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Flood gates had been built at two railroad entries,
and plans had been approved for a pile and timber wall from Short Street to Walnut Street. A new floodgate would be installed at Walnut Street to allow access
to the ferry which crossed the Ohio River to Boone County, Kentucky.
Early April of 1938, Victor O’Shaughnessy, chairman of the special levee committee, along with Mayor Arthur Ritzmann, city attorney Charles A. Lowe, city manager Walter Decker and Frank Hutchinson went to Washington to testify before a Rivers and Harbors Committee. They arrived home optimistic about the chances for Federal funding.
Seagram’s too contributed to his successful efforts in that the company convinced the U.S. Treasury Department that its interest in the tax on the whiskey in our warehouses warranted its support for the funding of a levee. But by late October, they were still waiting for action and O’Shaughnessy wrote to Congressman Crowe asking about progress.
He received a soothing answer explaining that more studies had been requested by the War Department because of “the peculiar soil conditions around Lawrenceburg.” Rep. Crowe urged patience and reassured O’Shaughnessy that a comprehensive flood control program including flood control and reservoirs at Brookville and Metamora was being formulated.
Finally, in June of 1939, Congress allotted $900,000 to build a new levee for Lawrenceburg.
The Press called it “the greatest boon that Lawrenceburg has ever strived to attain,” and predicted that it would bring the dawning of a new life to the city.
The new levee would follow a somewhat different path than the one in existence at the time.
Rather than following the old canal back to Hardentown, it would be built throughout the old fairgrounds at the east end of Center Street, through several farms and end at Ridge Avenue in Greendale.
It would protect the Acme Veneer Plant, Joseph E. Seagram and Sons and Old Quaker, and a flood gate would be installed for US 50. A portion of lower High Street previously outside the levee, would be included in the new one and then it would follow the existing levee along the Ohio River.
At that point, they were planning for a levee that would protect against an 85-foot flood crest.
In their 1939 session, the Indiana legislature created a new program, a Flood Control District within the city of Lawrenceburg and that portion of Greendale affected by flooding within the last ten years.
Members appointed by the Lawrenceburg Board of Works were Mayor Jacob Spanagel, chairman; Sam Ellington of Greendale, vice chairman; Loren Edwards, secretary; Walter Decker, Scott Lovern and Balser Stauss. The members of the old Levee Committee voted to dissolve.
Finally, in November of 1939, the War Department declared that plans for the new levee met their requirements, and detailed construction plans were in the process of being prepared.
Construction was expected to begin within four or five months, weather permitting.
A banner headline in the Press declared, “Levee Project Now Approved.”
Above: Test assembly of a floodgate, as well as removal of old brewery cellars were part of the levee construction process.