Canton Remembers Massive 1955 River Flooding

CANTON, CT — Like many communities organized around Connecticut rivers in 1955, the Canton community — nestled on the banks of the Farmington River — suffered immensely from the great flood that year.

Tuesday was the 70th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1955, which, like it did to many towns along rivers, slammed Canton, more specifically, its historic Collinsville village at the time.

According to the Canton Historical Museum, it happens to have many photos of the 1955 flood damage in Collinsville.

According to the museum, the flood — caused by two hurricanes that summer — destroyed a third of the Collins Co. buildings and damaged another third of their factory buildings.

The Collins Co. (of which the village is named) was the main economic driver in Canton at the time, making sharp-edged tools for generations.

"The company kept their employees, who cleaned up the mud and debris, so they could get back up and running," wrote the Canton Museum on Tuesday.

Sadly, the company never really recovered from the flood damage, and that, along with other economic factors, helped lead to the factory's closure 11 years later in 1966.

The Canton Public Library marked the anniversary with a bit of history as well.

"One of the worst storms in Connecticut history, the flood followed the soaking rains of two back-to-back hurricanes, Connie and Diane," wrote library officials Tuesday.

"The flooding led to severe damage along Connecticut's rivers, including the Farmington. The water crested at 24 feet above the Collins Co.'s boiler room and destroyed the bridge crossing the river, as well as many homes and parts of the Collins Company factory."

The library even posted a link for people to view a documentary from CPTV on the flood for free: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-flood-of-55-4gkvy2/.

For more information on the Canton Historical Museum, click on this link.