Best Answer #37: from Doug Sears:
" It was called the greatest flood in the history of the Thames River, April 26, 1937. The flood occurred as a result of heavy rains during the month of April. The flood overflowed the banks of the Thames River, flooding Stratford, St. Marys, Woodstock, Beachville, Ingersoll and London; . . .[and] several lives were lost. The flood roared through the Thames Valley flats between Woodstock and Ingersoll. At the lime quarry east of Ingersoll, it held back the water for a while, until it finally filled and overflowed and flooded Ingersoll. In Ingersoll the flood took three lives, and also took out three bridges: the Thames St., Wonham St., and the Iron Duke St. bridges. The bridge at Wonham St. simply floated away. Just west of Beachville, a C.N.R. passenger train was derailed, killing the engineer, a fireman, and a transient. Ingersoll doctor, J.H. MacDonald, was also killed while driving his car to the scene; when the bridge he was on collapsed and he and his car were swept away. Upstream at Woodstock, forty feet of the C.P.R line had been washed out where it crossed the 13th line of East Zorra (Huron Street), just after a long freight train had passed over it. Two of Woodstock's industries were also flooded. Wood Mosaic near the corners of Mill and Main St., had 16 inches of water on the plant floor, and at the east end of the city, Hay & Co. boilers were flooded.

The construction of the Gordon Pittock Dam, which began in July of 1964, can be attributed to the Flood of 1937. The cost of the dam was approximately $4,475,000.00, and [it] was officially opened on August 24, 1967. (Gordon W. Pittock was the Progressive Conservative Member for Oxford, from September 1963 until October 1967.)

Positive factors attributed to the flood:

- 1947, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority was set-up [Gordon W Pittock worked with UTRCA for many years]; - 1949, the construction of a million dollar river channel between Beachville and Ingersoll; - 1954, Fanshawe Dam at London;
- 1965, Wildwood Dam at St. Marys;
- construction of small dams at Stratford and Mitchell;
- the creation of wildlife areas for naturalists, sportsmen (fishing), forestry, and recreation;
- the prevention of major flooding, which has saved millions, perhaps billions of dollars in damages, and most importantly, human lives.

Note: With the amount of rainfall that has fallen this month on the already saturated ground, without the dams in place, we could have been very well repeating the flood of 1937."

Sources:
- Johnson, Leonard N., pamphlet from the Woodstock Public Library history files;
- McLeod, Sonja., Woodstock Public Library history files;
. - ‘The Axe and the Wheel,’ ‘A History of West Oxford’;
- Symons, Doug A., ‘The Village that Straddled a Swamp’ .