Coverage: 1940s-1957 Topics discussed : (side A): Two floods one in August and one in October; Night before August Flood; they were told of the possibility of a flood; they had been out and had difficulty trying to get home; the water rose faster than they expected; left car at a neighbors and walked home over Beaver Brook; Effect on farm; they sold milk regularly to Marcus Dairy; they were forced to hold selling milk for 2; 3 days after flood; they only problem they had was a flooded basement; Froehmans Men Store; Charles worked there at the time; it was not hit by the flood; business was slow for a few days; White Street was hit hard; Meeker's Hardware Store suffered damage; parking lots were under 3; 4 feet of water; Other areas on Main Street; Other parts of CT; some parts were hit worse than Danbury; Torrington, Winsted, above New Milford were hit harder than Danbury; road going to Litchfield was washed out; Washington, CT hard hit; places in Winsted where three; storied buildings were destroyed; Other Danbury areas; fairgrounds were flooded; Damage; was mostly done to stores and retail; few residential areas were hard hit; Clean; up; had experienced a flood in 1936 in Pennsylvania that was worse; they did not take part in Danbury clean; up effort; took 2; 3 weeks to get things back to normal; October Flood; people better prepared for this one; Federal Government; Army core of engineers come in; flood control was necessary after this; Fire Department; did a lot of work in the clean; up effort; Still River; many businesses were built over it; the Market Basket (a grocery store) was directly over it and was one of the place hit hard by the flood; the river had to be re; routed away from the businesses; Community; people came together and helped each other; Urban development; people knew it was needed; hatting industry was declining; Hatting Business; been on decline since WW II; more diversified industries started coming in (side B): Commerce Park; off of Federal Road; developed after flood and the incoming industries; Losing farm land; the state bought them out; building of the highway took place; Development of Danbury; many of the homes on streets were built up following WW II and the flood; description of the roads/streets prior to and after the flood; Pictures of the Flood; (shared several pictures w/ the interviewers during the interview)

Coverage: 1950s-1990s Topics discussed : (side A): Life at time of flood; he was a sports editor; just got of the service; lived on Balmforth Ave.; Job; worked at News; Times; Death of a police officer; died while saving someone; Depth; was about 4 feet deep where he was; Location; most converged in center of Danbury; Length of rainfall; had rained for about a week before that; somewhat expected something to happen; Damage; tore up some streets; several basements needed to be pumped; most of buildings on White had to be taken down; Flood control; none before the flood; Danbury had floods in past; Effect on schools; Country club incident; Changes in his life; not many changes and none because of the flood; Activities at time of flood; No warning of flood; there was a lot of water no warning of flood; Effect on local businesses; some places never came back; others did while others were relocated; a lot of places taken down during redevelopment; could travel through streets w/in a few days; train service took a lot longer to come back; History of WestConn; the buildings and programs; Al Geddes, Dr. Truman Warner

Coverage: 1955-1995 Topics discussed : (side A): First flood; morning of flood, got call about his store being flooded; initially thought it was because of a leaking roof; His business; the Still River flowed below his store; water was coming through his store; several people were moving items off the floor to higher elevation; Water presence; level went down quickly after flood; Repairing the store; took about a week to repair; Second flood; water rushed fast between buildings; worse than first flood; more damage; Flood damage; all of White St. effected by the second flood; Role of the military; rescued people who couldn't get out; came in w/ boats/canoes to get people; Role of the firemen; during second flood, firemen from NYC came to help; Role of the Red Cross; distributed coffee and food to people; gave aid to people who needed it; Other businesses/people; Reconstruction; covered the Still River on Elm St. and left it open on White St. (should have been the reverse); many wanted to go back the way it had been (city said no); many relocated to other places; Businesses in Danbury during 1950s; business center was located on White St. prior to flood; many of the businesses were family owned; Coping w/ the flood; many dealt w/ the aftermath very well; most dealt by moving on and forgetting about it; most in city weren't effected by flood (primarily those on White St.); Urban Renewal Project; Financial losses; personally suffered great loss; had to sell some items at below normal prices; other items were damaged and had to be thrown out; had to move out to Federal Road during redevelopment; President Eisenhower wouldn't allow media to use the words depression or "recession" during the hard times in country; Life in Danbury then and now; back then it was much slower; happy w/ what they had (people tend to want more today); everybody had their own garden and grew own vegetables; Examples of water damage; (showed the interviewees pictures of examples of damage)

