Hornell Flood of July 1935

The pictures of the refugees in the State Armory and the picture of water being doled out to those people reminds me of my memories that are still with me of those days. I was five years old.

We lived at 16 Armory Place. My uncle, Morey G. Lippincott, wisely sunk a well under our house when he built the house around 1922.

During this flood his water was desperately needed. Lines of people came to the spigot in our driveway to fill their canisters with water. It was the only clean water available in our whole neighborhood. Our home was not in flood water but was high enough to be above it. We suffered no loss.

We were staying at Keuka Lake when the flood broke loose. The lake rose at least six feet. We stayed on high ground above Gibson's Landing until the weather calmed down. Then we returned to Hornell by back roads. We just got over the road through Fremont when the reservoir broke loose and washed the whole road out.