The sudden collapse of the Williamsburg dam in western Massachusetts unleashed a flood that swept away parts of Williamsburg, Skinnrville, Haydenville, and Leeds, killing 139 people within an hour. The flood tore the iron bridge at West Street from its piers and carried it downstream, where it pushed aside the New Haven and Northampton Railroad bridge and finally came to rest on one of the South Street bridge's wooden underpinnings. The engineer of an approaching locomotive saw that the tracks were gone, stopped the train, and backed up to the station. In 1874 the Mill River ran through town just on the south side of the bike path, and after the 1936 flood the river was rerouted to its present location.

Photo: Marc Posner