It has been raining all week, which is reminding us of the big “Mother’s Day Flood”. Don’t worry, we are not getting that much rain, but twenty years ago was a different story.
In May 2006, the Concord area saw record levels of rainfall, resulting in flooding all around the state. Here in Millville, the Turkey River and the local ponds overflowed. Water rose up and over Library and Dunbarton Roads. Hargate (now the Friedman Community Center) and the Central Heating Plant were surrounded by water.
At the library, the lower level started to take on water from the overflowing Lower School Pond. The School community banded together to move over 23,000 books, computers and electronics, furniture, and the archives to the upper levels where they would stay safe and dry.
The end of spring term was disrupted as clean-up began. Some things happened quickly, such as drying out and taking stock of needed repairs. Some of those repairs would take longer than summer break to complete. At Ohrstrom, this included the reconstruction of the lower level – which required moving the history collection to a temporary home at the “Gordon Rink Library Annex” – and work on the outside of the building to ensure that the library could protect its resources against any weather in the future.
Stop by the archives to learn more about this historic event in School history!
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