Who Dumped Raw Sewage Into the Bay?

Old Time Erie City Sewer Outlets.

I did a double take when I saw this page in the 1902 Erie city directory. Take a close look at the highlighted area and you'll see why. This chart shows the length of the sewers emptying into the bay. Raw sewage was dumped into creeks which flowed directly into the bay, polluting Lake Erie. Yuck! Forget about the Good Old Days. These were the Not So Good Old Days.

Fifty-six miles of streams and creeks carried raw sewage and storm runoff into the bay. The outlets included Little Cascade Run; the Canal sewer; Peach, French and Holland Streets; Mill Creek, Garrison Run and Light House Run. After reading this, I don't think I'll complain about paying my sewer bill anymore. In fact, I'd like to take a moment to thank the workers at the City of Erie Bureau of Sewers and the Erie Wastewater Treatment Plant for a job well done.

In the early 1900s, creeks and streams ran wild throughout the city. Now, most of them run through concrete tubes under the streets and sidewalks, marked only by blue rectangular signs marked with their names. Cascade Creek, one of the exceptions, runs freely through Frontier Park on Erie's westside. Mill Creek is visible near the Erie Zoo and along Glenwood Park Avenue south of Norman Way. To learn more about positive ways to interact with the environment, check out GreenERie.

Enjoy more odd and obscure facts about the history of Erie, Pennsylvania at: Old Time Erie.

Mill Creek Flood Roared Thru Erie in 1915

The unthinkable happened on August 3, 1915, when a wall of water raced through Erie, picking up houses, animals, people and everything else in its path, unleashing its reign of terror. The torrential rain fell and quickly saturated the ground. Creeks that flowed wistfully through town rose higher and higher. Debris created a dam near 26th and State. When the pressure became too great, the water let loose.

The banks of the Mill Creek were washed out and bridges crossing from east to west collapsed. The scene in the post card shown above was photographed near German Street between East 6th and East 7th. Some wooden houses were smashed to smithereens. Some houses were picked up off of their foundations by the rushing water and deposited several yards from their original location.

The Mill Creek Flood is nearly forgotten, save for a few postcards in antique shops and online auctions. The creek was enclosed in a twenty-two foot wide concrete tube. which was completed in around 1923 for $1.9 million. Local entrepreneur Jacob Roth (of Roth Cadillac) built two of its five sections. A portion of the Mill Creek Tube runs under Jerry Uht field and across Holland Street. 

C-SPAN is working with the Erie County Historical Society to gather information about the history of Erie. Can't wait to see the segment!

Enjoy more historic facts and photos of Erie, Pennsylvania at: Old Time Erie

What's Underneath Jerry Uht Park?

Detail of East 10th and French form the 1851 John Bevan survey.

What's underneath Jerry Uht Park?

It would be a stretch to say a river ran through it, but a creek certainly did cut through the Erie Seawolves' field of dreams. The John Bevan map shown above shows the location of Mill Creek in 1851.

Mill Creek overflowed on August 3, 1915 with disastrous results. Mill Creek was later tamed by a large tube which began on Glenwood Park Avenue, near 30th Street, and contained the creek underneath yards, buildings and businesses, including Jerry Uht Park and the Tullio Arena (Erie Civic Center).

The tube also ran under the old Sears building, which was demolished prior to the construction of Jerry Uht Park. Read about the grand opening of Sears here: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/08/sears-grand-opening-134-e-10th-st-in.html