100 in the Shade

The sun flashes off the shiny brass instruments of the Athens, Pennsylvania Band, whose 17 musicians look less than enthusiastic for a concert. Behind them, a banner on a street car trolley reads:


It is September 16, 1915, and the end of summer has brought record hot temperatures across the northeast. Athens, Pa is situated about 2 miles south of the New York state line at the fork of the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. In 1910 the population of Athens was 3,796. 

New Steel Bridge at Athens, PA taken out by flood. April 2, 1916 Source: GenDisasters.com

TOWANDA, Pa., April 2.---A new steel bridge built across the Susquehanna River at Athens, two years ago, at a cost to Bradford county of $68,000, was destroyed by the flood today. The west and middle spans were torn out, leaving the east span intact. A pier built in 1844 and repaired with concrete for the new bridge in 1914, was undermined by the swirling flood waters, which made a hole into which the pier slid, allowing the two spans to tumble into the river.

David A. Keefe, who designed the bridge, witnessed the destruction of the structure to the scene. The State will have to rebuild the bridge.

The Interstate Fair at Athens may have to be abandoned because of the loss of the bridge which is used to reach the grounds. The river remained stationary here today at 18½ feet. Freezing temperature setting in last night has prevented the snow from melting today. All the lowlands are under water.

Abraham Hiltz, aged 70, a farmer, while hurrying along the Lehigh tracks north of Towanda tonight, bent on notifying a neighbor of danger to his livestock from the raging waters of the Susquehanna River nearby, was struck by a fast train and killed. His body was hurled one hundred feet.