Anderson’s Market and the All New England Flood of 1936

The All-New England Flood, which began on March 11, 1936, occurred when winter snows were followed by a series of March rainstorms that turned snowmelt, heavy rain, and dislodged ice into a torrent that engorged rivers and streams, broke dams, knocked bridges off their supports, undermined mills, and severed communications across the six-state region.

It produced the worst flooding Concord had ever seen. Water in the rivers reached its highest recorded levels, although only the Pine Street Bridge sustained damage. High water marks exceeded by an inch or two those of Concord’s previous memorable flood in 1886. Many roads were closed, including the Cambridge Turnpike, and people took to the streets in their boats. Fred Tower recorded the following observation in his weather record for March 1936: “Concord & Sudbury Rivers unprecedentedly high from 12” to 22”. Many roads and bridges impassable. Local damage slight in comparison with many places in the Connecticut and Merrimack Valleys.”

But Concord’s Mill Dam was particularly hard hit. According to reports in the Concord Journal, the Mill Brook backed up onto the James property, which forced a rush of water down behind the stores on the south side of the Mill Dam and into their cellars, because the culvert beneath Main Street was too narrow to accommodate the volume of water. For thirty-six hours Concord firefighters worked to pump out these buildings before having to turn their attention to the buildings on the north side, which flooded when the Mill Brook backed up into a pool at Lowell Road. Located on the site of the old mill dam, with the Mill Brook running beneath it, the Anderson Market building was inundated.

These panoramic views by Concord Road Commissioner Theodore Lincoln Smith were taken a few weeks later on March 21, as the Concord River continued to rise and flooding recurred. The 1936 Concord Town Report stated that buildings on the south side of the Mill Dam flooded because the drainage system was overwhelmed, but those on the north side experienced “trouble for which there is no local remedy.”

Firefighters helped business owners on the Mill Dam salvage merchandise and restore normal conditions. At Anderson’s, several men worked all night to rescue stock stored in the basement. In spite of all this, the March 26 issue of the Concord Journal characterized flood damage in Concord as “minimal.”