It's raining in this photo, and the waters are rising under the bridge near the White Tower, but it's not a scene from Sandy. Where are we? When?
Click the photo to see a larger version, then hazard a guess in comments below, and come back Sunday for the answer.
We know our old photo is from March, 1936 and we think we can date it precisely to Thursday, March 12, when people gathered at the Main Street Bridge in Pawtucket to watch the river rise. The spring thaw and two days of rain had swollen rivers all over New England, and that night they would overflow their banks in many places.
The Journal reported the story at length on Friday, March 13. Here's how it began on page one (the full story is easily 20 times this long, spanning three pages):
By Saturday, the page one headline was, "R.I. flood threat ends as streams recede slowly."
Woonsocket got the worst of it: "The Blackstone and tributary streams isolated several city blocks, driving scores of families from their homes and causing the closing of mills on Thursday..."
As for Pawtucket,
-- The bridge was designed by Samuel Cushing of Providence and built by Fall River mason Luther Kingsley, according to Rhode Island: An Inventory Of Historic Engineering And Industrial Sites (1978). It opened Nov. 4, 1858, with a public celebration.
-- There are some nice old photos of the bridge's neighborhood in Pawtucket at Google Books. The one at right mentions in its caption, "This 1914 photograph of the widened Main Street Bridge displays the beautiful new ironwork railing." Earlier photos show a simpler design, more like today's. I'd like to learn more about the history of that railing, but haven't yet turned anything up.
-- This postcard postmarked in 1906 shows a different view, up the Seekonk river at low tide toward the Falls.
-- The Falls has a long history as a gathering spot:
"The natural course of the (Blackstone) river served as a long-standing boundary between the Wampanoag and Narragansett Indian tribes. It was at the falls (under the Main Street Bridge) that major overland trails converged. The Indians called this place "Pawtucket," their word for a larger waterfall. The shallow pools both above and below the falls made this a convenient place to cross the river. It was at this place, also, that the Indians gathered to fish for salmon, alewives, and shad, which ran in abundance well into the 19th century. -- Bucklin Society's Pawtucket History page
-- Visible in the old photo, the White Tower at 149 Main St. sold its small hamburgers with pickle and fried onions on a hot roll for a nickel during the Depression. Their slogan was "Take home a bagful," and Lou Costello (of the Abbott & Costello comedy team) regularly ate 10 at a sitting.
Anne Battler, came to America from Scotland at the age of 8, and grew up in Pawtucket. She was a dancer who started out in Providence and ended up on Broadway in Ann Corio's This Is Burlesque, where she met Costello, an aspiring comic who danced during costume changes.
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