Williamson County Historical Commission
The Floods of Williamson County,
Texas 1921 1957 2007
In early September 1921
Williamson County had one of the worst floods on record - it was a
terrible catastrophe.
(also see other stories below)
Per Clara Scarbrough's book: (Land of good Water) Sept. 1921. Rains began on Sept. 8 and 9. Continuing through the 10th (Thurs. night through Sat.) Rains were the result of a hurricane that blew in onto the Texas Coast. Thrall recorded the greatest amount of rain at 38.21 inches in 24 hours. (Holy Cow!) Taylor had 23.11 inches in the same period. Up to that time Thrall had the most rain ever recorded in the US.
The flood killed 215 people in Texas (93 were in Williamson County), This flood was the deadliest ever in Texas and Williamson County.
As Claudie said "You just don't have any idea how much water".
(A special thanks to Darwin
for letting us post this
wonderful first person story about the flood.)
The Big Flood of
September 8, 1921
By Darwin Machu
My grandmother, Frantiska Knezek Kveton , was born
on October 10, 1869 at house number 609, in Frenstat, Moravia. This land
is in the northeastern part of what is currently known as the Czech
Republic. Her parents were Josef Knezek and Frantiska Majer Knezek. She
had four brothers and five sisters. At the age of eleven, in 1881, she
immigrated to America with Alois Petr, his wife, Marie, and their
children. Her connection to the Petr family is unknown. After arriving
in America, Frantiska lived with the Petr family until Alois died.
Vaclav (Venceslaus, Wenzel, Vince, Jim) Kveton (my grandfather), was
born on September 2, 1857 at house number 63 in Stary Smolivec, Bohemia.
Stary Smolivec is also now a part of the Czech Republic, located
southwest of Prague. His parents were Matej Kveton and Marie Hlinka
Kveton. Vaclav immigrated to Texas in November 1882.
Vaclav Kveton and Frantiska Knezek were married on November 18, 1889 at
the Live Oak Hill Catholic Church in Fayette County, Texas. They farmed
near Ellinger, Texas long enough to have seven children, two sons and
five daughters. They then moved to Coupland, Texas where another son was
born.
In March 1917, they moved from Coupland to Granger, Texas, where they
bought a farm about six miles southeast of Granger, on the San Gabriel
River. The house on the farm was similar to all the other farm houses of
that time. It is assumed that there would have been a small kitchen, a
small dining room and living room, two small bedrooms, and a porch, and
was most likely built of lumber, with a tin roof. The house was located
in a low spot on the south side of a hill, approximately 500 yards from
the San Gabriel River. It was probably built in a low spot to protect it
from the north wind. The barn, where the horses and cattle were kept,
was built on higher ground, away from the house. I do not know whether
the Kvetons build the house or if the buildings already existed on the
farm when they bought it.
The story of the Flood of September 8, 1921 was told to my sister, Sadie
Machu Blaha, and me, by my mother and father, Millie ( Kveton) Machu and
Anton Machu. At the time of the flood, my mother and my father were not
married.
In 1921 there was little news media, other than the newspaper. There
were no telephones in the rural area where the Kvetons lived. Most of
their information was received from the newspaper and from visits with
their neighbors. It was not unusual for a neighbor to ride on horseback
from farm to farm to report news. In researching the story of the Flood
of 1921, I went to the Taylor, Texas Library to see what the Taylor
Daily Press had written about the flood, and if there was any mention of
the possibility of heavy rain heading toward the central Texas area. The
only thing the newspaper reported, prior to the flood, was that there
was a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. There was no local
forecast at all.
