1956 Sacred Heart Fire
The New London, Willimantic & Palmer Railroad (NLW&P) was was the first railroad to provide a direct rail line between Norwich and New London. Prior to 1848 travelers had to take a steamship from Chelsea Harbor to the mouth of the Thames.
In general, passengers and freight was transported quickly and safely. However, on March 17, 1853 the train ran off the rails. Wood-engraving from the Illustrated News, April 16, 1853. The accident occurred about two miles south of the city of Norwich on March 17, 1853. A locomotive on the New London, Willimantic & Palmer Railroad ran off the track and ran into a house, detaching the kitchen and buttery. A woman inside the house was injured but no one was killed. An article Illustrated News 04/16/1853 magazine states:
Acknowledgements
Caulkins – page 552
Railway & Locomotive Historical Society
JSTOR
195x Mount Pleasant Convent Fire
The New London, Willimantic & Palmer Railroad (NLW&P) was was the first railroad to provide a direct rail line between Norwich and New London. Prior to 1848 travelers had to take a steamship from Chelsea Harbor to the mouth of the Thames.
In general, passengers and freight was transported quickly and safely. However, on March 17, 1853 the train ran off the rails. Wood-engraving from the Illustrated News, April 16, 1853. The accident occurred about two miles south of the city of Norwich on March 17, 1853. A locomotive on the New London, Willimantic & Palmer Railroad ran off the track and ran into a house, detaching the kitchen and buttery. A woman inside the house was injured but no one was killed. An article Illustrated News 04/16/1853 magazine states:
Acknowledgements
Caulkins – page 552
Railway & Locomotive Historical Society
JSTOR
1963 Spaulding Pond Dam Collapse
*Place cursor over any image to magnify
Mohegan Park and Spaulding Pond have been a place of tranquility and pleasure for more than a century. The Spaulding Pond Dam has kept the water in place for more than fifty years. The postcard shown of the left shows how the pond appeared in the fall of 1957.
The winter of 1962-1963 was severe and by early March heavy rains were melting a layer of glacial ice that was two-feet thick in places. On the afternoon of March 5 personnel from the City Public Works Department inspected the dam, looking for leaks. There was a concern for the safety of the dam because seepage had been observed in previous years.
View of dam and arbor (circa 1913)
*Place cursor over any image to magnify
Inspectors found that water was seeping through the dam’s earthen core. The director of the Public Works personally inspected the dam at 6:15 pm and confirmed there indeed was leakage. However, he saw no trace of erosion or other conditions symptomatic of imminent danger.
Unfortunately, his assessment was erroneous. Only a few short hours later, at 9:20 pm he contacted the Norwich police and informed them that the dam might collapse. At 9:25 pm a local radio station was contacted and requested to broadcast a city wide alert. At 9:27 pm the dam collapsed and sent a wall of water racing toward downtown Norwich.
The postcard shown on the left was postmarked in 1913.
*Place cursor over any image to magnify
On the crest of the wave were huge blocks of ice that worked like battering rams. Many of the blocks were that size of a kitchen table and were two-feet thick.
A local newscaster reported that the water in Franklin Square had been as much as five feet deep. Bill Stanley wrote : “The water on Bath Street and behind the Norwich Bulletin was like a huge lake”. The photo, shown on the left, was taken near Franklin Square in front of the Turner and Stanton Twine Mill.
At 10:14 pm several workers at the mill, unaware of the mortal danger that they were in, rushed upstairs to a window to see what all the commotion was about. A few moments later a 12-foot wall of water and ice washed away the lower floor of the mill.
Madeline Atterbury, Helen Roode, Alexander Pobol, Anna Louise Barrett and Mae Caroline Robidou all lost their lives as the mill collapsed.
Memorial to the Six Who Perished
Dedicated March 4, 2006
Several blocks north of Franklin Square, Ron Moody arrived home from work and warned his wife and family of the immanent danger. After telling them to evacuate his wife, Honey, gathered up their three sons to take them to her mother’s home in the western part of town.
The entire family, and their upstairs neighbor Tony Orsini, got into their car and Ron began driving. Just as they passed the Lake Street playground floodwaters floated their car off the road. Everyone made it safely out of the car but Honey. After she handed her infant son through the window to her husband, the car shifted and Honey was swept away into the freezing water. There was no chance for anyone to save Honey. She was found dead the next day 20 feet from the car.
*Place cursor over image to magnify
The failed dam was originally built in 1853 by two businessmen and was later modified. The dam was used strictly for providing a controlled water supply to downtown Norwich. The water was needed to power waterwheels for local businesses. Virtually no safety factors were built into the design of the dam. Its failure was attributed to bad design, poor maintenance and no consideration of its potential harmful impact to the city.
Following the investigation and a restructuring of the town’s emergency response organization, the Spaulding Pond Dam was rebuilt. The demolition of the old dam’s remains began in August of 1964, and the large modern replacement dam being completed and dedicated in September of 1965.
The new dam was mostly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soils and Conservation Service. It was built in accordance with the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954. Today, it is a safe, well-maintained structure.
Acknowledgements
“A Swift and Deadly Maelstrom ; The Great Flood of 1963”, by Thomas Moody
“6 Died When Dam Bursts, Norwich Flooded”, 02/28/2010, by Bill Stanley
PicClick UK
Public Domain and Bruce Noland
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Spaulding Dam” in the SEARCH box.