The First Entry in a Flood Diary
Monday, January 18, 1937
NEW ALBANY, INDIANA — Heavy rain had been falling on New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville — three Ohio River towns across from Louisville, Kentucky — for more than a week.
After three mostly dry days, nearly three inches of rain fell on Thursday, January 14, the day “The Charge of the Light Brigade” starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland began a two-day run at the LeRose Theatre in Jeffersonville.
On this Monday, Marion Groh recorded the first words of what would become a flood diary:
Black Creek has backed up south of Spring Street. Situation bad but not alarming.
Born on April 28, 1918, Marion was 19 years old and lived with her family at 2010 East Elm Street in New Albany, a town of 25,000 people that was founded before Indiana became a state in 1816.
In a family photograph taken on the Groh’s back porch, Marion stands with arms folded beside her sister Julia on the porch steps. She has short hair and is wearing a light-colored blouse, dark sweater and long skirt.
The Groh home was a bungalow built in 1912. A full porch stretched across the front of the house. The home’s interior contained a living room, dining room, fireplace, kitchen, bathroom, three bedrooms, attic and basement.
Marion was the youngest of five children and part of a six-member household on Elm Street that included her father, Edward; mother, Grace; two aunts, Ada and Emma; and brother, Albert.
Edward Groh was born in Kentucky. Grace Groh came from Ohio.
Edward was a railroad clerk, perhaps at the same Louisville & Nashville Railroad that had employed Adolph Sagebiel of Jeffersonville, seven miles to the east. Edwards’ son, Albert, worked at the Falls City Transfer & Storage Company in Jeffersonville, located near the Big Four Bridge within steps of the Ohio River.
The Grohs had seen floods.
The fact that Marion began to document the creek activity on this day might suggest her anticipation of a big flood, or it could signal the keen interest of a diarist, or both. Possibly first written by hand, the completed diary would be typed on a heavy-looking, brownish paper and bound with staples.
This first diary entry is only two sentences totaling 14 words. But it’s a start — and the scarcity won’t last. In the coming days, Marion’s words will overflow like the local creeks and nearby Ohio River.
Start at the beginning of The 1937 Flood Journal or access the archives.
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