Coverage: 1955-1955Topics discussed : (side A): Memories of the Flood; worked nights at the Barden Corporation on East Franklin St in Downtown Danbury; lived in Beaver Brook area; weird to wake to see what was happening; one bridge had collapsed; he was 25 at time of the flood; Fire Department responsibilities; close the roads; pump out water from basements; Length of Flood; lasted 2; 3 days; Recovery of Danbury; took about 2; 3 weeks for most businesses to recover; took Barden longer as they had just recovered from the Flood in August when the Flood in October hit; Danbury life during the 1950s; not many industries in area; most of the hatting factories were gone; National Guard; help get people to higher ground; Economy of Danbury; Flood set city back, but recovered; The U.S. Navy helped out Barden; After the Flood; roads needed to be repaired; everybody worked together; Family; wasn't married, but parents were effected by it; Water height; about 20 feet in some areas; Other areas; Norwalk got hit by the flood; Naugatuck/ Winsted area hit harder than Danbury

Coverage: 1950s-1995Topics discussed : (side A): Day of the Flood (October); missed the August one; it was coming down hard on Saturday, but didn't think much of it; river was getting a little high; their store was over the river (building next down was directly under it); got word of the river getting high and left to get to the store; Driving around; they couldn't get that close to the store because of the water; Store; their retail area was downstairs, had storage upstairs; Travel; it was hard to get around town after that; water level and collapsed bridges; Evacuation; saw a GI truck rescuing people; made sure they salvaged their books; Clean; up; least glamorous part of flood; mud and dirt that it left; they didn't lose much as everything was upstairs; Night of the Flood; "End of the World" (Ad A): Height of the water; probably 5; 6 feet on Main at lowest point there; White was almost completely flooded; Loss of electricity; Forms of heat; fireplace used, but weather wasn't too cold; Fear of flood; there was a fear of it happening again everytime it rained after that; Location of the river; was vague during dry times; knew it was around Lake Ave., but went under the ground; Fairgrounds; was a week later; "looked like a lake" (Ad A): Government involvement; Danbury before the flood; Downtown Main St. was not an attractive place; a lot of old buildings; "should have been a park at corner of White and Main" (John); Response of the people after the flood; got good response from people they supplied goods to; felt kind of guilty having only loss a bucket and a mop (side B) (they were viewing photographs of Danbury); Federal aid; the town was left to deal w/ most of the responsibility of clean; up; federal did some in terms of redevelopment; People of Danbury during 1950s; people took care of their own; everybody knew each other (mentions banks in particular); most were born and died in Danbury; sense of community; Hatting Industry; WW II brought in other industries, which lead to decline of hatting; most people had connection to hatting industry prior; hatting was great part of the community; hatting still done during 1950s; during 1960s it left; many found hats could be made cheaper in other places, like down South; incoming industries did help Danbury and provide new opportunities; Flood impact on hatting; it had some effect on it; most of the factories were area of flooding; Length of clean; up; seemed like it took forever; their own personal impact was less; they were back in store by middle of week; opened by following weekend; most of the flooding effected commercial area; things for most part were back to normal after week (could travel around); Other people to contact; Lou Ginsberg of Ace Hardware; The Meekers

Coverage: 1955-1955Topics discussed : (side A): Time of flood; both were teenagers living in Ridgefield, CT; Rt. 7 in Danbury was completely flooded from rain; Danbury was isolated after the flood because of amount of water; time second flood, core of engineers still repairing first flood damage; Damage caused by the flood; cleaning of offices; damage from water; Main St. was like a river; Other areas hit by flood; Torrington was harder hit; Waterbury and Naugatuck had several deaths; Activities; for 3; 4 days, most forced to stay close to home; helped neighbors; lost electricity for several days; Price gauging; probably occurred in some ways; not too much though; Community actions; many people helped each other out; those who could physically help, did so in other ways; School; weren't that effected; closed until children able to get to them safely; Life during flood; both lived in Ridgefield and didn't personally effect them; effects they were felt were from the limitation of access to Danbury area; Relief programs/Reconstruction programs; Army core of engineers had to come in to help clean/rebuild Danbury; temporary bridges built; roads cleared w/in a few days in Danbury (other areas took longe; Businesses; doesn't know of any personal memories of businesses lost; hatting industry had been in decline prior to flood; WestConn; known as Danbury State Teacher's College during time of flood; Places near a river hit worse

