Fort Worth: The 1949 Flood

My folks recounted more than once the story of their moving to Fort Worth just in time for the “great flood”. The city had experienced floods before, in 1908 and 1922, but the most devastating by far took place in May of 1949. The deluge began around 6 p.m. on Monday the 16th and lasted until almost 3 o’clock Tuesday morning, the intense, slow-moving storm dumping as much as 11 inches. On Tuesday the levees along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River began to fail, causing extensive residential and commercial property damage. The Fort Worth water treatment plant, located within the boundaries of the flood plane, was contaminated. Ten lives were lost in the flood, bringing further attention to the urgent need for preventive measures. Within a few years Benbrook Lake was created, primarily to avoid such flooding in the future.
Long-time Fort Worth residents have always measured the severity of the flood with the same yardstick, the Montgomery Ward department store on West Seventh Street. The large Ward’s building saw the water level reach the second story, although each enthusiastic retelling of the story seems to elevate the water a floor or two. What cannot be denied is that the near-west side of town was devastated, resulting in over 11 million dollars in damage. Though many photographs exist that confirm the extent of the flooding, the ones included here have the distinction of being taken by my father. It’ll take more research to determine exactly where they lived at the time, but it was definitely on the west side, far enough from downtown to be out of reach of the flood waters. These photos are looking east down W. Seventh St. towards downtown, with the Montgomery Ward’s building plainly seen in the distance.
An interesting side-note: General Roger M. Ramey, a major player in the Roswell UFO incident, was named Fort Worth’s Man of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce for his mobilization and personal direction of thousands of base personnel for rescue work.
You can see two other photos of the flood, here and here.