On Tuesday, September 6, 1921, it was reported in the newspaper that a
hurricane, that had hit Galveston, Texas and dumped 21 inches of rain on
that city, was on its way toward Williamson County. Of course that
newspaper was not delivered until a week after the Flood. Wednesday,
September 7 was described as a cloudy, misty day. A little rain had
fallen the night before and the farmers were happy about rain, because
they had not had a drop of rain since July 7. That morning, since it was
too wet to do anything else, Grandmother and Grandfather Kveton decided
that it would be a good day to go visit their neighbors, the Dobias
family. So, after they finished milking the cows, feeding the livestock,
and eating breakfast, they put on their rubber boots and went to visit
the Dobias family. The Dobias family lived about a quarter of a mile to
the northeast of the Kvetons, on higher ground. When they decided to go
visit, they were unaware of any severe weather on the way. After they
got to the Dobias farm, the rain started. Soon it was raining really
hard. The sound of the rain was deafening, as it pounded the metal roof
of the house. Night was approaching, but it was raining so hard that it
was impossible to walk home, because they had to walk through some low
places, where the water was very deep. There was no choice but to spend
the night with the Dobias family. Naturally, my grandparents did not get
much sleep, because they were worried about their daughter, Millie, (my
mother) who had stayed at home. Although she was 20 years old, they were
still concerned because the weather was not normal. It rained all night.
Thrall, which was approximately six miles southeast of the Kveton farm,
registered 38.21 inches; Taylor, approximately ten miles southwest of
the Kveton farm, registered over 34 inches; and Granger, which was about
six miles northwest of the Kveton farm, had over 30 inches. That record
still stands as the most rain to fall on Williamson County in one 24
hour period.
September 8, 1921 was destined to become an important date in my family
history. Anton Machu, who became my father, was a neighbor of the Kveton
family. The Machu farm was located about a quarter of a mile to the
northwest of the Kvetons on higher ground.
My father, Anton, his brother, Frank, his brother-in-law, Rudolf Rozacky,
and Rudolf's son, Alvin, kept a vigil that night and morning. They were
keeping an eye on the fast rising waters of the San Gabriel River. About
ten o'clock in the morning, it became evident that the water was rapidly
approaching the Kveton's house. They did not know the whereabouts of the
Kveton family, and since there was no movement around the house, they
decided to warn the Kvetons of the rapidly rising water. The sound of
the River must have been very loud, but because the rain on the tin roof
made so much noise, my mother (Millie) was unaware of the rising water.
When the men arrived at the Kveton's, the water was already knee deep in
front of the house. They found Mother and the Kveton's old Negro hired
hand in the house, sitting beside the stove, trying to keep warm. For a
lack of anything else to do, Mother had decided to bake bread that
morning, and it was baking when my daddy, Uncle Frank, Uncle Rudolf and
Alvin arrived. Mother told Daddy that her parents were not at home and
she was worried about them, because they had not returned home from
their previous day's visit with the Dobias family. Daddy told Mother
that the River was coming up and everyone should leave the house and run
to higher ground. Daddy then immediately took Mother into his arms and
rushed her out of the house and put her on his horse. By that time, the
water was up to their waists. They quickly rode away from the house,
and, after riding about a hundred yards, stopped on higher ground and
looked back. They saw the house begin to move. Then a wall of water
swept the house away. The house floated only a few hundred yards before
it hit a giant pecan tree. When it hit that pecan tree, the house
exploded. As it sank, a big cloud of smoke, from the stove, spewed out
of the water. The home and all of the worldly possessions of the Kveton
family were swept away by the roaring river.
When Grandma and Grandpa were finally able to return home, they were
shocked at what they found. The house was gone; all their belongings
were gone; and their daughter, Millie, was gone! They did not know that
she had been rescued by my daddy, and taken to the Machu farm where she
was safe. When my grandparents finally found her, they were so relieved
to find that she survived the great flood. Even though the entire
family, including my mother's younger siblings, Aunt Lydia, aged 17, and
Uncle Joe, aged 13, were all safe, Grandmother Kveton grieved for the
rest of her life because she had lost all of the precious mementoes and
photographs from her home in Frenstat, Moravia. The letters that she had
received from her siblings, cousins, and parents, that she had saved and
treasured through the years, were lost forever. But although my
grandparents lost their home and all of the prized possessions of their
younger years, they were fortunate to have survived. According to
several newspaper articles, more than 200 people were reported to have
died in that flood.
After their devastating loss, my grandparents somehow managed to build a
new house on the grounds where the previous dwelling stood and they
lived there until 1937, when Grandmother Kveton died.
Anton Machu and Millie Kveton were married on October 25, 1921 just
forty-eight days after he saved her from the raging river. They had a
small family, only my older sister, Sadie, and me.