Coverage: 1930s-1995 Topics discussed : (side A): Paper company business; distributor of paper goods; located on White Street; August flood; his experience comes from this flood; a lot of mess from this flood was left after water resided; they had a lot of clean; up to do; salvage as much as they could and had to restock the rest; Response to the flood; moved to new location prior to October flood; left that business after, which had little to do w/ flood; October flood; was much worse than August; White Street had various spots were feet of water was seen; old location was heavily flooded; New location; was on Main Street; no flood damage at this location; Recovery of the business; it was painful; financially it was catastrophic; Reactions of other business owners; all had similar experiences; Experience for Mrs. Kruzansky; was in the hospital giving birth to first child; knew nothing about the flood until later; Troubles from October flood; problems occurred at home; lived at Kohanza Street; they had no electricity and had a new baby; had to go to a friend's house on Franklin Street; Main Street; was completely inaccessible; water was too high; Core of Engineers; had discussions about what to do; the redevelopment of the bad stream bed; changes were made and excavations done to Still River; most done where Crosby and Bridge Street met; Bridge Street; no longer exists; across from Ives Street and intersected w/ Crosby; Effect of redevelopment; many businesses were forced to move; some never went back into business following the redevelopment; Local government; handled the situation very well; Danbury and personal lives during this time; they were busy w/ new baby and business; Roles they had in their new business; Danbury experience; Max was born and lived in Danbury; Sarah came here in 1953 when she married Max; have different feeling on Danbury; Community; worked together during and after the flood; Sarah's experience of Danbury; Danbury was a small town at the time; she had come from a big city; enjoyed the atmosphere; Jewish community; Prior residence; lived at Library Place prior to moving to Kohanza Street; Development of Danbury; Growing up in Danbury; for Max, he was born and raised here; graduated from high school in 1934; small town and knew many people and they knew him; Diversification of Danbury; less hatting; Hatting Industry; decline of the hatting industry; new kind of people came to Danbury; the small town became larger; Sarah's impression of Danbury; hatting was about dead when she arrived; feels change was best for the town; Businesses in flooded area; all merchants on White Street were friends of theirs; lists the various business on Main Street and White Street (and other streets in area) that were effected by the flood; some never went back into business, others remained; Experience of seeing October Flood; merchants cleaning up their places; Other sources of information; Joe Fabiano of Fabiano's Shoe Repair Shop; Fabiano's father is 98 and would remember the flood; Osmond Ladd of Ladd's Jewelry on White Street; Ben Doto, who owned the workman's store; Al Stark, who lives on Terrywilde; Brandice Meeker of Meecker's Hardware; Joe Moffa, who runs Moffa's Hot Dog Stand on Mill Plain Road; Anthony Gallo, his father ran Gallo's Tailor Shop on White Street

Coverage: 1955-1995 Topics discussed : (side A): Personal account of the flood; junior in high school at time; had been babysitting for his brother; his brother told him of his difficulties getting home; worked for about an hour to divert water from basement of a neighbor; only thought it was a heavy rain at time; Water level; came on Main St. for a few days; Officer Keating; died during the flood; had a heart attack; Severity of flood; Heaviest part of flood; Risdon's off East Franklin St.; no one was allowed to go down Main St.; Personal story; his mother brought food for son; in; law and co; workers but not allowed to go down Main St. to give it to him; had to give it to an officer to give to her son; in; law; War Memorial and the Red Cross; the basement of war memorial had civil defense area (now in city hall); working on plan and strategy of how to combat the flood; Flood damage; not sure exact amount of economic costs; several places had to be torn down because of structural damage; Economy before the flood; it was an active area; it was safe and used to always go there before flood; Renewal project; he was finishing high school and going off to college; he came back to a new Danbury; Mayor Arconti worked hard in getting Danbury rebuilt; Community; people came together to help each other out; Reconstruction of White St.; the Youth Club he went to as a kid not there now; first introduction to other cultures; played games and other activities; was a great support system; Memories of Danbury; misses the old buildings; remembers businesses that are no longer there, like hotels; many areas are/were beautiful; one side of White St. stayed same, other side changed dramatically; Commemoration of Flood; not sure of anything the city plans on doing yet; After the flood; people given permission to walk around area w/in a few days; WestConn; went to high school in White Hall; Downtown area; was the hardest hit area in Danbury

