John L. Kaplinger - Haydenville, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 22.560 W 072° 42.053
18T E 689287 N 4694084
The grave of John L. Kaplinger, who drowned in flood resulting from the Mill River Dam Disaster, is located in High Street Cemetery in Haydenville, MA.
Waymark Code: WMWCRN
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/15/2017
Views: 0
John L. Kaplinger was a German born shoemaker working in the village founded by John Hayden. The flood laid waste to the village killing 27 residents including John L. Kaplinger who was the oldest of the village's casualties.
The grave of John L. Kaplinger is marked by a gray marker which is inscribed:
HERE RESTS
JOHN L. KAPLINGER
BORN
IN EUROPE
Oct. 14, 1797,
drowned in the flood.
May 16, 1874.
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In 1865 The Hampshire Reservoir Company build a dam three miles north of Williamsburg, MA on the east branch of the Mill River. The dam was built for corporate mill owners for the sum of $35,000. It was 42 feet above the bed of the stream, holding back 90 acres of water with an average depth of 24 feet.
On May 16, 1874, the dam collapsed. It was determined at an inquest that poor supervision and faulty workmanship of the contractor, caused the dam to give way. Water swept down through Williamsburg and the villages of Haydenville, Leeds, and Skinnerville. The disaster cost included: 144 lives lost, 750 people were made homeless, and damage to buildings, personal property, bridges, dams, roads, factories, and mills amounted to over one million dollars. One third Williamsburg was devastated in the largest disaster in New England of its time.
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