"One of the most well known natural disasters in Pueblo’s history is The Great Flood of 1921. While most Pueblo citizens know the story by heart, there are so me things they might not know. One of the most
amazing things about the 1921 flood was not the horrendous amount of damage and life loss, but the bravery and kindness of the people caught in this horrible disaster.
The flood warning first came at 6:30 p.m. June 3, 1921. An unknown person called and reported that the Arkansas River was flooding upstream. The flood was caused by a sudden cloudburst on the Arkansas
just ten miles west of Pueblo. The flood only became worse later on when Fountain creek also began to flood from down pours 30 miles north. When the two merged in the heart of Pueblo the results were
catastrophic.
Fifteen hundred people lost their lives in the flood and there was 20 million dollars in damage. The flood level was over 15 feet in some places. All of the bridges over Fountain Creek were destroyed; however, the bridges over the Arkansas remained. The telephone company had 9-½ feet of water and approximately 225,000 dollars in damage. Almost all of the downtown area was destroyed.
Bravery was widespread that horrible night. The telephone operators stayed even when the floodwaters reached 9 ½ feet. They stayed and continued sending out warnings to those people who lived further
downstream. They also received and relayed countless distress calls from families whose houses were trapped in the floodwaters. The operators were eventually rescued themselves and not a single operator died that night. The operators’ bravery saved countless lives.
Bryan Thady was responsible for seeing the operators to the third floor. This saved them from the floodwaters that consumed the first
floor where the switchboards were. Bryan then returned to the second
floor for the subscriber and the first floor for the cable records. His heroic efforts not only saved the operators, but also made it possible to recovery the telephone system after the flood.
Another testament of bravery was when telephone workers went back themselves to rescue mementos. A lady came to them to ask them permission to return to her house, which had been swept into the
backyard of the telephone company. Her husband was still missing and at that point was presumed dead. She wished to return for candlesticks that were a wedding gift. The men went back into her house themselves and sifted through the debris until they found her candlesticks. They eased her distress by their simple act of kindness.
One of the citizens of Pueblo’s neighbor, Denver, came to help rebuild the telephone system. His name was Abe Maiman. He arrived three days after the flood after a long trip because of the train tracks destruction. When he arrived the smell of rotting bodies (both animal and human) greeted him. There were no utilities and disease was running rampant. The water had to boiled to be usable and the hospitals were already full and out of medicine. In spite of all these hardships he stayed and worked until he dropped. All the workers literally worked until they dropped. When they dropped the other workers would just leave them, pick up their tools, and continue the job they were doing. His first shift he worked 48 hours straight. He was just one of the many remarkable workers.
The relief effort was remarkable. The community banded together. Before the Red Cross arrived. The Elks Club served as a relief center where three thousand refugees were served a day, until additional
help arrived. Fellow citizens also built a camp to shelter the refugees. After a few days additional helped arrived from the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Knights Columbus, and military units. Pueblo was under federal control temporarily to restore law and order.
With all the heroes that emerged and relief organizations that came to aid Pueblo’s citizens, the City of Pueblo was up and running again in record time. Pueblo had made quite a rally by 1924, only three years later. Pueblo also established a committee of three men that oversaw the planning and implementation of a flood control plan. Their effort was to help prevent a reoccurrence of this disaster. To this day the flood of 1921 is the largest, most devastating flood in Pueblo history." (from (
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"A bond issue of $300,000 was approved by a vote of the citizens in 1915 for the construction of the Pueblo City Hall and Auditorium. Memorial Hall was originally designed in conjunction with City Hall between 1916 and 1919 by Pueblo architect, William W. Stickney and New York architect, Godley and Haskell. Contractor C.S. Lambie constructed the buildings.
The building was dedicated on September 25, 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson at his last public address and was named as a memorial to those who died in “The War to End All Wars”, World War I. Memorial Hall is a rare and beautiful example of late 19th Century and early 20th Century auditorium design. It is one of the few representative structures of this period and type in the State of Colorado." (from (
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"A Bond issue of $300,000 was approved by a vote of the citizens in 1915 for the construction of the Pueblo City Hall and Auditorium. Memorial Hall was originally designed in conjunction with City Hall between 1916 and 1919 by Pueblo architect, William W. Stickney and New York architect, Godley and Haskell. Contractor C.S. Lambie constructed the buildings. The building was dedicated on September 25, 1919 by President Wildrow Wilson at his last public address and was named as a memorial to those who died in “The War to End All Wars” WWI. Memorial Hall is a rare and beautiful example of late 19th Century and early 20th Century auditorium design. It is one of the few representative structures of this period and type in the state of Colorado.
Memorial Hall is notable for a number of singular performance events; It hosted President Woodrow Wilson’s final public address shortly before its official opening. Rafael Cavallo was the first symphony orchestra conductor at Memorial Auditorium and John Phillip Sousa was the first band concert performance. It is notable for the broad variety of performances it has provided for the regional community: community arts performances, touring ensembles, music performances, theatre performances, dance recitals, travelogues, organ recitals, and even television and radio broadcasts. It has served as the anchor of the regional cultural community for more than nine decades.
There are many architecturally significant features in the auditorium. The proscenium is comprised of intricately detailed plaster ornament and includes two level side boxes and grillage housing the historic Austin Orchestral Pipe Organ. The pipe organ, featuring between 4,000 and 5,000 pipes varying in size from a few inches to 32 feet in length and represents sixty-two different instruments and is operational and played regularly. The organ is the third largest of its kind in the United States. A grand stairway and lobby with detailed ceiling panels, terrazzo flooring and marbled walls is shared by Memorial Auditorium and City Hall." (excerpted from (
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