Heritage Ledger

The Memphis Floods 1912 1913 — A Mid-South River History

• REFERENCE CITED • REFERENCE CITED
Historic photograph of the Mississippi River in flood stage near Memphis, Tennessee, circa 1912

The Memphis Floods 1912 1913 rank among the most severe flood events in Mid-South history. This collection preserves firsthand accounts and photographs from both years. The Mississippi River rose to levels that reshaped the Memphis riverfront and displaced thousands of residents in a single flood season.

The History of the Memphis Floods 1912 1913

In April 1912, sudden snowmelt combined with high water on the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers to send the Mississippi over its banks throughout the valley. In Memphis, the river crested for three days, April 6 through 9, at 45.3 feet. Twenty-five city blocks went under water, 1,300 people were made homeless, and thousands more lost their jobs as riverfront factories and businesses shut down.

The Even Worse Flood of 1913

The Memphis Floods 1912 1913 were not a single event but a punishing two-year sequence. The 1913 flood became the largest in U.S. history to that point, striking before much of the levee damage from the previous year had been repaired. Together, the two floods demonstrated how much reinforcement the region's levee system still needed.

Mid-South Views of the Flood Years

Much of what is known visually about the Memphis floods of 1912 and 1913 comes from a period photograph and postcard series known as Mid-South Views. The 1912 flood was the first major Mississippi River flood to be photographed in any real depth, and those Mid-South Views images remain some of the clearest surviving records of the disaster. This visual record is a defining part of the Memphis Floods 1912 1913 story preserved in this archive.

How Long the Recovery Took

What the photographs cannot show is how long recovery took. Levee repair ran on through the following seasons. The 1913 crest arrived while much of the 1912 damage was still open. This archive therefore files the two years as one record rather than two.

See the complete Shelby County records index for census, obituary, cemetery, and other historical pages across the rest of the county.

Frequently Asked Questions

How bad were the Memphis floods of 1912 and 1913?
The April 1912 flood was among the worst the Mississippi Valley had seen, driven by sudden snowmelt combined with high water on the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers. In Memphis, the river crested at 45.3 feet, submerging twenty-five city blocks and leaving 1,300 people homeless.

What caused the 1912 Memphis flood?
The 1912 flood resulted from heavy winter snow melting suddenly and sending floodwaters over the banks of the Mississippi and its tributaries, compounded by high water from the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee rivers and the Mississippi above Cairo, Illinois.

Was the 1913 flood worse than the 1912 flood in Memphis?
In some respects, yes. The 1913 flood was the largest flood in U.S. history up to that point, and it struck before much of the levee damage from 1912 had been repaired, making the combined two-year period especially destructive for the Mid-South region.

What are the "Mid-South Views" referenced in this flood archive?
Mid-South Views is the name of a period photograph and postcard series documenting the region during the 1912 and 1913 floods. The 1912 Memphis flood was the first major Mississippi River flood to be photographed in any depth, which is why this visual record survives.

How did the Memphis floods of 1912-1913 affect the city?
Beyond the twenty-five submerged city blocks and 1,300 people left homeless, thousands of Memphis residents temporarily lost their jobs as factories and businesses along the riverfront were forced to shut down during the flooding.
Archive Details
County seat
Memphis, TN
Crest
45.3 ft (Apr 1912)
Category
Historical Event