![Topekaks1951flood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Topekaks1951flood.jpg)
In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the
Kansas River
The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...
,
Missouri River, and other surrounding areas of the
Central United States
The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census' definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions of ...
. Flooding occurred in the
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
Neosho,
Marais Des Cygnes, and
Verdigris
Verdigris is the common name for blue-green, copper-based pigments that form a patina on copper, bronze, and brass. The technical literature is ambiguous as to its chemical composition. Some sources refer to "neutral verdigris" as copper(II) ac ...
river basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...
s. The damage in June and July 1951 across eastern
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
exceeded (equivalent to $ in ). The flooding killed 17 people and displaced 518,000 more.
Flood
The 1951 flood in Kansas began in May with the flood of the Big Creek, (a tributary of the Smoky Hill River) in
Hays after eleven inches of rain in two hours. The creek overflowed, flooding Hays (the location of
Fort Hays State University
Fort Hays State University (FHSU) is a public university in Hays, Kansas. It is the fourth-largest of the six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents, with a total enrollment of approximately 15,100 students.
History
FHSU ...
) to a depth of four feet in most locations inhabited by the coeds on campus, necessitating a midnight flight from the barracks (by families of the G.I. Bill) and dorms to the Stadium's third floor, which was still dry. Dr. Charles F. Wiest, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and Religion, and his seven-year-old daughter perished when their home caved in with the weight of the water while he was saving prized texts in his basement. All records at the college were ruined and no
graduation
Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...
was held on the appointed date of May 23. Graduates were mailed their diplomas a month later.
At the time there were no warning sirens in Hays. Two police officers drove up and down the low riding streets with their sirens blaring shouting to evacuate. They are credited with saving many lives.
The flooding continued into June 1951 with heavy rains that month. The flooding reached its worst stages when between 8 and fell on the region between July 9 and July 13. The flood levels reached their highest point since the
Great Flood of 1844 The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River, in North America, in terms of discharge. The adjusted economic impact was not as great as subsequent floods because of the small populatio ...
and Flood of 1903. July 13 experienced the single greatest levels of flood and led to the greatest amount of destruction by flood experienced in the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
as of that date.
The actual flood-levels are not accurately known for the Kansas River, as the water crested above all official flood gauges. However, between
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and
Bonner Springs
Bonner Springs is a city in Wyandotte, Leavenworth, and Johnson counties, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,837. Bonner Springs was incorporated as ...
flood levels were between and above all previous records. The Marais Des Cygnes River, Verdigris River, and Neosho River crested more than above previous records.
The heaviest initial damage by the flood
crest
Crest or CREST may refer to:
Buildings
*The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York
*"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York
*Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...
was to Manhattan and
Ft. Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army military base, installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City, Kansas, Junction City and Manhattan, Kansas, Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Re ...
.
Barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
at the Fort were destroyed, and in Manhattan the
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
business district was deluged under 8 feet (2.4 m) of water and two people were killed. Following this,
Topeka
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Un ...
and
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
were also damaged by the same crest. Approximately 24,000 people were evacuated from Topeka.
In
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
, the flood began running over the top of the levees protecting the
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
and
Armourdale areas, resulting in the evacuation of 15,000 people. Houses in Armourdale had water all the way to their roofs. The flood devastated the
Kansas City Stockyards The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991.
Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from 1948 to its closing in 1991.
History
The stockyards w ...
in the
West Bottoms
The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas it sits at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one ...
at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. The Stockyards would never fully recover. The flood destroyed the
TWA
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...
overhaul base at
Fairfax Airport
Fairfax Municipal Airport (known as Fairfax Field during World War II) was a Kansas City, Kansas airfield from 1921 that was used during 1935–1949 by the military. Federal land adjacent to the airfield included a WWII B-25 Mitchell plant and ...
in
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...
prompting the city of
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, to relocate TWA to a new airport in
Platte County, Missouri
Platte County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,718. Its county seat is Platte City. The county was org ...
that was to become
Kansas City International Airport
Kansas City International Airport (originally Mid-Continent International Airport) is a public airport in Kansas City, Missouri located northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County, Missouri., effective December 30, 2021. The airport o ...
.
On July 13, a total of in Kansas and in
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
were flooded.
The crest continued downstream passing through
Boonville, Missouri
Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeated the Missouri Stat ...
on July 17,
Jefferson City, Missouri
Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the princip ...
on July 18,
Hermann, Missouri
Hermann is a city in and the county seat of Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. It has been the county seat since 1842. It is near the center of the Missouri Rhineland and south of the Missouri River. The population was 2,185 at the 2020 ...
on July 19, and
St. Charles, Missouri
Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...
on July 20 resulting in further flooding.
On July 17, President
Harry Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
toured the damage by airplane, as far west as Manhattan, and declared the disaster "one of the worst this country has ever suffered from water".