Coverage: 1955-1995 Topics discussed : (side A): Night of Flood; "Ed's Cigar Box" has photos of the flood; he had gone on a date that night and went to the Avalon (now where La Fortuna is today); his date was a student at DSTC; around 11 PM, she got notice that she should go back because White St. was flooding quickly; Tour of House and Still River; (the interviewees got a tour of Danbury area and sights where flood was); Damage to his Property; both the shed and chicken coup were washed away by the Still River; river came w/in foot of their foundation; lived near the Mallory Hat Factory; Warnings; Civil Defense warned people that night who lived near Still River that things could get bad; Damage to Danbury and Main St.; Downtown was effected quite a bit; getting around was horrendous; Main St. devastated; Still River; Other areas; some places hit harder than Danbury; Homes; didn't see many homes that got destroyed; Social life at time of flood; he was a student at DSTC at time of flood; DSTC; was taking a few classes; came in under the GI Bill; no Westside; gym in Old Main (" it was a matchbox"); Quonset hut; students were there for education or music; Change in Danbury; White St. was different (many places no longer there); White St. Plaza went up after redevelopment; city under construction during 1960s; Hatting; the industry control everything in town prior to WW II; after WW II, some foresaw change in business; Construction; lasted for several years after the flood and redevelopment; a lot of work to do during 1960s; Job; worked for Reynolds Furnature at time of flood; wroks for the city of Danbury today (side B): Business and Economic results; Town leaders role in attracting industry; location was pivitol in attracting businesses to the area; close to NYC and not far from Boston; LeRoy Hopkins; Abraham Ribicoff; very active individual; Danbury Fair; John Leahy; "Governor's Day" where the governor came and received a hat; "Danbury Day" where students got out of school; races; celebrities would come and many people came all over the country; Hotel Green; it was on Main St.; had conventions and other activities; Ives Manor is there now; Drive; In theater; came after the floods; located on Federal Road (no longer there); Various businesses; population increased; Closing of the Danbury Fair; after he died and later wife, his nephew took control of it; the bank was running it at the time and decided to sell property to make profit off of it; John Leahy had offers in past, but always refused; everybody loved the fair (cont. the driving tour of Danbury); Government of Danbury; two separate forms (inner; city and out skirts)

Coverage: 1955-1995 Topics discussed : (side A) (interview begins w/ Mrs. Rotello); Life in Danbury during 1950s and 1960s; before most women worked; she was married w/ children at the time; more small town atmosphere (everybody knew each other); more family center (they were active in town); more interesting things began happening in 1960s; they were active in Civil Rights movement; Family in Danbury; she is a life; long resident and descendent from three of the original eight founding families in Danbury; Working; wasn't working at time of flood; went back to school (went to WestConn); later taught; her husband also taught; Danbury activities; theaters, restaurants; most entertainment came from family a friends or would go to NYC; Memories of the 1955 Flood; two floods (August and October); October was worse; kept raining all week; they were in White Plains, NY visiting friends at the time and on the way home, the rain really picked up; they knew something was going to happen; lived on Division St. at the time; Flooding of Danbury; listening to the radio, heard how White St. was flooding; began to see flooding in the house; Rt. 7 was all under water; took several years for her to not worry when she heard steady rain fall (interview now being done w/ Mr. Rotello); Memories of the flood; teaching in Weston, CT; that August, it rained for several days; he was delivering produce to Carmel, NY; as he got to Brewster, NY, he saw the railroad track under water; October flood; ground was wet and localized flooding in some areas (Lake Ave. and Danbury Fair grounds); the roads were flooded, especially White St. area; the basement of their house was flooded (he had to go down to shut off the electricity and care to appliances); Other businesses; tried to salvage what they could and sell it for whatever they could get; "The Swamp"; area where the WestConn parking garage is today; Rescue efforts; helicopters were needed to rescue some people; Visual material of flood; neither have any visual materials of the flood; didn't really take pictures of the area (spent most time out of time); lived in Danbury, but worked outside city; Names of other people from flood; Ben Dodo; Robert Feinson; Ace Hardware (Ginsbergs); Targett Laundry; The Scalzos; Flood control and urban renewal; federal government came in w/ the core engineers; surveyed the river beds and built side walls to sustain river; rerouted the Still River away from area to prevent further flooding; redeveloped the White St. area; left other areas untouched

