1979: POND RUN CHANNELIZATION

Many thanks to HHS '51 classmate Alice Schmidt Mullen
for this excellent photo of Pond Run. Alice wrote:

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Dear Tom,

I know that it's really the old creek, but we always referred to it as the 'crick'. This photo was taken from Park Lane, and the crick was running in back of Akers Hardware and Webster Grimm's.

What I want to know is.........from the article on your today's web site, it sounds as if the crick no longer looks like this. This was taken back in 1947. If it's changed, does this mean that we must refer to it as the creek now? I haven't been on Park Lane since 1955.

The big old lot where we used to play baseball is on the left side of the creek. It was just a grass field bordered by Park Lane, Hollywood Drive, and the street across from Joan Ann Terrace. Was it called Crest Ave.? Didn't think that I'd ever forget the name of that street. I used to walk on it during all of my Greenwood School days.

From your pal,
Alice
I just ran across this article from the Mercer Messenger relating to the horrific flooding in the Pond Run area and other areas which were affected by the flooding of that little tributary over the years. Ken and Mary Ann Warner are close family friends. At that time, they lived on Leukel Avenue and Pond Run bounded their back yard. In the early 70's one of those "every hundred years" storms hit the Central Jersey area. The water flooded their basement and was up to the top level of their basement stairway. I can still see their pool table afloat. I asked Jack Lacy to fill me in on the details of the Hamilton Township "Channelization" project, and as usual, he came through:

From Jack Lacy, Former
Hamilton TownshipCouncil President:

"We had two 500-year storms hit Hamilton within a week of one another in Aug. 1975. Those caused the Pond Run flooding and was part of the '75 campaign that saw the Rafferty Team capture the mayor's office for the first time and four of the five council seats (yours truly included). I remember the first budget hearings in Jan. '76, right after we were sworn into office, when Colonial Fire Co. asked the council for row boats because of inadequacies from their recent experience with evacuating flood victims from their homes.

Those experiences pushed us hard to find "flood solutions" and a big part was the channelization project. Have to say it did work. Since completion there haven't been any more "devastating" floods in the area. Of course, in addition to the channel we also bought nine homes (resold seven that were moved, demolished two) and created a floodway which we know today as the athletic fields for Cook AA and the Hamilton PAL at the end of Leukel Ave. In time of potential floods those fields which are surrounded by berms receive flood waters overflowing from Pond Run."