1918 Midwest Blizzard Disaster

           By M. Byers

            The year is 1918 in the American Midwest. The economy is a thriving network of goods and resources traded and transported by railroad cars. The winter has been a usual one with nothing special to report. Then everything changed early January. A blizzard like no other struck Illinois and moved to Indiana and eventually Ohio. These three states were blanketed with snow. Cities like Chicago and Indianapolis where buried. The weather had gotten so bad railroads were totally shut down[i]. Not only did this severely hinder the economies of these cities, it halted out of state relief efforts.

Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Blizzard of 1914

By K. F. O.

January 30, 1914 was not an ordinary day for part of the Midwest. A blizzard impacted Northern Illinois, Ohio and Indiana in the early morning. Out of this region, Indianapolis was largely affected by this natural disaster. Indianapolis received upwards of twelve inches of snow that day and into the night. This is quite a lot of snow, but it is no different from the snow we have been getting in Indianapolis recently.  Snowstorms have always affected Indianapolis and have produced the same amount of snow throughout history, whether it be one inch or twelve inches. A community cannot change the inches they receive, but they can change how they handle the inches they receive. Twelve inches may same like an abnormal amount these days, but the city of Indianapolis still manages to be able to keep the city running. 

The Northern Indiana Blizzard

By R. C. 

Snow seems to be one of those elements that, even in modern times, that people haphazardly fear. There are the warnings and everyone goes out to buy their bread and milk and talks about how bad it’s going to get, then you have the skeptics who say everyone is just over reacting and nothing is going to happen. No matter which side people fall on before the storm when the snow hits the ground there seems to always be the people that like to venture out. Either for a job that that refuses to close down, a school that wants to tough it out, or it could even be just a personal choice there are people braving the snow. Snow seems almost like a challenge to some, that with enough salt, enough plows, or big enough trucks that snow can be bypassed.  It is an annoyance to us something we can push out of the way and melt it down, it’s what children like but as adults we are supposed to hate. When the snow hits the ground he elders always bring out the tales of how it was much worse when they were kids and how this is nothing, how they walked to school in three feet of snow.

The Effects of the 1929 Blizzard on Indiana

By Olivia Myers

In Indiana near the year of 1929, state and federal government intervention in economic matters was increasing. Increased government involvement was partly due the fear of Americas about the Great Depression. The state imposed laws and regulations on banking practices and businesses. Laws were designed to protect “mom and pop” businesses and consumers. These laws resulted in keeping banking small and local in Indiana. Legislation also increases surrounding labor issue in Indiana. During this time unions began forming strongly for skilled workers. Strikes were prevalent during this time fed by fear of the Great Depression and recognition of poor labor conditions. However, unskilled workers remained largely unorganized and therefore did not reap union benefits[1].