In 1958 two devastating flash floods poured down Atchison's Commercial Street and into the businesses. From Main Street to Commercial Street, little was salvageable.
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7) The Twin Flash Floods of July 1958 in Atchison
(1958) Two nights in July of 1958 changed the face of the community and the course of the future of the City of Atchison more than any single event before or since. The first of two momentous floods, neither of which had anything to do with the oft flooded Missouri River, ripped through the city in the early morning hours of July 11, 1958. A torrent of rain, hail and wind sent White Clay Creek gushing out of its banks, tearing a swath of destruction through the center of Atchison that would eventually change the very face of the city and way Atchison thinks of itself. Residents of Atchison woke that Friday morning to see the downtown in ruins and the city patrolled by police and National Guard troops. The headlines that day in the Atchison Daily Globe proclaimed "Devastating Flood Hits Atchison, 10-Foot Wall of Water Razes Buildings in Downtown Area; Two Perish; Loss in Millions."
The water was reported to have run between six to 12 feet high at various spots from Main Street to Commercial Street. Buildings were damaged, some beyond repair, a Missouri Pacific freight train was derailed by the wall of water, many businesses had nearly all their goods destroyed, three died and literally hundreds of people were saved by neighbors and friends who put their own lives on the line to rescue others. Ethel and Norton Welsh rescued their neighbors the Noels using 100 feet of hedge clipper extension cord. The Noels had gotten out of their trailer home and were standing on top of their car with water up to their armpits when the saving cord was tossed to them.
Firefighters and police rescued people from basements and cars all over town and Nobel Edwards rescued eight of his neighbors when the floodwaters began pouring into their homes. Five inches of rain in just a few short hours changed the city forever.
The clean up from the first flood began immediately and on that first day the true spirit of Atchison was shown on the front page of the Atchison Daily Globe in an article headlined, "Atchison Will Rebuild." "Friday morning's devastating onslaught of wind, hail and water dealt Atchison a staggering blow. Buildings collapsed and others, structurally damaged, may have to come down. It was one of the worst catastrophes in the century-old history of the community, if not the worst. BUT ATCHISON WILL BUILD A NEWER AND BETTER CITY..."
What they did not know was all the work to clean up would be barely complete when another storm would sweep through the city, wiping out the past three weeks repairs and sending the city down a path that would change it forever. The night of July 30 and early morning of July 31 saw a second storm – one that further damaged structures from the first flood and wiped out business stock for a second time in a single month. Those who mocked General Warnock's declaration that the city must have a watershed dam system woke up on July 31 thinking he was a visionary.
The City was declared a federal disaster area. The dams came first, then Urban Renewal and then the Mall. But all that would come later and be driven by the same spirit to survive that drove men and women to risk their lives to save others.
That second day the same bravery was shown when Pam Mangelsdorf and Sally Greenlund, were swept four blocks down the road in the raging floodwaters. Ed Hearn and Charles Contreras, assisted by about eight other Atchison Mill and Elevator workers, saved the two by wading out into four feet of swift water using a rope for an anchor to carry them piggy back to the loading dock from the stranded car.
The spirit of those two days of raging water gave Atchison a name it would carry for years, "The City that Would Not Die.""[end]
After these two disasters, city leaders decided to close the twice-flooded blocks to car traffic and create an open-air pedestrian mall.
In 2007, the mall was slightly updated with the installation of some new landscaping and two freestanding arches. Unfortunately the ugly 1958 concrete canopies that block the view of the buildings remain. Maybe they will be taken out on the next renovation.