Flood levels
Here are the measured river crest levels.
Kansas River
Marais Des Cygnes River
Neosho River
Outcome
Following this flood a series of
levees
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlin ...
and
reservoirs
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
were constructed throughout eastern Kansas. This new network of flood control structures helped to prevent widespread damage when the region was hit later by the
Great Flood of 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood wa ...
.
Prior to the flood there were five federal flood control dams in operation in the Kansas River basin:
*
Bonny Dam in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
*
Enders Dam
Enders Dam (National ID # NE01070) is a dam in Chase County, Nebraska, near the southwestern corner of the state.
The earthen dam was constructed between 1947 and 1951 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, an ...
and
Medicine Creek Dam Medicine Creek Dam (National ID # NE01073) is a dam in Frontier County, Nebraska.
The earthen and rockfill dam was constructed in 1948 and 1949 by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. It is high, and long at its crest. It impounds Medici ...
in
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
*
Cedar Bluff Dam and
Kanopolis Dam in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
Several others had been planned by the
and the
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
, both authorized by the
Flood Control Act of 1944
The Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act of 1944 (P.L. 78–534), enacted in the 2nd session of the 78th Congress, is U.S. legislation that authorized the construction of numerous dams and modifications to previously existing dams, as well as levees acros ...
.
Since then, many dams have been constructed so that a total of eighteen dams control the flow of the
Kansas River
The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...
, such as
Webster Dam and
Kirwin Dam on tributaries of the Solomon River in Kansas. Many other reservoirs and levees were built in other nearby basins which were also built as part of the response to this flood (such as in the
Osage River
The Osage River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river i ...
basin above the
Lake of the Ozarks
Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Parts of three smaller tributaries to the Osage are included in the impoundment: the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek ...
).
In North Lawrence there is a building shaped like a teepee. A mark on the side of the building indicates the water was seven feet high around the building.
In 2011 a painting of the flood ''Flood Disaster'' by
Thomas Hart Benton was sold for $1.9 million in an auction at
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Benton had made the painting at the time of the flood and sent
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
s to every member of Congress to support a flood appropriations bill.
Comparison to other big floods
![KC-floods](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/KC-floods.jpg)
Channeling and levee construction have altered how the floods have hit various areas along the Missouri River. Here is a comparison of the three big floods since the early 19th century.
*
Great Flood of 1844 The Great Flood of 1844 is the biggest flood ever recorded on the Missouri River and Upper Mississippi River, in North America, in terms of discharge. The adjusted economic impact was not as great as subsequent floods because of the small populatio ...
– This was the biggest flood of the three in terms of rate of discharge at Westport Landing in Kansas City. It is estimated that per second was discharged in the flood. On July 16, 1844, the crest was almost one foot lower than the 1993 flood.
* Great Flood of 1951 – This flood was the second biggest in terms of rate of discharge at per second. The 1951 crest on July 14, 1951, was almost lower than the 1844 flood and lower than 1993. However, the flood was the most devastating of all modern floods for Kansas City because its levee system was not built to withstand it. It destroyed the city's stockyards and forced the building of an airport away from the Missouri River bottoms.
* Missouri River Flood of 1952 – The following year, flooding just upstream on the
Missouri River caused the
Rosecrans Memorial Airport
Rosecrans Memorial Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the city of St. Joseph in Buchanan County, Missouri, USA.
The airport is one of two bases for the Missouri Air National Guard and als ...
to be cut off from the City of
St. Joseph, Missouri
St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...
. This was part of a larger series of floods affecting the entire Missouri River basin.
Department of Interior report on 1952 Missouri Basin flooding
/ref>
* Great Flood of 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood wa ...
– This flood was the highest of any of the three but had the lowest discharge at . Though the 1993 flood had devastating impacts elsewhere, Kansas City survived it relatively well because of levees improvements after the 1951 flood.
See also
*Floods in the United States
Lists of floods in the United States provide overviews of major floods in the United States. They are organized by time period: before 1901, from 1901 to 2000, and from 2001 to the present.
Lists
* Floods in the United States before 1901
Flood ...
References
External links
NOAA Article on the 1951 Flood
NOAA Report (PDF) on the 1951 flood with a comparison to the 1993 flood
Access documents, photographs, and other primary sources on Kansas Memory, the Kansas State Historical Society's digital portal
Article from Kansas State Board of Agriculture 1951/52 Biennial Report on the 1951 Flood
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Flood of 1951
July 1951 events in the United States
Natural disasters in Kansas
Natural disasters in Missouri
Mississippi River floods
Missouri River floods
1951 meteorology
1951 natural disasters in the United States
1951 floods
History of Kansas City
1951 in Missouri
1951 in Kansas