Cincinnati's Great Disasters (OH)

by Betty Ann Smiddy, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Cincinnati's Great Disasters explores catastrophes from 1905 to 1937, featuring floods, tornadoes, fires, explosions, winter storms, and crashes. Although tragic, disasters became popular postcard subjects in the early 1900s, with many of these photograph postcards being taken by professional photographers. The postcards documenting the 1907 and 1913 floods make up the bulk of this book, as these disasters dramatically affected Cincinnatians' lives and led to innovative flood prevention planning and health initiatives. Flooding ultimately determined where businesses and residences were located in the city and was a driving force behind urban renewal of the riverfront.

Genres: History

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Katie Elmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book fell apart in my lap. Poor organization, mid captions, and infested with typos. Cool pics though.

[Connor Magary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hamilton flood was wild. Good book hehe

[Paul Lunger · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the "Postcard History Series" comes a 2007 entry by Betty Ann Smiddy dealing with "Cincinnati's Great Disasters". This series of images covers the major floods, fires, tornadoes & explosions that have rocked this metro area across the end of the 19th century and first half of the 20th. What I as a reader also appreciate is that she not only focuses on the Ohio side of the river for this, but also includes Northern Kentucky as well as shows the images out of the Hamilton, OH area during the flood of 1913. This collection of images will definitely remind us at times of the power of mother nature in general amongst other things and is also a reminder than any major city can be hit by things that can make things unrecognizable.