1903 flood prompts family to move to higher ground

Flooding on Third Street, South Hannibal (South Main) circa 1903, facing northward toward the Bear Creek bridge. The two-story brick building in the distance, nearest the bridge, is the St. Louis and Hannibal Railroad depot. The two-story, white brick building next to the depot, housed three store fronts, 106: Frank Shuck operated a saloon; 108: C.R. Buchanan, cigar manufacturer and dealer; and 110: P.H. Miller, saloon. The two-story frame building to the south of the three-story brick building housed a residence at 112, and P.H. Miller’s saloon, at 114. At the far left of this photo was known as the O’Donnell building, 116: Gustav Siedler and Albert Vollmar operated a saloon catering to those headed daily to, or arriving from, the Atlas Cement Plant; and 118: Residence of Frederick Ogle, conductor MK&T Railroad, and his wife, Frances O’Donnell Ogle. Photo, believed to have been taken by Agnes Treat, is from the Hull as History Collection, Hull, Illinois.

Note: The street in Hannibal, which begins at the Bear Creek Bridge and ventures southward, was originally known as Third Street, South Hannibal. In 2026 it is known as South Main. While the name and numbering of the street changed over the course of the years, the history that took place on this South Hannibal thoroughfare is one and the same.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

The park-like setting on the west side of the 100 block of South Main Street, South Hannibal, which prevails in 2026, camouflages what was once a thriving business district. It long served the commercial and entertainment needs of blue collar workers early associated with the town’s bustling railroad industry.

In 1903, South Main Street, which links South Hannibal to Hannibal via a bridge across Bear Creek, was still known as Third Street. The St. Louis and Hannibal Railroad depot was the northern anchor for the 100 block. Proceeding roughly southward, according to the Hannibal city directory of that year:

106: Frank Shuck operated a saloon;

108: C.R. Buchanan, cigar manufacturer and dealer;

110: P.H. Miller, saloon;

114: Benjamin Wenzel, shoe repair;

116: Gustav Siedler and Albert Vollmar operated a saloon catering to those headed daily to, or arriving from, the Atlas Cement Plant;

118: Residence of Frederick Ogle, conductor MK&T Railroad, and his wife, Frances O’Donnell Ogle.

120: Robert O’Donnell, barber.

122: David O’Donnell, nephew of retired grocery merchant James O’Donnell.

124: Residence of T.L. Holmes, the subject of this story; 

126: G.H. McClintic, teas and coffee; and

130: Residence of J.C. Cotter.

River rises

The businesses and residences previously named were placed in peril during mid June 1903, when the Mississippi River reached what was at that time a record flood level. Overflow spilled onto the aforementioned street in front of the buildings in the block, and encroached onto the first floors of each of the structures in this South Hannibal block.

The Palmyra Spectator, quoting the Courier-Post, reported on June 10, 1903: “Water is up into the business houses of Frank Shuck, Phillip Miller, C.R. Buchanan, B. Wenzel and others in the immediate locality. At about the store of Murphy and Lampton, corner of Third and Washington streets, the water is deepest. The street is about four feet under water. At the residence of A.Y. Sexton (304 Third, South Hannibal) the water is three feet deep.”

Holmes family

By the time of the flood, Thomas L. Holmes and his wife, Lizzie Sinnard Holmes, (married in December 1884) had been been at home in the single-story frame house at 124 Third (South Main) for a decade. In 1894-95,  she operated a grocery store one door to the south, at 126 Third (South Main).

Holmes was employed in the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad’s car repair shops. He and his wife, Lizzy, had one son, Vincent, who would have been about 16 at the time of the flood.

A Hannibal newspaper, on June 12, 1903, following the flood’s crest, noted: “T.L. Holmes, of Third street, (later renamed Main) who has been sadly inconvenienced by the high water, has taken things very cheerfully and now that the water has receded and the floors of his house dry, he has decided to take a general cleaning up, and is having both his residence and store room treated to a fresh coat of paint, and otherwise improving the buildings.”

The Hannibal Weekly Journal, on the same day, reported that the river gauge affixed to the Hannibal (railroad) bridge recorded the Mississippi River level at a record 22 feet and 6 inches, some 8 inches higher than it was when the previous record was set, 52 years prior.

Lizzie’s husband, the aforementioned Thomas L. Holmes, at one time served as an alderman for the Fourth Ward, and was later assistant foreman of the repair yards, under William Daulton, general foreman.

A couple of years following the record 1903 flood, in September 1905, the Holmes family decided to move to higher ground, purchasing Lots 7 and 8, Block 114, from Patrick Lyons for $2,000. They moved into their new dwelling on Oct. 14, 1905.

The house had been built prior to 1879; in that year was occupied by Harman J. Tisdale, engineer for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.  In 1885, it was occupied by William H. Russell, conductor for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. The address in 1879 and 1885 was 302 Fourth Street. (Fourth was later renamed Sycamore.)

By the time the Holmes family moved into the house in 1905, the address of the house had been changed to 407 Washington St.

The Holmes family lived in this house through 1914. By 1916, they were living in a newly constructed two-story brick house on the same lot, constructed on the southwest corner of Sycamore and Washington streets, numbered 701 Sycamore. (That house is still standing in 2026.)

The smaller house on that same lot was ultimately demolished.

Vincent Holmes was living with his parents at 407 Washington St., when he graduated from high school with the class of 1907. He was among 17 girls and four boys who completed the public school course.

Within a week or so of his graduation, on June 6, 1907, the Hannibal Morning Journal described, in jest, the manual labor that Vincent undertook in order to maintain his family’s property:

“Vincent Holmes, one of the members of this year’s graduating class at the high school, is actually doing some manual labor. Yesterday is papa had the young scholar studying botany out in the front yard. However he did not use a microscope, but the lawn mower took its place.

The boys all call Vincent ‘Skinny,’ and without a doubt, working so hard causes him to be so skinny. It is the first real hard work the young man has done for many a day, and of course, he got tired often and stopped to rest. But he will get the lawn mowed without fail.”

Updates

In early June 1909, the Hannibal Morning Journal described the updates that T.L. Holmes had completed on his property.

“A new granitoid walk has been constructed on two sides of his place,” which was located on the southwest corner of Washington and Fourth (Sycamore) streets.  “A retaining wall has been constructed and this wall is surmounted by a handsome iron fence. The house and yard have also received considerable attention. Mr. Holmes now has a very attractive and up-to-date place.”

By 1929, Thomas and Lizzie Holmes had relocated to 616 Mark Twain Ave.

Vincent was married to Ruby Hudson.

Thomas Holmes died in 1931, at the age of 65. Lizzie died in January 1941. They are buried together at Riverside Cemetery.

Vincent Holmes died in 1968, in Arizona, where his daughter, Rosemary March, made her home.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,” “St. Mary’s Avenue District,” and “Live, on stage in Hannibal 1879: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore.’” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com