Sandra Skaggs was Harrisburg first 1937 flood 'canal baby'
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[People in Harrisburg today would not have recognized Harrisburg 75 years ago, the days of the 1937 flood.
A combination of excessive snow and 15 inches of rain in January for the Ohio Valley caused the Ohio River and tributaries to spread more than 40 miles in width at Shawneetown, according to a book of newspaper clippings compiled by the Saline County Historical Society. The only portions of Harrisburg spared from the flood were a few blocks each way from the downtown business district, a portion at Harrisburg Township High School, the Dorrisville area and a portion of Gaskins City.
Some areas of town were submerged under 15 feet of water.
The family of Sandra (Butler) Skaggs was lucky. Her grandfather, Charles Hossler who was the city's water superintendent, lived on the 900 block of Ledford Street near the high school and her mother, Shirley Butler, was living with him while her father was working at a Civilian Conservation Corps camp.
On Jan. 26, her pregnant mother began to go into labor.
At that time there were docks set up at the water's edge at each end of Main, Granger and McKinley streets. Skaggs' grandfather drove his daughter as far as he could to Hauptmann's Grocery Store at McKinley Street where a boat was available.
"My grandfather took my mother in the car to Hauptmann's Grocery Store where they caught the boat and the boat took me to Lightner Hospital where I was born," Skaggs said.
Her grandfather returned to his car at the grocery store.
"He said by the time he got back, that was when they had running boards, the water was up to the running boards and it wasn't before," Skaggs said.
After 10 days Skaggs and her mother were released.
"My mother said you had to stay in the hospital 10 days on your back. They wouldn't let her up. She said you couldn't hardly walk after laying there for 10 days," Skaggs said.
After their stay they took a boat back to the grocery store and back to her grandfather's home.
Skaggs was the first baby born at the hospital during the flood, but not the only one. She learned from her mother Mrs. Bruce Polk also bore a son during the flood.
Skaggs developed a nickname due to the flood.
"They listed me as the first canal baby. I was the first baby to cross the water in a boat," Skaggs said.
Skaggs said she was not aware that either of her parents stepped into a boat again after the flood.
The Skaggs family were fortunate. Thousands of residents were made homeless. Damage to residences and businesses was catastrophic. Three men died in Harrisburg.
Skaggs' first job was as a nurse at Lightner Hospital. She married Frank Skaggs III and they moved to Ridgway to operate Skaggs Drug Store, now the Medicine Shoppe.
Skaggs now lives in her apartment at Brookstone Estates in Harrisburg. She has two children, Frank Skaggs IV of Nolensville, Tenn., and Rebecca Skaggs Drone of Edwardsburg, Mich.
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DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.</li>
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