Union Avenue Historic Commercial District

Colorado

In 1921, water eighteen feet deep wiped out nearly every building along Union Avenue.

disasterhistoricalpeople

Water eighteen feet deep came through this business district in 1921. It was the largest flood in Pueblo's history, and it killed more than fifteen hundred people. The major who took command of the state troops sent in to help recovery described it to the Los Angeles Times this way. Conditions are beyond description. Virtually every building from the post office to the square beyond the Union station on Union Avenue was completely wiped out. Pueblo had been the leading economic center of southern Colorado. The flood set back both the city and the whole region. Many of the buildings along the street had gone up in the eighteen eighties, and after the water receded they were remodeled to the standards of the day. Afterward the Arkansas River itself was rerouted away from its old path. A levee went up to keep the water where it belonged.

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
Waters as deep as 18 feet (5.5 m) almost completely destroyed the city's downtown and killed over 1,500 people.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Nearby, on the same roads

  • Fountain Creek (Arkansas River tributary) 1.5 mi During one flood in 1999, seventy million gallons of raw sewage poured into this creek at Colorado Springs.
  • Colorado State University Pueblo 3.5 mi A bill to give Pueblo a four-year college died in the state senate by a single vote.
  • Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center 3.5 mi For twelve years, a footrace here started not with a gun but with a live bird of prey let loose into the canyon.
  • Comanche Solar Project 4.8 mi Colorado's biggest solar farm was built right beside a coal-fired power plant so it could borrow the coal plant's wires.
  • Pikes Peak International Raceway 22.9 mi A rival racing company bought this speedway for eleven million dollars, shut it down, hauled the scoreboard off to Texas, and then sold it with a clause forbidding professional racing forever.
  • Fountain, Colorado 29.6 mi A murder cover-up on a freight train sent eighteen tons of explosives rolling toward Fountain in 1888.