Erie's History and Memorabilia

Flooding was a problem in Erie county during the nineteenth century, long before the Mill Creek flood of 1915 in the following century. The flood that took place in Oil Creek, June 5, 1892, was caused, as before in the past, by the breaking of a dam. Oil Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River in Venango and Crawford counties, did vast damage at Titusville and Oil City, and led to much loss of life. The floods of 1892 extended all over the northwestern part of the State; and being due to heavy and long continued rains, were particularly disastrous at Union City, in Erie county, and Irvineton, in Warren county. The tracks of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad was badly cut up between Corry and LeBoeuf Station, numerous bridges were injured or destroyed, and portions of the lowlands in the borough were overflowed, inflicting immense damage. The Borough of Union City was a prosperous wood products manufacturing community. Haniel Clark's and Sherwood and Dunmeyer's mills expl...

The Mill Creek is a 19-mile long tributary of Lake Erie in Erie County. It flows from Millcreek Township through the city of Erie, into Presque Isle Bay. Much of the creek in the city has been channeled into the Mill Creek Tube, which was constructed after the Mill Creek Flood. Mill Creek begins in extreme eastern Millcreek Township and travels westward until it is joined by a couple of smaller tributary streams. From there, it roughly follows Glenwood Park Avenue northward until the creek is diverted underground. The creek passes through the middle of the Erie Zoo, where several bridges span the creek. One of the bridges is designed to act as a drift catcher , preventing large debris from entering the tube further downstream. The drift catcher is also used by the zoo's train to cross over the Mill Creek. At 30th Street, the Mill Creek is diverted underground, for over 2 miles through the Mill Creek Tube and passes underneath downtown Erie. The creek reappear...