March 6, 1932, storm cuts Waynesboro off from world
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K.W. Stanley / News Virginian
Published: January 28, 2008
A snow storm swept into the Shenandoah Valley by 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, March 6, 1932, following severe wind, a torrent of rain, and sleet. It was the coldest weather of the winter.
Snow and sleet blanketed Waynesboro, Augusta County, most of Virginia and several states within the Atlantic coastal area. Heavy damage occurred. Trees and branches fell that Sunday and Monday under the weight of snow and sleet. Wires were down between Charlottesville and Washington. Telephone, telegraph and radio communications in Waynesboro and Augusta County were not possible as electric and telephone lines were down.
Electricity was out by 11 a.m. Sunday. By nightfall, Waynesboro was in darkness. Hardware and grocery stores had high demand for lamps, stoves and coal oil. Residents resorted to burning logs for heat, using wood stoves for meals and oil lamps for light.
Bus travel across the Blue Ridge was suspended for the first time since 1917. Two trains entering Waynesboro refused freight. The Virginia Public Service Company discovered eight breaks in electric transmission lines and a 150 telephone poles down in Waynesboro. Telephone communication between Clifton Forge and Albemarle was cut off. All long distance services by the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company were dead. The only communication link outside the town was an N&W telephone to Elkton.
Church services were suspended on Sunday and city schools were closed Monday. Highways between Waynesboro and Staunton were reopened Monday afternoon after dragging snow plows. City industries dependent upon the Virginia Public Service Company for electricity were unable to operate. DuPont and Stehli operated using electricity from the Dupont Power Plant. Gardner Mill had its own power plant.
Telephone and telegraph use on the East Coast was crippled, including Maryland, most of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other seaboard states. Mail service was crippled by C&O and N&W trains running five hours behind schedule. Automobile garages and stations worked overtime pulling cars from snow drifts and ditches.
The News-Virginian printed a newspaper on Monday, March 7, 1932, setting type by hand and using a gasoline motor to operate the press. One newspaper dispatch ("The Lindbergh Baby is Still Missing. The Kidnappers Are Silent") was obtained by daring to cross the Blue Ridge in a Model A Ford to Yancey's Mill, where telephone communication was established with the Charlottesville newspaper, another Associated Press (AP) paper. The News-Virginian editor declared later on the front page, "Every effort to get in touch with the outside world has failed today. Nothing has been learned. No message of any kind has been received. A wire message to the AP was sent to Charlottesville by carrier in hopes it might be dispatched and the answer brought back here by train. By press time nothing has been learned. Radio, telephone, and telegraph efforts have failed and are useless."
The 1932 storm was unique as downed utilities and impassable roads separated Waynesboro from the outside world. In subsequent years people gave more attention to the dark bands on woolly worms and mast crops of acorns prior to arrival of winter.
K.W. Stanley is a Waynesboro resident, historian and TNV correspondent. Contact him at .
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