History of Ohio River Crests 1832-1939

This chart was printed in the newspaper on Ironton Register on Jan. 28, 1937. This was during the beginning of the infamous 1937 flood. Due to the inquiries about the severity of previous floods, the newspaper published a chart of the past Ohio River Floods beginning in the year 1832, and the height of their crest.

YEAR OHIO RIVER CREST
1832 61 ft. 1 1/2 in.
1847 66 ft. 6 in.
1883 59 ft. 4 in.
1884 66 ft. 8 in.
1897 58 ft. 9 in.
Jan.1907 59 ft. 1 in.
Mar. 1907 59 ft. 3 in.
1910 58 ft.
1913 67 ft. 7 1/2 in.
1927 55 ft. 4 in.
1933 58 ft. 1 in.
1936 58 ft. 9 in.
1937 70 ft. 6 in.
Feb. 1939 57 ft. 3 in.
Apr. 1939 52 ft. 6 in. (estimate)

1 Comment
  1. Jon Owings

    I was born in Dayton, KY just across the river from Cincinnati in November 1937. In the spring of 1939 when I was almost a year and a half old we were living in a two story house next to the river. When the river crested at 57 ft in Feb 1939, though not as bad as the great flood of ’37, I was taken out of the second floor by rescuers in a boat.

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