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) |
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.