Tomorrow marks the 128th anniversary of the Johnstown Flood. Although Johnstown is 154 miles north of Waterford, the same storm impacted Waterford in washing out the bridge over the Catoctin Creek at the north end of town.
An excerpt from When Waterford and I were Young by John Divine, et al,, describes the bridge as “65 feet long, framed with massive 12 x 14 inch white pine runners and girders…roofed with wood shingles and sheathed the sides with oak weatherboard.”
The Waterford bridge went down during the night of May 30, 1889 “in roiling waters” while the Johnstown dam break occurred around 3pm in the afternoon the next day. Looking at the attached map, the bridge is at the top right on what was called Bridge street at the time.
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