Looking Back Through Time

Looking Back Through Time. ~Floods of Metropolis~. , While fortunate to be on the banks of the Ohio, Metropolis has always had to deal with Mother Nature on a rampage. Whether it was sight-seeing with your friends by the Covington Hotel on Front Street in 1913, or struggling with personal catastrophe, the floods would dominate time and thoughts for weeks. , But life goes on and babies are born, no matter what! The baby on the right, born in 1937, was her parent's 13th child, and the now-grown Metropolis resident says her mother never let her forget it. , School rooms, church basements and railroad cars became home. The Presbyterian Church doubled as a hospital. Miracles happened. History boasts that when Mr. Kidd boated to their water surrounded home to retrieve the family washboard so Mrs. Kidd could do the washing for the little "Kidds", it came floating right out the open window straight to him! Because the Corps of Engineer men (who worked diligently to help the town) wanted Coca-Cola in the worst way, the owner of the Lucky Stop Cafe on upper Market Street arranged for 'many cases' to be brought in a hearse, which was coming to pick up a body. Later, the owner wanted payment for needed repairs to his hearse, caused by the excessive weight of all the cases of Coca-Cola! , For eighteen consecutive, freezing, January days it rained. Brave employees rowed to second story windows of the shored-up City Power House, climbed down inside by ladders, and risked their lives to furnish electricity throughout the entire ordeal, to a Metropolis half covered with the Ohio River out of bounds. , The river stayed at crest for three weeks, but as it receded, gray skies once again gave way to blue. , Artist: Benjamin Watterson.