New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire

An intrepid couple wades down the aptly-named River Road during the Flood of 1936.

Piscataquog River Floods

Note: My story of the Great Flood of 1936 first appeared in the March 2022 issue of the New Boston Beacon. I've added more photos from 1936 and from other historic floods, too. — Dan R.

The Mont Vernon Road bridge washed away in the Flood of '36.

In March of 1936, four-year-old Walter Kirsch looked out the window of his house on the Mont Vernon road and was surprised by what he saw, or rather, by what he didn't see. He called to his father, "Dad, look out there — the bridge is gone!" His father, also named Walter, didn't believe him at first, but it was true — the bridge had been washed away by the raging Piscataquog River.

The Great Flood of 1936 followed two weeks of heavy rain after an unusually snowy winter. Much of New England was devastated by the flood. The city of Nashua was completely under water, and the giant Amoskeag Mill in Manchester was so badly damaged that it never reopened. Walter's missing bridge was the one on Route 13 just south of where you now turn for the new library and Post Office, near New Boston Pizza. In 1936, the older Walter Kirsch worked in Sutherland's sawmill next to this bridge — only the mill's foundation remains there today. In a 2021 interview "young" Walter remembered the event clearly — his mother was in the hospital in Peterborough at the time, giving birth to Walter's sister Nancy. Fortunately the Kirsches lived on the same side of the river as the road to Peterborough, so Ruth Kirsch could bring her baby home.

Bill Mason blasting ice jams farther downstream

On the other side of the river from the Kirsches lived Will and Cora Dodge. Cora wrote in her diary for March 18, 1936, "The bridge down here went out about 12:30 [just after midnight]. This morning found the village bridge impassable too and the Howe bridge gone. The river is a raging torrent. I never saw anything like it." The road agent Bill Mason had done his best throughout the storm, racing up and down the river blowing up ice jams with dynamite, but he couldn't save the bridges. Therefore, when Cora Dodge needed to go to work in the Town Hall — her husband Will was a Selectman — she had to go up and over Hooper Hill riding on a mule!

A temporary bridge was built on the Mont Vernon Road.

On March 21 Cora wrote: "A terrible rainy day but the men worked all day putting in the temporary bridge... At night they had the bridge passable for foot traffic but some fellows from Milford came in despite the signs and drove across and broke one of the stringers." Photos show how a rope was thrown across the river, then massive logs were pulled across upon which planks were laid.

On the 22nd of March, Will went across one of the logs to go to town to buy the Sunday paper. On the way home he fell off the log but grabbed a rope and rescued himself, soaking wet. "I was awfully scared," Cora wrote. "Dad lost the Sunday paper when he went in, also his hat." Once he'd dried off, Will went up to Concord with the other Selectmen, George Colburn and Bert Shedd, to see about getting State aid for the bridge. The Governor was busy and could not see them, Cora wrote, but "the Highway man Mr. Johnson thought it could be worked out."

Looking downstream towards the Wason Memorial Building, which was the library.

Will Dodge wasn't the only man who wanted a newspaper. This is the Main Street bridge.

Old Engine House and Town Hall parking lot.

The 1936 flood photos in our collection were taken by New Boston garage owner Lawson Smith. Lawson's wife Charlotte took orders from townspeople for reprints and delivered the photos two weeks later. The enterprising Smiths used the profits to buy a new cash register for their garage.

Most of New Boston's roads and bridges were repaired over the spring and summer of 1936. A permanent bridge was installed on the Mont Vernon road between the Kirsches and the Dodges in October. New Boston would never again experience anything quite like the Great Flood of 1936, at least not for another two years. Then came the Hurricane of 1938...

New Boston under water in 1938

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 blew through New Boston in September. The photo above shows the Community Church, Clover Farms Store (now the Northeast Cafe), the Wason Memorial Building, an acetylene traffic beacon where there's now a blinking traffic light, and Dodge's Store.

A car waits at the bottom of Meetinghouse Hill to see if the other car makes it past the High School.

A 21st-century Flood





Photos from 2007 — the Piscataquog River flooded in the 1980s and 1990s, too.

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