Mill River Disaster - Williamsburg, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 23.515 W 072° 43.794
18T E 686850 N 4695788
On May 16, 1874, the collapse of a dam upstream from three villages in Williamsburg, MA took the lives of 144 people. The Mill River disaster memorial for Williamsburg is located on Route 9 in front of the Williamsburg Historical Society.
Waymark Code: WMP7JY
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/15/2015
Views: 1
Elizabeth M. Sharpe recounts the causes and effects of the collapse of the dam on the Mill River in western Massachusetts. According to the publishers notes:
In this compelling tale of a man-made disaster peopled with everyday heroes and arrogant scoundrels, Elizabeth Sharpe opens a rare window into industry and village life in nineteenth-century New England, a time when dam failures and other industrial accidents were widespread and laws favored factory owners rather than factory workers.
The Mill River Disaster was the largest disaster to occur in in New England at the time. A monument in front of the Williamsburg Historical Society, the 1841 Town Hall building, describes the cause and aftermath of the tragedy. It also contains a double column listing of the names of 57 victims from the village of Williamsburg who died in the resulting flood.
THE MILL RIVER DISASTER
MAY 16, 1874
In 1865 The Hampshire Reservoir Company build a dam three miles north of Williamsburg on the east branch of the Mill River. The catastrophe originated by the breaking of the dam built by corporate mill owners for the sum of $35,000. The dam was 42 feet above the bed of the stream, holding back 90 acres of water with an average depth of 24 feet. Poor supervision and faulty workmanship of the contractor, caused the dam to give way, sweeping down through four villages, closing mills, silencing factories and paralyzing trade. 144 lives were lost, 750 people made homeless and damage to buildings, personal property, bridges, dams, roads, and mills amounted to over one million dollars. One third of the town was devastated in the largest disaster in New England of its time.
FLOOD VICTIMS
Mary Adams age 36
William Adams 7
William H. Adams 51
George Ashley 16
John Atkinson 48
Saloma Bartlett 55
Sarah Bartlett 24
Spencer Bartlett 74
Carrie Birmingham 7
Henry Birmingham 47
Lillie Birmingham 16
Mary Birmingham 20
Laura Birmingham 43
Frederick Burr 34
Mary Brennan 62
Michael Burke 61
Michael Burke 9
Annie Burke 5
Jennie Burke 8
Mary Carter 23
Caroline Chandler 39
E. Mary Chandler 8
Viola Colyer 4
Elizabeth Downing 28
Edmond Downing 1
Joanah Downing 54
Theodore Hitchcock 34
Epaproditis Hubbard 56
Elbridge Johnson 38
Mary F. Johnson 32
Charlotte Johnson 4
Edward Johnson 8
Mary H. Johnson 6
Lucretia Johnson 67
Annie Kingsley 25
Elizabeth Kingsley 60
Lyman Kingsley 1
Nellie Kingsley 3
Electra knight 80
Archie Lacour 21
Susan Lamb 54
Mary Ann McGee 14
Frank Murray 53
Mary Murray 53
Alexander Roberts 42
Caroline Roberts 37
Nettie Roberts 3
Olivet Roberts 1
Elizabeth Scully 8 mo.
John Skully 3
Mary Skully 26
Sarah Snow 76
James Stephens 49
William Tilton 2
Jeremiah Ward 71
Emma Wood 21
Harold Wood 1
Sponsored by The Williamsburg Historical Commission
Funded by The Arthur King Memorial Trust Fund