The rescue of Millie Kveton by her future husband, Anton Machu was
particularly important to me because, without his heroic rescue, I would
not be writing this account of my family's survival of the Flood of the
1921.
The Flood continued to have a huge influence on my family. As far back
as I can remember, my daddy was always on the alert when it rained real
hard. Even though we lived three quarters of a mile from the San Gabriel
River, on higher ground, he would always crawl up on the windmill to see
how high the river had risen. The water never got closer than quarter of
a mile from our house.
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Narratives from the
Georgetown's Yesteryears Book
A special thanks to The Georgetown
Heritage Society and Martha Mitten Allen for letting us post these
wonderful first person stories.
view
Foreword and Preface
"I Almost Died In
It"
Claudie Mayo - Interviewer: Barbara Horan
Oh, gosh, yes. I remember [the] '21 flood very, very well. I almost died in it. Really. That's right. This friend, named Treuhardt, they lived way off down close to the park ... where the VFW is right there. Their home was right there. And that big rain [came] and it rained. And we lived down on College Street. Do you know on College there in front of College and 7th, that old house that man is restoring? We lived in that house. But, anyway, Treuhardt Johnny, he went to school every day and he come up from down there where they lived and he'd come by and pick me up and we'd walk up there to school and then we'd come back in the evening. We'd both carry lunch boxes. We had lunch up there, then we'd come back and stay awhile and he'd go on home. But, anyway, in that flood, it rained for days and days and the rivers got up and they just kept getting up. The Treuhardts were the only ones who lived down there. We decided that we'd better get a boat and see about the Treuhardts. They knew they was going to be covered up in water. So there was a fellow by the name of Lamar Swedene. It was his boat that we went and got first. We went off down there and we rowed that boat over to the Treuhardts. And, sure enough, their house was completely surrounded by water, and it was lapping up against the porch. And we loaded them all up in the boat and there wasn't enough room for all of us. Several of us said we'd wade. And we was going toward the railroad embankment which was east of the Treuhardts. And the river went on down, and the water wasn't too deep. It was about waist deep, I guess. But we waded out there and there was three or four of us, and I stepped off in a hole. That water was so swift that I lost my footing and I was just beating it out. And I caught some willow trees that was growing down there, and that let me get my feet back on the ground. I waded on to the side. I thought I was going on down the river. And if it hadn't been for those willow trees, those bushes, I would have. Those bushes let me get my breath and my feet back on the ground. And the water wasn't that deep, but it was awfully swift. I finally got my feet and I got to the bank, but I thought I was gone. The water never did get up any higher. They could have stayed there and been safe. Water didn't get into their house, but it got right up to the porch. They would have been safe, but we didn't know how much higher it was going to get. Now when the bridge washed away, we was standing down there and watching that bridge. A big old tree come along and lifted it up and just folded it over and washed it down the river. That was something to see. I've wished for a camera many times. That bridge, it just lifted up and lay over, floating away. They found pieces of it all the way. That was a catastrophe because people were living down on the river. Cows were washing down the river. Bales of cotton went down the river. Aw, gosh— it was swift.
You go down to the park, San Gabriel Park, and you look across at that high bank on the other side, and the water was up over that high bank. So you know the water was almost back up to 81. All that land was covered with water. That was a tremendous amount of water. You just don't have any idea how much water.
Yeah, I drove a big old nail in a tree down there, railroad spike. And this last big flood we had in the '50s, it was maybe about a foot taller than that was in '21. There was more water here then. But it didn't do as much damage as the first one, because people didn't build back after the first one.
view WC Sun article of the 1921 flood (this was on microfiche and some parts where unreadable)
also view the flood of 2007 a special thanks the Williamson County Sun for the article and photos
also
view
Taylor flood of 1921 deadliest in Texas
Written by Susan Komandosky Friday, 08 August 2008
(a special thanks to the Community Impact news paper and Susan
Komandosky for this snap-shot of our history )
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image 2123
Flood in Granger, Texas
image 9050
Cotton Wagon on Jonah Bridge over San Gabriel River,
bridge washed away in 1921 flood, Jonah, Texas
image 1957
Flood of 1921, Looking South on Washburn St. Taylor Texas
image 1058
Flood of 1921, Looking West on Austin-Hutto Road, Taylor, Texas
view other Williamson County history pages