1913 Flood in Greenville, Ohio

Abstract

Collected for use in the Ohio Guide, this photograph shows the aftermath of the Great Flood of 1913 in Greenville, Ohio, one of the many Ohio cities impacted by the flood, a result of several major rivers throughout central and eastern United States overflowing due to heavy rainfall from March 23-26. Once levees and flood walls failed, the Great Miami River flowed across western Ohio, killing nearly 430 people statewide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939