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Screaming in panic, families fled into the darkness seeking protection from the rapidly rising water.
Flood gates at the lower end of town were opened
so that the accumulating water could escape, but in
less than two hours most of the old part of Lawrenceburg was submerged and frantic residents sought refuge in the foundry, the school house, the Court House, and any other substantial building that had second or third floors.
Eventually, the water covered even High Street.
It was considered fortunate that only one life was lost. This victim was Thomas Marshall.
The height of the flood was estimated at a little over 58 feet, lower than the flood of 1847 but the highest recorded since that time.
City Council began discussing the possibility of a higher levee, and railroad companies suggested that they might be persuaded to raise their fill, if the city would agree to face it with clay.
William Hunter, who had purchased the Register in 1877, grudgingly agreed that the plan was a good one, but took pains to point out that it might be years before such a flood would again threaten Lawrenceburg.
He was wrong.
In just under a year, the River was again on a rampage, and the destruction was catastrophic.
This time the River reached a little over 66 feet, the highest crest ever recorded at the time.
Dozens of houses and buildings were totally destroyed; swept hundreds of feet from flooded foundations as victims fled to places of safety.
Five babies were born during the flood. One of them, was the son of William O’Brien, a co-editor of the Register, and later the owner of the newspaper. O’Brien also served as president of the People’s National Bank, Indiana State Auditor and treasurer of the National Democratic Committee.
The little boy was named Cornelius, after his grandfather, and he grew up to attain national prominence, as well as the presidency of the A. D. Cook Pump factory.
The birth occurred in a brick home still standing at the corner of Elm and High Streets, at the time the home of William O’Brien’s in-laws.
Another baby was born to Cyrus Howard and his wife in Slater’s law office, where his parents had taken refuge.
When the water had subsided, the Register printed a list of destroyed buildings that took up two full columns of the page.
Mayor Roberts appointed a committee to investigate ways to repair and enhance the primitive levee. It consisted of George Hodell, president of the Miami Furniture Factory; Chris Lommel, superintendent of the Lawrenceburg Furniture Factory, and Nimrod Lotton, a grocer who had been on city council for four years.
The federal government agreed to provide $20,000
to build a new levee, but an unexpected glitch occurred when there were no farmers available to haul fill dirt during their busy season in the fields.
Seventeen year old Hiram H. Guard stepped into the breach, and with his team and wagon worked all by himself for ten days before other farmers were able to leave their fields to help.
Lawrenceburg was still rebuilding from the 1883 flood, when, in a previously unheard of continuation of catastrophes, in February of 1884, the biggest and most destructive flood ever recorded inundated the town once again.
On February 6, 1884, after a winter in which more than three feet of snow had fallen, water began to pour into the city, not from the direction of the Great Miami River, where it had been expected, but on the Ohio River side, between Elm and St. Clair streets.
This was soon followed by the collapse of the railroad levee just below Hardentown, allowing the floods to accumulate from the Miami at the same time. High Street was totally covered and remained under water for two weeks before the water finally began to recede.
In contrast to the flood of 1883, when the onrush of water had swept houses off their foundations, in 1884, it was the flood’s sheer depth and lifting power that caused the destruction.The situation was made even worse by
a violent wind storm. Hundreds of buildings, including sheds, kitchens and presumably outhouses, were broken or even carried away into the river.
The flood was estimated at 71 feet, at least five feet higher than the town had ever seen. Contributions for the relief of residents poured in from all over the United States.A total of 187 requests for funds were received from people who could not afford to repair their flood damaged homes. Other contributions of food, clothing and coal were also distributed.
The catastrophic effect of the flood up and down the Ohio River brought about something previously unheard of in the United States: federal aid!