In 1936, West Virginia experienced a typical winter of snowfall, but towards the end of February, temperatures became unseasonably warm. Then, on March 17th, the region west of the Blue Ridge Mountains received five to six inches of rain. The rain fell so fast it was not absorbed into the ground but ran into the rivers and began to race downstream.
Photo: inthedistance.net
The 1936 flood wasn't the highest in history, but it was very influential in the history of the town. The flood destroyed homes, businesses and industry in the Lower Town and led Congressman Jennings Randolph to recommend that the National Park Service look into protecting the historically significant town.
In order for the entire district of Lower Town to be named as a National Park, the ruined town had to be condemned. Gone were the residents. Gone were the bridges. Gone was the gas station. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into being Harpers Ferry National Monument, with the goal of preserving the history of John Brown's 1859 raid on the Federal Armory, a failed effort to incite a slave rebellion that nonetheless was a spark that initiated the Civil War.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed legislation designating the town as a National Historical Park and expanding the mission to include African American history, colonial history and industrial history, as well as John Brown's Raid and Civil War history.
Today, you can see water lines where the flood peaked 80 years ago, and a marker on the side of a building shows the height of all the recorded floods. Will there be another flood that is as destructive as The Great Potomac Flood? With climate change, and ever-increasing development on the banks of the Shenandoah and the Potomac, more floods lie in the future for Harpers Ferry.
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