Looking Back To 1907

When I wrote up the March meeting of the Wellsville Historical Society I mentioned that the ville's Bob Lloyd presented a Power Point program on the history of floods in town. It was very evident that Mr. Lloyd put a lot of time and effort into that program. To start with his collection of photos had to be scanned onto a computer and organized. That in itself is very time consuming. He also mentioned that it was the his first time for this effort.

The program was extremely interesting and I got particularly excited seeing the pictures of how the ville use to look back over the years. It included pictures going back to 1884 and up to 1991. Many of those structures in those photos are long gone. It's a collection to be envious of for those that like to look into the past and imagine how we got to where we are today.

Before leaving that evening I ask Mr. Lloyd if I could get a copy of his program so we could share some of those pictorial memories. He responded that he would try. Then I got to thinking those pictures were probably huge and I probably wouldn't get my wish. I can't tell you how he did it. It's above my technical know how but true to his word he got somewhere around 158 pictures shrunk down and on one disc.

Sometime back I also mentioned that there use to be a church at 3rd & Lisbon where the BP gas station now stands. Here are couple of pictures of the front and back of that church taken during the March 15, 1907 flood. That flood crested at 38 feet. Our worse flood in recorded history was in 1936 when on March 19 of that year the waters were measured at 51.5 feet.

In the first picture you can see the front of that church facing 3rd street. It's long gone. In my earliest memory there has always been a gas station on that corner. Back when I was a kid it was called SOHIO - Standard Oil of Ohio. I think the house to the right of the church is the same one that is now between the BP station and Rich's. Looking at that picture I think that house is the only structure still there. Dominating the picture is the old Whittacre Apartments across the street that use to be on the lot where the Dairy Queen is today. They were still there when I was a kid and remained until they were torn down for Johnson's car lot.

The second picture taken from a different angle looking at the back of that church has a lot of interesting buildings that are also long gone. Again you can see the front of the apartments. However along 3rd Street I think the only structures beside the house next to the church that still stand today are the row houses on Broadway that start at the 3rd St. corner and the building in the top left that is now the Alumni Center. You can only see the top of that building. Across from the row houses is where Rite Aid now stands. The building with Coca Cola on it is where Tom Koontz's car lot is located. The building in front of it is where Rich's is now. Both of those buildings had small grocery stores. The Coca Cola marked building was Ricci's store and the only thing I remember about the other one is the penny candy that was always available if you had a couple of pennies for sneaking in a treat to ruin your supper. I don't know what the big building was at the top center where Kwik King is located today. When I was a kid I think that was another gas station. Those railroad tracks are still there.

From time to time I'll share more pictures with you all. Bob you did a whale of job and in my opinion that program is worth charging admission to see. I surely thank you for the copies. When I asked how much I owed him Bob told me I couldn't afford it. He's probably correct but I'll be eternally grateful for his generosity.

ole nib