get there.
Speaker 3 (01:42): And so like you said, you guys just packed your things and you left. Have you guys been preparing for that in advance or did you even know about how susceptible you guys are to floods?
Rose Gerhart Robison (01:55): Well, our father did.
Speaker 3 (01:57): He did.
Rose Gerhart Robison (01:58): But you know what horses are? Wood horses? So he put the furniture up on those horses. And he stayed in the house, even though the house had four inches of water in it.
Sue Gerhart (02:08): It only got up eight inches in our house. And we had wooden wallboard. And so it just got to the very top.
Rose Gerhart Robison (02:17): You mean the baseboard.
Sue Gerhart (02:18): The baseboard, yeah, the baseboard.
Speaker 3 (02:20): Inside your house.
Sue Gerhart (02:21): Inside the house, mm-hmm (affirmative). And then, to get the water out of the house, daddy drilled holes in the floor. Each one of the...
Rose Gerhart Robison (02:30): Rooms.
Sue Gerhart (02:30): ... rooms has a hole drilled in the wall.
Rose Gerhart Robison (02:33): In the floor.
Sue Gerhart (02:34): In the floor, so that the water would go out.
Speaker 3 (02:38): And even after the flood is gone, there was still damage from the water all throughout the house?
Rose Gerhart Robison (02:42): After the flood, the floors were buckled. But I mean, she went ahead and sanded it down. But I mean, they're still like that and the holes are still on the floor.
Sue Gerhart (02:50): [crosstalk 00:02:51].
Asset ID: 8612
Find a complete transcript at www.museumonmainstreet.org
