President Coolidge and the Flood of 1927

By Mary Carter
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT

It began with a wet October – never enough rain to wreak havoc, but burdensome enough to muddy the soil. A cold front ushered in more precipitation on the evening of Nov. 2, which intensified thanks to a coastal low pressure center triggered by a recent tropical storm. This combination brought on torrential downpours along the east line of the buffering Green Mountains.

By the Nov. 5, an average of nine inches of rain fell, primarily in the Winooski Valley. The Winooski River reached a crest of 2,710 feet in Montpelier, translating to a rise of more than 12 feet above flood stage. Infrastructure collapsed and livestock perished. So many had been caught unaware.

Still considered the worst disaster in Vermont history, the flood of 1927 took the lives of 84 people, including that of Lt. Governor Samuel Hollister Jackson. Jackson’s car stalled as he attempted to drive home during the storm. Deciding to walk, the rising waters of the Potash caught Jackson and carried him down Nelson Street, then a dirt road, in Barre. Jackson’s body was found the next day over a mile away. In other communities, families watched in horror from their second floors as less fortunate neighbors were swept away to their deaths.

Then President, Calvin Coolidge, was a native son of Vermont. A frugal man who believed in quiet ways and self-sufficiency, Coolidge’s beliefs would be challenged by the chilling outcome of the Mississippi River Flood in April, 1927. Prior presidents had vetoed certain relief bills.

Coolidge knew that to send federal funds would be the ruination of the budget surplus he’d worked so hard to achieve. However, the people had a different message for their leader. Kentucky’s Paducah News Democrat declared that Coolidge “had the coldest heart in America, or the dullest imagination.” Coolidge took cautious action. He didn’t want government money helping the rich to get richer. He signed a bill to assist with the reconstruction of public works.

And then, disaster overtook his home state.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover was sent to Vermont. Hoover had made a name for himself while touring areas devastated by the Mississippi River floods. It could be said that it helped him win the next presidential election.

Hoover wired Coolidge. The cost to rebuild was “beyond what Vermont and its people could bear.” Vermont was federally granted $2.7 million towards road repairs and future damage control. The Red Cross donated $600,000 to assist victims.

The people of Vermont would band together to rebuild homes and farms and businesses. Stores in Montpelier had to be shoveled out of over a foot of remaining silt and mud.

Coolidge would journey home to view the reconstruction of the “brave little state” he held so dear. During a speech in Bennington, in September of 1928, President Calvin Coolidge famously said:

“Vermont is a state I love… It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride; here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our everlasting hills. I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people.”

The recent storms have put Vermont’s people to the test once again. To assist those currently flood-stricken in our Green Mountain State, visit the Vermont Community Foundation at: vermontcf.org.