Resource: Army Corps of Engineers photographs

Established in 1886, the Louisville District of the Corps of Engineers is charged with supporting the armed forces for national defense and managing water resources in parts of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The photographs in this collection document the activities of the Corps including navigation and flood control improvements on the Kentucky, Licking, Miami, Little Miami, Ohio, White, Wabash, and other rivers, floods, lock and dams, dredging, floating plants, dikes, and levee repairs. Also included are images of the Mississinewa River flood of 1913, the Ohio River floods of 1937 and 1945, construction of a World War II prisoner of war camps in southern Indiana and western Kentucky, views of Bowman field, and construction of Standiford Field airport in Louisville during World War II. The Photographic Archives preserves all the Louisville District Corps negatives.

The negatives are arranged in numerical order, by date. Index volumes list negative number, date and caption/location.

Dates

1884-1967

Creator

United States. Army. Corps of Engineers (Creator, Corporate Entity)

Extent

38000 negatives (Approximately 38,000 negatives (black & white, 8 x 10 inch and smaller, nitrate and acetate))

4 photographs (4 original prints)

5 Volumes (5 volumes of image indexes)

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

The history of the Louisville District encompasses more than two centuries. Contributions include frontier exploration and mapping, defense fortification during America’s major wars, the opening of Ohio Valley waterways, flood reduction, military construction, environmental cleanup and national disaster response.

The district’s history is rooted in the role it had in developing Ohio River navigation, notably at the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Ky., where the natural river dropped 26 feet in a little more than two miles. Year-round navigation was impossible, and moving over the falls was dangerous. Lives and cargo were routinely lost. The Louisville and Portland Canal Company, with the help of Army engineers, operated a canal around the Falls from 1830 to 1874 when Congress handed over full jurisdiction to the Corps. In 1875, the Corps began constructing locks and dams along the entire length of the Ohio River. Today, the district operates eight lock and dam systems along the Ohio.

The district acquired its flood damage reduction mission after Congress, spurred by the 1937 flood in Louisville, appropriating the funding for projects meant to reduce flood damage.

The district’s military construction mission began during the 1941 mobilization for World War II. It built camps, airfields, ordnance plants and training facilities in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. The district lost its mission in 1972 only to acquire it back in 1982 during that era’s massive defense buildup.

The district received its nation-wide Army Reserve mission in 1994 and the Air Force Reserve mission in 1999.

(Excerpted from the Louisville District US Army Corps of Engineers website.)

Subjects

Flood control Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Flood control -- Illinois Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Flood control -- Indiana Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Flood control -- Kentucky Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Flood control -- Ohio Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Floods Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Inland naviagtion -- Illinois Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Inland navigation Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Inland navigation -- Indiana Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Inland navigation -- Kentucky Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
Inland navigation -- Ohio Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
United States. Army. Corps of Engineers