Harlem, MO Flood, May 1903

The water from the Missouri river is running through the streets of Harlem like a mill race. Every house in the town is flooded. All of the 600 inhabitants are practically homeless. The woman and children were removed in boats during the night and to-day, and the men, such of them as could spare the time from their work, remained to protect their property. Removing the furniture is out of the question, as the only access to the houses is by skiff.

Viewed from the bluffs on the south side of the river, or from the Clay county end of the Hannibal bridge the Missouri river presents a spectacle that has not been witnessed in Kansas City for twenty-two years. The “great bend” is like an inland sea. It extends practically from bluff to bluff. Over the Clay county bottom lands there is a broad sheet of water frescoed with tree tops and half submerged houses …

Crowds of spectators lined the south bank of the Missouri and many crossed the bridge to Harlem, where they watched the owners of submerged stables swimming their horses and cattle to places of safety, and the removal of women and children from the houses in skiffs.

Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO 30 May 1903
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