Coverage: 1955-1995 Topics discussed : (side A): Flood effect on her business; owned Lynch; Seamen Hardware; everything was flooded; ground so entirely soaked; business was located on White St.; entire stock was destroyed; Two floods; the first flood occurred in August, second in October; Location of the flood; it was on Main, White, and Crosby Streets; water on the streets was deep (4; 5 feet); Still River rerouted after flood; Effect on other businesses; Salerno was caught in the flood; vegetable store next door was destroyed 0other places on Main St. were destroyed; Speed of the flood; the second one happened really quickly; there was a terrible smell; Insurance; didn't have flood insurance; Location of business; stayed on White St.; White St. was raised; Lack of warning; Clean; up; took awhile to clean; water went down fast; Rerouting the river; Raised the street; Ives St. to the bridge; Redevelopment; Other businesses; most are now all gone; Other sources; husband made home movies of the flood; Danbury life; was better then than now; people did more things together back then; everything is gone now

Coverage: 1950s-1990s Topics discussed : (side A): Danbury before flood; quiet town; "Hat City of America"; hatting industry ruled the town; mercury poisoning gave a lot of medical ailments; lead to decline in the hatting industry; Hatting connection; almost everybody in his family where in the business; almost everybody in town involved (8; 10 factories); Day of the flood; they were at the theater while the rain was coming down; when they left, they couldn't get anywhere; had to take a army truck; His home; the flood went right through the kitchen of his home; he lived on Platt St. (Barden Company was nearby); Federal Aid; core of engineers came in to help rebuild the city; Changes after flood; many of store once on White never re; opened; had several friends who had lost a lot in flood; His job; he was in the hatting industry; he now works for city hall; Danbury recovery; took about a year; businesses needed to be cleaned up and helped; Danbury government; once was split; town had selectman, but there was also a mayor; Bombs; several series of them went off during 1970s; City Hall; once was where the library is; Flood effects; most damage done to businesses instead of homes; mostly came through city itself, little on the outside of it; Danbury Fair; it was in a flood area to begin with; as a kid there was a "Danbury Day" where they closed all schools; Danbury was more known for the fair; numerous celebrities visited the fair; Clean; up; had to scrub down floors; helped w/ his family in clean; up process

Coverage: 1955-1995Topics discussed : (side A): Military service; he was stationed at Fort Dix; got report of flood emergency; granted emergency leave; Targett Laundry; family owned business located on White St.; stared by grandfather in 1879; building was two; stories and built over the Still River; Still River; prior to flood, was not flowing; Damage to Danbury; by the time he got to Danbury, White St. had been deviated; debris and mud and rocks all over; Damage to Targett Laundry; sustained no structural damage; left a lot of mud behind; Removal of mud; he had to shovel the mud into wheel barrel; Damage to equipment and files; motors removed from machines; some office machines were salvaged and others weren't; files and ledgers were illegible; Politicians; several visited the area including Sen. Prescott Bush (father of George Bush) and Sen. Abe Ribicoff; People of Danbury; worked together during the disaster; firefighters from NY came to help pump out basements; Damage to other buildings; wooden structures suffered most damage; After the flood (August flood); left Danbury five days later to report back to service; the building was still not restored to capability to be used; Targett Laundry employees; there were about 50; 55 at the time; they all pitched in and helped; Targett Laundry after the flood; hit by August flood, then later hit again by October flood; two years later, his father got out of the business; Danbury restoration; White St. had to be restored; businesses had to be located; Changes in Danbury after the flood; White St. and Main St. businesses had to be located; some streets now no longer exist; Memories; the way people bonded and worked together to help in clean; up effort; Danbury before and after the flood; Downtown was filled w/ many "Mom and Pop" stores prior to flood; greatly populated in Downtown before; flood displaced many out from center of town to outside; everyone travels by car today; the friendly atmosphere disappeared, lead to decline in private business; Tragedy; only time people ever come together today; Time between floods; most businesses were back by October flood; businesses that were more financially strapped took longer to recover; the amount of damage also factor in time it took to recover; most likely w/in 30 days business were back running; October flood was deviating; Coverage of flood; the