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Only two months later, in March of 1913 “The Greatest Disaster of Modern Times” nearly destroyed the entire town.
Easter was celebrated on March 22nd, and the day was bright and sunny.
The next day, the rain began, with about four inches measured between Monday morning and Tuesday morning. The worst of the rain was falling northeast
of Lawrenceburg along the Great Miami River, where Dayton, Ohio suffered huge amounts of damage. Bridges were washed out all along the Miami, including the railroad bridge at Elizabethtown, and Lawrenceburg officials began worrying about the effect of the Miami flood on the eastern portion of the levee.
By Wednesday morning, all the bridges along the Miami had been destroyed, and rainfall at the head of the river totaled 11 inches.
By mid afternoon of Thursday, March 26, officials decided to take a drastic step in hopes of protecting the city from an onrush of water from the Miami River, which was reportedly higher than the Ohio and only four feet below the top of the levee.
They dynamited the railroad embankment east of the city, relying on the resulting hole to allow the Miami to drain quickly enough to avert a disaster.
The weather bureau warned Lawrenceburg to prepare for a crest on the Ohio of 70 feet.
Top: West High Street. Above left: B. & O. Railroad property after levee broke. Left: 215-221 Walnut Street.
Evacuation began in earnest as farmers came into town with their wagons to help families move to safety. Many families and store owners simply moved everything to the second floor of their buildings, believing that would safeguard the items from the flood.
Once again, every able-bodied person in Lawrenceburg was called to help shore up the levee. Work was organized into shifts and continued 24 hours a day until the levee suddenly gave way in an unexpected place: near the west end of Center Street.
The break was so catastrophic that it was 200 yards wide, and the torrent of water destroyed houses on Center Street, overturned and washed away houses on Mary and Tate Streets, and quickly filled the ponding area near Tate Street, and climbed over Walnut Street.
The carriage plant belonging to John Knippenberg was located across the street from St. Lawrence Church
and was hit so hard by the flood that it was carried over Third Street (now on US 50) into the bottom lands between Lawrenceburg and Greendale. A fire
in a blacksmith forge ignited the rest of the wooden structure and it was demolished by flames as it floated away. Several families had stored their furniture in the building, and there were two automobiles also inside, all of which was destroyed.
It took less than an hour for the water to cover High Street.
By dark only the top of the remaining levee was visible above the flood.
A report of the damage wrought by the Ohio counted 694 homes within the city limits, 672 of which had been inundated.