Middletown, PA, the oldest borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, at 250+ years old, nestles at the confluence of the Susquehanna River and the Swatara Creek: Morphing from indigenous settlements through a farming community through an industrial boom to now – a small town adjacent to the second-largest campus in the Penn State University system. Each new life has brought new water challenges with historical decisions affecting the present.

Historical maps (such as the Dauphin County 1862 map below) tell the story of the two streams that run through the borough. Water was the source of life and food and a workhorse to support industrialization.

Map #76 – Map of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, 1862. A. Pomeroy Publisher, 517, 519 & 521 Minor Street, Philadelphia, 1862. Obtained from the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/mg/di/m011/Map0076Interface.html

 

But at some point, the water became a nuisance to the residents and the visible streams disappeared (below, 1911 Sanborn Fire Maps of Spruce (Duck) St with no visible streams). Streets and houses replaced the water and forced the water underground.

1911 Sanborn Fire Maps. Obtained from the Penn State University Libraries. https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/14224/rec/3

Underground streams throughout the watershed. Photograph by Brady Myers. Permission granted for use. Copyright by Brady Myers 2019.

 

Out of sight became out of mind, until 4.7 inches of rain fell in an hour in July 2017. The streams reminded us of their presence as they flowed above and below ground – filling the pipes and people’s yards and houses.

Stream above ground. Photograph of July 2017 flash flood.

What we thought we had tamed and buried laughed in our waterlogged faces. Now we know that we did not “win”. We did not tame Mother Nature. She won. She always wins. “Respect the water,” she whispers to us from the top of the floodwaters rushing by. Always respect the water.”