It has been 86 years since the Great St. Patrick’s Day Flood hit Pittsburgh on March 17-18, 1936. Heavy rains and melting snows along the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers left more than half of Downtown businesses underwater. My father’s family company, Wagner Brothers Shoes, with seven stores and a warehouse on Liberty Avenue, were all affected.
St. Patrick’s Day was always a special day in our Irish-German home. But every St. Patrick’s Day, my sister and I were reminded by our mom of the fear and horror she experienced when she and my dad had to evacuate us — ages 2 and 4 — from our home above our father’s shoe store in Verona.
She recalled, a tear or two in her Irish eyes, the waters rising rapidly. Our dad scooped us up, put us in his Dodge and headed for Mt. Washington (our mom’s family home). He realized he had to get us all out before the Pittsburgh bridges became impassable. She’d conclude with my dad trying unsuccessfully to save as many shoes as he could. Most of the stock was destroyed. With a sigh, my mom would plaintively finish off, “We never recovered from that terrible flood. We had to give up the store in 1943 and move ‘up the hill’ to Herron Avenue.”
Every St. Patrick’s Day, I have a great time, but I give a few moments to remember how our family suffered just as many other families did. And this was during the Great Depression! I am grateful that such a disaster has not been repeated in Pittsburgh.
Bernadine Wagner Lairo
Frankfurt, Germany