The Pacolet River Flood of 1903
On June 6, 1903, a great disaster
struck the entire Pacolet
River valley. It killed many people and did
massive damage to the mills and the community. Click on this link, Pacolet
Flood, to read more details. This account is based
on Volume 1 of The History of Pacolet and
articles from the Spartanburg newspaper.
There is another interesting account of the flood that
was in the February, 1980, issue of Sandlapper magazine. The
article, written by William M. Branham, can be read at The Great Freshet of 1903. We
want to express our thanks to Sandlapper for the
use of this article. Thanks also to Jim Turner for bringing this
article to our attention and furnishing us a copy.
The following two photographs were taken looking towards
the area of "The Flat". They
were taken from two different locations and at slightly
different times. The photos were taken from generally in
the vicinity of where the Pacolet
townhall and the Rescue
Squad building is today.
The Pacolet
River often flooded before the Great Flood. The
photo below shows the high water in1901, only two years
before. Note the covered bridge and the houses and
structures near the people. All of these were
destroyed in 1903. The picture below was made in the
same general vicinity as the two photos above.
Some of the stories
published about the flood proved to be inaccurate.
One such story stated that Mary Ernest Massey was lost
along with four of her children. Her grandaughter,
Bobbie Mikesell, has written us to set this story
straight. Read her account at Mary
Ernest Massey.
After a period of
nearly 100 years, there is finally a monument to
those lost and affected by the flood. On November
15, 2011 a monument to the victims was dedicated.
The monument is located near the bridge that goes
over the Pacolet River on Highway 29 near the former
site of the Converse textile mill. The idea for the
monument started with Gary Henderson, a former Spartanburg Herald
Journal reporter. His grandfather
witnessed the flood when he was 9 years old.
Henderson had written several stories about the
flood. The actual monument was built by artist Ron
Longsdorf. Read the article on the monument from the
Spartanburg
Herald at
Flood Monument Article. See more photographs
at Flood Monument.
Recent Photographs
Photographer
Bob Johnson has recently photographed parts of
Converse and Clifton that were affected by the
flood as they look today. See his photos at Converse
and Clifton.
This web site has
been started as a public service to share the story of
Pacolet.