Automobile in Flooded Street, Warren, Pennsylvania, March 1913

A cars and trucks photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mr. Sam Ekey, Warren, Pa., R.D. #4, and postmarked in Warren, Pa., on March 31, 1913.

Handwritten message: "Warren, Pa., 3/30, 1913. Dear Brother, Wm. Kopf would like to have his posts Saturday. If you need the money take it, 12½¢ each. Frank needs about 10 7 fts. Maybe we can give Henderson his and give Frank Henderson's from last year [meaning, as far as I can understand, that "Henderson" is going to get the fence posts originally intended for "Frank," and Frank is going to receive his ten seven-foot fence posts from among the ones that they prepared for Henderson last year]. Everything OK. Norman has the mumps. He is at home on the farm. E.E."

It's likely that "E.E." was Emil Ekey (1886-1976), who was writing to older brother, Sam Ekey (1881-1965). "Frank" may have been Frank A. Ekey (1868-1959), another brother. A quick search didn't yield any information regarding the other individuals--William Kopf, Henderson, and Norman--that Emil mentions.

The flooded street was the result of the Great Flood of 1913, which "occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain." I assume that the photo shows a street in Warren, which is located in northeastern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek.

The license plate on the car in the photo is no. "23801, Penna., 1913," and the man in the driver's seat is looking back at the photographer. Beyond the automobile there are three people--one of them only visible through the vehicle's windshield--wading through the floodwaters. To the left of the threesome is a mailbox stranded by the water, and to its left are two individuals standing in the doorway of a building.

A mailman wearing waders and holding a mailbag is standing in the water on the right-hand side of the photo. Perhaps he was headed over to the mailbox to collect the mail.

Emil didn't mention the flood in the note he wrote to his brother. I wonder if either of them knew any of the people in the photo. It would also be interesting to know who the photographer was.