Wow, did we ever get it today. I didn’t make it as far as campus, in fact I never even made it off my street, but alert colleagues sent pictures:
And my favorite, a plugged drain in front of the RMC:
We’ve had a hundred years to work on the drainage but this much rain just overwhelms everything.
Bonus: Still, there’s something nice about continuity. I’ve got lots like these.
Apparently the place is still best known as “William Rice’s Marsh” … 🙂
From the Nov. 4, 1955, Thresher:
> > >
We have finally resolved the problem of Homecoming booths or floats; we now have floating booths, thanks to seasonal recurrence of William Rice’s marsh. Just climb aboard the gondola and sign your name. The glee club will provide singing gondoliers, who will croon soft Neopolitan lullabies as they glide placidly between the Chemistry Building and Physics Lab.
< < > >
… we don’t know what Dean McBride thinks Rice will be like in 1984, but we have our own ideas of conditions at Homecoming 29 years hence. By now the parking problem has been virtually eliminated — road blocks at every entrance and exit keep all cars off campus. A new menace threatens the Administration, however, in the form of private helicopters which in shortcutting over the campus disturb the academic seclusion.
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(Source: https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/66126/thr19551104.pdf?sequence=1)
Bwahahaha!
The helicopters arrived – heading for the Medical Center.
And, I should have added, saving lives.
Will Rice’s marsh.
In which years were the bottom two flooded-campus photos taken?
The top one is undated but very early–late teens or early 20s. The bottom one was taken in 1942.
“William Marsh Rice’s rice marsh” is the way I heard it.
Willy’s Rice Marsh
Thanks for the report. I have been wondering how Imelda is affecting you. Lots of rain is one of the reasons I am glad not to live in Houston.
On Thu, Sep 19, 2019, 12:26 PM Rice History Corner wrote:
> Melissa Kean posted: “Wow, did we ever get it today. I didn’t make it as > far as campus, in fact I never even made it off my street, but alert > colleagues sent pictures: And my favorite, a plugged drain in front of the > RMC: We’ve had a hundred years to work on ” >
Some things never change. The lights are always on in the Architecture building, even when the rest of the campus buildings are dark.
On many nights we Archi students slept on the flat stabilizer bar under our drafting tables – but only briefly. We were there that late because we were working.
On rainy days when I was a student there (’62 through spring of ’66), on rainy days, we called it “The Rice Paddy.” The pre-Rice Marsh tries every now and then to stage a comeback.