Causeway Flood - 1914

Masonic Hall and Causeway Flood of 1914

At top left is the Masonic Hall, showing the Causeway flood of 1914. This is an east view, just stepping off Long Bridge. Notice the old car and the store where you could get lunch with an ice cream dessert. This second photo shows another view of the same flood, with the entrance to Long Bridge in the left foreground. Did you know that Chesapeake City had a jail? There it is just left of the Masonic Hall. John Sayer told me that, when he was a boy, he heard an inmate sing out from this jail: “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!” John loved telling that story; I sure hope it’s true.

West View of Back Creek and Chesapeake Boat Company – Late 1950s

 

 

This is a favorite photo of mine. At left is the Chesapeake Boat Company, where I worked as a boy. Just above the boat yard dock is a red channel marker; that area had a sandy beach and was called the Burnt House. Many South Side kids used to swim there. I learned to swim there and used to dive from the top of that channel marker. We boys also used to swim across to what was then called the Marine Terminal (now Capt. Dan’s – where the Delaware Responder docks).

Steamer in Canal

This is an east view of the canal before the widening and deepening took place in the sixties. At left is Canal Street on the North Side. Almost all of those houses, thirty or more, were razed to make way for the widening. At right middle you can see the Corps of Engineers’ wharf and carpenter shop. Many local boys used to go out there to fish, but workers would often chase them off government property. The boat, headed east, is one of the Wilson Line steamers.

Pump House and Masonic Hall - Mid-Thirties

This is a south east view of the widened canal in about 1933, with the Corps of Engineer’s pump house and other buildings at top left. At right notice the Masonic Hall (soon to be removed), the Basin, Stone Bridge, and Back Creek. Bethel Road can also be seen near the top of the photo.